As of 1 January 2017, the Estonian Legal Deposit Act has been replaced by the Legal Deposit Copy Act.
Pursuant to the Legal Deposit Copy Act, publishers must deposit four copies of each printed publication with the National Library of Estonia, which shall forward them to the preserving institutions: the National Library of Estonia, the Estonian Literary Museum Archival Library, the Academic Library of Tallinn University, and the University of Tartu Library. In addition to the four copies, the publisher must also submit the output-ready file of the publication. If the publisher is unable to submit the output-ready file of a printed publication under the Legal Deposit Copy Act, the National Library must be provided with four additional copies of the printed publication: three to be kept as legal deposit copies and one for the creation of a digital legal deposit copy.
The Legal Deposit Copy Act ensures the collection of the output-ready files of printed publications in order to enable books, newspapers, magazines, and other publications to be digitised in the future. The submitted output-ready files are stored securely in the National Library’s digital archive DIGAR and enable publishers to re-use the submitted publications. Digital legal deposit copies can be accessed at an authorised workplace.
For depositors
If you would like to become a depositor for the National Library of Estonia and you are a publisher of periodical publications, please refer to the section “Depositing of periodical publications” relating the page on legal deposit copies. If you would like to become a depositor for the National Library of Estonia and you are a publisher of books, brochures, e-books, annual reports, handbooks, musical scores, maps, or atlases, please head to our Publisher Portal.
One of the tasks of the National Library of Estonia is to collect legal deposit copies pursuant to the Legal Deposit Copy Act.
Legal deposit copy means a publication published online or on a physical medium, and the output-ready file of a publication published on a physical medium, which are deposited with libraries free of charge and stored for the purposes of the Legal Deposit Copy Act.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LEGAL DEPOSIT COPIES?
Legal deposit copies are collected in order to create a complete collection of publications and their output-ready files which are of significance for Estonian culture for the purposes of bibliographic registration, statistics, long-term preservation, and continuous availability for research and artistic creation. Collected online publications are made available to the public through an authorised workplace. The collection of legal deposit copies ensures the preservation and protection of the documents by the state.
WHO IS REQUIRED TO DEPOSIT THE LEGAL DEPOSIT COPIES?
Legal deposit copies are required from all legal persons and state and local government agencies. The depositor of a publication and its output-ready file is:
• the producer or compiler (hereinafter “producer”) of the publication if it is published on a physical medium in Estonia – these are print shops and the relevant authorities or individuals;
• the person organising the publishing of the publication (hereinafter “publisher”) on a physical medium if the annexes belonging to the set of the publication are not produced by the producer;
• the publisher of the publication if it is published on a physical medium, but produced abroad and distributed in Estonia;
• in the case of an online publication, the publisher or producer of the publication as agreed between the two;
• in the case of a printed publication, the publisher or producer of the output-ready file of the publication as agreed between the two.
WHAT KIND OF MATERIAL NEEDS TO BE DEPOSITED?
Legal deposit copies are required in the case of all printed publications and publications on any other physical medium which have been published by a citizen of the Republic of Estonia, a legal person registered in the Republic of Estonia, or a natural person staying in Estonia, of which there are more than 50 copies, and which are distributed in or outside the Republic of Estonia and are of significance for Estonian culture, including:
- books, brochures (including new editions, except reimpressions);
- the output-ready file of a printed publication;
- periodical publications: magazines, newspapers, newsletters, advertising letters, etc.;
- continuing publications (yearbooks, proceedings, series, etc.);
- atlases and other map publications;
- musical scores;
- exhibition catalogues;
- event programmes, posters, etc .;
- advertising publications, product catalogues, etc .;
- phone catalogues, transport timetables, etc .;
- wall, desk, pocket and other types of calendars;
- bookplates, postcards, colouring and drawing books, reproductions;
- crossword publications;
- Braille publications;
- audio discs;
- electronic documents on a physical medium: CD-ROMs (including audio books), DVDs, etc.;
- online publications.
WHAT KIND OF MATERIAL DOES NOT NEED TO BE DEPOSITED?
Legal deposit copies are not required in the case of publications which:
1) do not contain information that is of significance to Estonian culture, e.g.:
- business cards;
- receipts and other accounting and administrative forms;
- performance and other event tickets that do not contain a programme or illustrations;
- certificate forms;
- product packaging, labels, and delivery notes;
- leaflets on promotional offers for goods and services;
- textiles and other types of products and objects that contain text;
2) are intended for a limited number of users and are duplicated using a copy machine, e.g.:
- wall and desk posters and work-related information sheets of institutions; internal further training materials, summaries of operations, procedural guides, plans, and records of institutions and organisations;
3) are original prints of graphic works. Legal deposit copies are also not required of the following material:
- databases, the preservation of which is provided for by other legislation;
- real-time streams of an online publication;
- online publications, the preservation of which requires an unreasonably large amount of data considering the content. Legal deposit copies are not required of online publications which do not contain information that is of significance to Estonian culture. The categories of such printed and online publications shall be determined by a regulation from the Minister of Culture.
