Building the South African Nation through Legal Deposit: The Impact of Legislation on Preservation of Digital Materials

Abstract

The legal deposit of and preservation of digital materials depends on the proper legislative framework and implementation of the Legal Deposit Act. This article examines the challenges related to legal instruments affecting the legal deposit of digital materials in South Africa. Two main objectives of the study upon which this article is based were to find out the systems in place to help collect and ensure long term accessibility to print and electronic publications. This included the examination of the legislative regulatory and policy framework relating to preservation and access to legal deposit materials. The different legislations reviewed included the Legal Deposit Act No. 54 of 1997, copyright laws, the Promotion of Access to Information Act No 2, 2000 and the current Protection of State Information Bill of South Africa. Four legal deposit libraries and three Official Publications Depositories (OPDs) were the units of analysis, with a population of 17 staff directly involved with legal deposit. The survey revealed that though the South African Legal Deposit Act covers electronic materials, majority of the depositories did not have policies to manage or collect these types of materials. The greatest challenge that comes with collecting and preserving electronic materials are the multifaceted issues regarding legislation, as well as the preservation of technology used to create, store and access these records in comparison with paper.