Educating independent publishers about legal deposit
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Date
2025-02-27
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Abstract
The book publishing industry is undergoing significant change. Where it was once driven by traditional publishers, it is now shifting closer to the hands of individuals who use self-publishing platforms to make their stories available. Self-publishers, or independent publishers, form a diverse and fast-growing sector of publishing. The National Library of Australia is faced with a great challenge: a vast country full of potential publishers haven't heard of legal deposit, many of whom participate in international writing communities and services where Australian legal deposit requirements are not a natural topic. How do we, as a National Library, reach these individuals who are far removed from Canberra and ensure we continue to build a diverse and comprehensive collection of Australian publications?
The National Library has undertaken a two-phase project to firstly scope and understand the publishing environment and secondly focus on broad outreach targeting a range of audiences on a large scale. The outreach included the creation of promotional resources, articles and engagement with community groups and professional organisations, blogs targeting genre fiction communities, attendance at festivals and conferences, industry newsletters promotions and paid marketing in newspapers and festival programs.
This presentation will discuss the different strategies for outreach, what impact they had and what we learned along the way.
Note about the author:
Rebecca is Assistant Director, Collect and Acquire leading the team that acquires published and archival collections, including the legal deposit program. Rebecca started her library career at the Australian Music Centre, Sydney and has worked at the National Library of Australia since 2006. Her previous roles span digitisation, acquisition and description of published materials, training, and policy projects. She holds a Master of Applied Science (Library and Information Management) from Charles Sturt University.
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Legal deposit