WHO IS THE RECIPIENT OF THE LEGAL DEPOSIT COPIES?
Legal deposit copies must be deposited with the National Library of Estonia as follows:
4 copies of printed publications produced in Estonia or abroad at the request of Estonian publishers, printed publications in Estonian or discussing Estonia produced abroad and imported to Estonia for distribution;
2 copies of Braille publications;
2 copies of publications, other than printed publications, published on a physical medium;
1 copy of online publications;
1 copy of the output-ready file. Freely accessible online publications are archived by the National Library of Estonia by means of a web harvester by downloading the website together with the elements required for display and storing it in the archives. The output-ready file of a printed publication published for the first time in Estonia must be submitted to the National Library of Estonia as the file of the output-ready material of the printed publication or a copy of that file via the electronic depositing system. Online publications must be submitted to the National Library of Estonia by forwarding a copy via the electronic depositing system created to enable the online publication or output-ready file to be forwarded and recorded in the archives.
If the output-ready file of a printed publication is not submitted under the Legal Deposit Copy Act, four additional copies must be submitted, three to serve as legal deposit copies and one to be made into a digital legal deposit copy by the National Library of Estonia. Note: if an edition of a printed, audiovisual, or electronic publication is to be destroyed pursuant to a judicial decision, this shall not extend to the legal deposit copies of that publication, which means that the legal deposit copies must be handed over to the National Library of Estonia. Neither shall a legal deposit copy of an online publication be deleted where a judicial decision calls for the deletion of that publication. Access to such an online publication (only for reading) shall be provided via authorised workplaces located at:
1) the Estonian Literary Museum Archival Library;
2) the National Library of Estonia;
3) the Library of Tallinn University of Technology;
4) the Academic Library of Tallinn University; 5) the University of Tartu Library.
The preserving institutions of an additional legal deposit copy are:
1) the Estonian Literary Museum Archival Library;
2) the National Library of Estonia;
3) the University of Tartu Library.
TERMS FOR SUBMISSION OF LEGAL DEPOSIT COPIES AND DELIVERY COSTS
A publication and its output-ready file must be submitted as legal deposit copies at the earliest opportunity, but no later than 20 days after the first circulation part is produced or made available to the public. Legal deposit copies of online publications must be submitted to the National Library of Estonia within 20 days after the filing of the relevant request by the latter by forwarding the copies via the electronic depositing system created to enable online publications and output-ready files to be forwarded and recorded in the archives. The costs related to the submission of a publication and its output-ready file as legal deposit copies shall be borne by the depositor, who shall not be remunerated for this by the recipient of the legal deposit copies. Publications published on a physical medium shall be deposited with the National Library of Estonia by way of physical delivery. The National Library of Estonia shall forward the legal deposit copies to the preserving institutions within five business days of receipt of a complete legal deposit copy. The costs of forwarding the legal deposit copies to the preserving institutions shall be borne by the National Library of Estonia.
REQUIREMENTS FOR LEGAL DEPOSIT COPIES
The legal deposit copies of a publication must be complete, containing all annexes thereof (if the print shop is unable to deliver the annexes, they shall be delivered by the publisher or the client). Legal deposit copies must also be submitted of printed and audiovisual publications that are identical in content, but different in form and format (e.g., paperback and hardcover, differently coloured covers, etc.). Together with the legal deposit copies, the National Library of Estonia must be provided a delivery note containing the following information:
• the name (first name and surname in the case of a natural person) and address of the publisher;
• the number of copies submitted for each title;
• the size of the print run or the imported quantity (these data are only used for compiling official statistics);
• contact details. Upon submitting an online publication and its output-ready file as legal deposit copies, the National Library of Estonia must be provided the following:
• the name (first name and surname in the case of a natural person) and address of the publisher, producer, or co-producer;
• descriptive metadata;
• usage rights;
• object structure, technical metadata, and relationships. Upon submitting legal deposit copies of ephemera, the National Library of Estonia must be provided the number of the copies.
Note: upon additional production, i.e. reprinting or importing to Estonia, of an edition of a printed, audiovisual, or electronic publication, the depositor of the legal deposit copies must notify the National Library of Estonia within 20 days, indicating the size of the additional run or the imported quantity.
LIABILITY UPON FAILURE TO SUBMIT LEGAL DEPOSIT COPIES
To exercise its duty of state supervision under the Legal Deposit Copy Act, the National Library of Estonia may issue precepts pursuant to the Law Enforcement Act. Upon failure to comply with a precept, the maximum rate of penalty payment applied pursuant to the procedure provided for in the Substitutive Enforcement and Penalty Payment Act is 1,500 euros.
