Publishers have been given a new option for the legal deposit of digital publications.
The Government said publishers could be given the opportunity to deliver non-print publications for legal deposit via a secure network as an alternative to content being harvested over the internet.
The PPA welcomed the option within its official response to the DCMS consultation on the Draft Legal Deposit Libraries (non-print works) Regulations 2013. The response can be downloaded in full here.
Mark Burr, Head of Public Affairs, said: “Legal deposit is a requirement for all publishers but the fluid nature of digital publications can make it technically challenging.
“This latest consultation has addressed many of the PPA’s previous concerns and in particular, we are encouraged by the option to deliver content over a secure network rather than web harvesting, or content scraping, which takes control away from publishers and introduces security and cost issues for members.”
Changes to legal deposit have been under consultation for several years. The PPA has previously highlighted concerns that enabling access to valuable data and tables contained within complex, layered online publications would be commercially damaging to members.
In addition, certain digital publications could contain audio-visual content that falls outside the scope of the regulations.
The PPA will continue to be represented on the Joint Committee for Legal Deposit, which includes representatives from legal deposit libraries and from the publishing industry, and is the forum for considering practical application of any regulations.
Publishers interested in finding out more about the draft regulations, including the network delivery option, should contact Mark Burr by email or on 0207 400 7520.