Making legal deposit copies of electronic publications available in libraries

Abstract

The scope of legal deposit has already been extended to electronic materials in many countries. Although in Hungary the Legal Deposit Decree of 1998 covers e-publications as well, it focuses mainly on off line works. The regulations regarding products such as downloadable e-books and print-on-demand publications have not as yet been clarified, and the restrictions of access to non-print works are contradictory as well. The author suggests that the relevant regulations should be reviewed on the basis of international practice. He comes to the conclusion that access to non-print works that come within the scope of legal deposit should be restricted to one display terminal in each of the deposit libraries at any one time. This method would largely mirror the system for printed publications.