CONTACT DETAILS OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ESTONIA
National Library of Estonia
Collection Development Department
Tõnismägi 2, 15189 Tallinn
Phone: 630 7369
Fax: 631 1200
E-mail: raamatud@nlib.ee, perioodika@nlib.ee
Under the Legal Deposit Copy Act, in addition to printed copies, publishers are also required to submit the output-ready file of the publication, i.e. the digital dataset created for publishing the printed matter. The purpose of the Act is to ensure the creation, long-term preservation, and continuous availability of the most complete collection of publications and their output-ready files which are of significance for Estonian culture. The purpose of this document is to provide detailed instructions on how output-ready files should be submitted.
1. Preferred file formats for storage
According to the requirements approved in 2017, the preferred file formats for the storage of publications in the digital archive DIGAR are as follows.
For text material: PDF-A, EPUB, MOBI.
For image material: TIFF, JPEG 2000, PDF-A.
For audio material: WAV, MP3 (if the output-ready file has only been created in this format).
2. Other files and file formats
The publisher may also submit files created earlier than the final, output-ready version, e.g., InDesign, Photoshop, and other files, earlier versions of a finished musical composition, etc. Such files must be marked as work files in the Publisher Portal and shall not be made available to readers. Publishers can reuse all files submitted to the digital archive. So-called work files can only be submitted in the portal together with the corresponding output-ready files submitted for archiving.
If a file submitted by the publisher is unsuitable for long-term storage (i.e., in a format other than the preferred formats for storage in the digital archive), the National Library shall contact the publisher to request that the file be submitted in a suitable format and shall inform the publisher that otherwise the file shall continue to be stored, but cannot be guaranteed to be openable in the future.
Wherever possible, the National Library shall convert the file into a format suitable for storage; however, this may result in some loss of functionality of the file.
3. Requirements for submitted files
Compliance with the requirements below is a prerequisite for long-term file storage. In the future, today’s file formats may no longer be openable and usable, which is why the submitted files need to be convertible from one format to another with no loss or minimal loss.
3.1. General requirements for files
● The content of a submitted file must correspond as closely as possible to the publication, including the covers, all pages, and any annexes.
● The file must include the officially released final version of the work.
● The content of the file must be of the highest quality possible.
● The file may be in a lossy compressed format (e.g., MP3, AAC) only if the work is not available in higher quality.
● Cutting pages from the file must be enabled.
● Printing the file must be enabled.
● Copying the content of the file must be enabled.
● Altering the content of the file must be enabled.
● The file must not be compressed.
● The file must not be password-protected.
● The file must not be encrypted.
● The file must not contain access control technology (e.g., DRM).
● The file must not be write-protected. Naming of files and folders
Proper naming of files and folders provides the necessary information for standard and automatic processing and archiving of the files.
Note! The requirements regarding the creation and naming of folders apply only when submitting files via the National Library’s FTP. The requirements regarding the naming of files apply to both the Publisher Portal and FTP.
4.1. General requirements
● The names of folders and files may contain the symbols 0–9, a–z (excluding accented letters!), and underscores.
● A separate folder must be created for each publication, including annexes and different language versions of the same publication.
● It is preferable to submit each publication as a single file (cover to cover in the correct order) for archiving, except if there are separate cover files and content files.
● If a publication is, however, divided into several files (e.g., each track of a CD as a separate audio file, covers as a separate file, pages as separate files), the files must be named such that their alphabetical order corresponds to the correct order of the content of the publication, e.g., by adding an order number at the start of the file name. For example:
o 000_publication_name_front_cover.pdf,
o 001_publication_name_pp1-50.pdf,
o 002_publication_name_pp51-100.pdf,
o etc.
● If each page is submitted as a separate file, the file name must contain the page number. For example:
○ publication_name_001.pdf,
○ publication_name_002.pdf,
○ publication_name_003.pdf,
○ etc.
● When submitting a revised/extended version of a previously submitted file, the name(s) of the file(s) must end with “NEW”. For example:
○ publication_name_001.pdf,
○ publication_name_002.pdf,
○ publication_name_002_NEW.pdf,
○ publication_name_003.pdf,
○ etc.
4.2. Books
● To submit files via the National Library’s FTP, the user must create a folder and enter the publication’s ISBN or, in the absence thereof, the title of the publication as its name.
○ e.g., the book Mahe kõhedus, ISBN 978-9949-814-44-2, should be placed in a folder named “9789949814442”.
○ In the absence of an ISBN, the folder name would need to be “Mahe_kohedus”.
● In the name(s) of the file(s), the title of the publication should be given as “mahe_kohedus”.
● In the case of separate page files, they should be named:
○ Mahe_kohedus_001.pdf,
○ Mahe_kohedus_002.pdf, ○ etc.
