Acquisition Methods

Home > About Us > Acquisition Methods

Overview

See also: Collection Policies | Donations of Material

The Collection Development Policy provides the Library with an overall framework for the collecting of Australian and overseas materials.

The Library acquires Australian material mainly through legal deposit, purchase (direct from publishers or through library suppliers), exchange, gift or donation.

Copies of all works published in Australia are received by the Library under the legal deposit provisions (s201) of the Copyright Act, 1968 - which cover books, journals, maps, newspapers and printed music. Commonwealth, State and Territory Government publications are excluded from this legislation, but are also received by deposit under a variety of directives and circulars. Material issued in microform (ie microfiche, microfilm and microcard) is normally purchased by the Library to supplement its collections in other material formats. Electronic formats, such as CD-ROM, are also acquired through voluntary deposit or purchased. Unpublished Australian materials such as manuscripts and pictures are acquired through purchase or donation, with additional photographs and oral history recordings commissioned for the collection.

Events such as federal elections, the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Australian Bicentenary and Centenary of Federation generate a vast range of publications and other printed ephemera - including flyers, posters, leaflets, memorabilia, stickers, etc. The Library's active acquisitions program aims to provide broad-ranging collections of material documenting such significant events in Australian life.

Overseas material is acquired primarily through arrangements with commercial vendors where material is supplied according to previously specified profiles. The Library (including the Regional Office, Asia) also selects material on a title-by-title basis to ensure that acquisitions are maintained in accordance with the Collection Development Policy. Publications of international organisations and world governments are deposited with the National Library as a regional centre - this includes material from the United Nations etc.