4.3. Periodicals
● For each publication name, the National Library creates a separate folder with the code assigned to the publication on the National Library’s FTP server.
● For each issue of the publication, the publisher must create a separate subfolder under this publication folder.
● The name of the issue folder must contain the year, month, and day of publication (formatted as YYYYMMDD), as well as the issue and the consecutive number. For magazines and continuing publications, the date of publication may also be given without the day (formatted as YYYYMM), although an exact date of publication is preferred.
● E.g., “20190107_1_207” or in the case of magazines and continuing publications also “201901_1_207”, where:
○ “2019” indicates the year,
○ “01” indicates the month,
○ “07” indicates the day of the month,
○ “1” is the issue number,
○ “207” is the consecutive number of the publication.
● In the absence of an issue and/or consecutive number, this shall not be included in the folder name: ○ in the absence of a consecutive number, the folder name should be “20190107_1”,
○ in the absence also of an ue number, the folder name should be “20190107”.
● Examples of file naming
○ AP_pohileht2701001.pdf,
○ AP_pohileht2701002.pdf,
○ AP_pohileht2701003.pdf,
○ AP_pohileht2701004.pdf,
○ where:
○ “AP_pohileht” is the code assigned to the name of the periodical publication,
○ “27” indicates the day of the month,
○ “01” indicates the month,
○ “001”, “002”, etc. indicate the page number.
- An issue of the magazine Raamatukogu:
○ AKraamatukogu_01_001.pdf,
○ AKraamatukogu_01_002.pdf,
○ AKraamatukogu_01_003.pdf,
○ AKraamatukogu_01_004.pdf,
○ where:
○ “AKraamatukogu” is the code assigned to the name of the periodical publication,
○ “01” indicates the issue number,
○ “001”, “002”, etc. indicate the page number.
4.4. Audio recordings
● To submit files via FTP, the user must create a folder and enter the title of the publication as the folder name:
○ e.g., the folder name for an album entitled Unustuse jõel should be “unustuse_joel”.
● File names must include the track number and the title of the track, for example:
○ 01_Unustuse_joel.wav
○ 02_Mul_meenub_taas.wav
○ 03_Laululinnuhaldjas.wav
● If text files are submitted together with the music files (e.g., covers, tracklists), they must be named as follows:
○ Unustuse_joel_cover.pdf
○ Unustuse_joel_tracklist.txt
4.5. Maps
● To submit files via FTP, the user must create a folder and enter the ISBN or, in the absence thereof, the title of the publication as the folder name.
● The file name must include the title of the publication. If the same publication is published in a different year, language, or format, all such differences must be indicated in the name of the file. The standard name format is: title_specification_year_language.format, e.g.:
○ TallinnA3_2017_fin.pdf
○ Tallinn_city_centre_2017_rus.pdf
○ Nautical_chart_516_2017.tif
○ Atlas_of_nautical_charts_2_2017.pdf
● If the submitted publication is divided into multiple files, the files must be numbered according to the order of the respective parts in the publication, e.g.:
○ 001_TallinnA3_2017_fin_cover.pdf
○ 002_TallinnA3_2017_fin_content.pdf
4.6. Musical scores
● To submit files via FTP, the user must create a folder and enter the ISMN or, in the absence thereof, the title of the publication as the folder name, for example:
○ 9790540023188
○ Otsekui_hirv
● If the submitted publication consists of a single file, it must be named after the title proper of the publication, for example:
○ Pimedus_keldris.pdf
● If the submitted publication is divided into multiple files, they must be named after their content. Files published by the Estonian Association of Wrestling Veterans, for example, should be named and ordered as follows:
○ Score_cover.pdf,
○ Score_content.pdf,
○ Part_violin.pdf,
○ Part_flute.pdf,
or
○ Songbook_cover.pdf,
○ Songbook_content.pdf.
● The order of the files in the folder must correspond to the structure of the publication.
4.7. Ephemera
● To submit files via FTP, the user must create a folder named “pisitrykised” (from Estonian “pisitrükised” – “ephemera”) and appropriate category-based subfolders, e.g.:
○ 7_Ajalugu_Geograafia_Turism.
1. Teadus. Haridus. Kasvatus
2. Majandus. Rahandus. Ettevõtlus. Kaubandus
3. Ühiskonna elu ja korraldus. Religioon. Poliitika. Õigus
4. Loodus. Meditsiin. Põllumajandus
5. Tehnika. Tehnoloogia. Ehitus. Transport. Side
6. Kultuur. Kunst. Muusika. Keeled, kirjandus. Sport. Meelelahutus.
7. Ajalugu. Geograafia. Turism
8. Kalendrid
9. Ristsõnad, sudokud
● Under each category folder, the user must create a folder for the year of publication.
● The file name must include the title of the publication.