{"id":3932,"date":"2023-01-18T14:26:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T13:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.centre-mersenne.org\/the-legal-deposit\/"},"modified":"2023-10-13T14:12:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:12:13","slug":"the-legal-deposit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.centre-mersenne.org\/en\/the-legal-deposit\/","title":{"rendered":"The legal deposit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is legal deposit<\/strong>?<\/h2>\n\n

The BnF gives the following definition<\/a> of the legal deposit: \u00ab Inscrit dans le Code du patrimoine, le d\u00e9p\u00f4t l\u00e9gal est l\u2019obligation pour tout \u00e9diteur, imprimeur, producteur, importateur, de d\u00e9poser chaque document qu\u2019il \u00e9dite, imprime, produit ou importe, aupr\u00e8s de l\u2019organisme habilit\u00e9 \u00e0 recevoir le d\u00e9p\u00f4t en fonction de la nature du document. Cette obligation s\u2019applique \u00e0 tout document diffus\u00e9 en nombre \u00e0 un public s\u2019\u00e9tendant au-del\u00e0 du cercle de famille \u00bb.<\/p>\n\n

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The legal deposit it is regulated by the Code du Patrimoine<\/u><\/a>, articles L131-1 to L133-1 et R131-1 \u00e0 R133-1. It is mandatory<\/strong> and ensures the collection and preservation<\/strong> of documents published in France. As the Lyon municipal library<\/a> points out : \u00ab L\u2019ensemble des documents imprim\u00e9s \u00e0 une \u00e9poque donn\u00e9e est le fid\u00e8le reflet des activit\u00e9s, des pr\u00e9occupations, des id\u00e9es, des modes de ce temps, et constitue ainsi un t\u00e9moignage exceptionnel et irrempla\u00e7able sur la vie sociale, culturelle, \u00e9conomique, politique, artistique de ce temps\u2026 Il est donc primordial de le pr\u00e9server et de le conserver pour les g\u00e9n\u00e9rations futures \u00bb. In addition, records are associated with each deposited document, allowing them to be searched in the databases and thus consulted in the BnF’s research rooms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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joshveitchmichaelis, CC BY-SA 2.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Because of its mandatory nature, legal deposit allows libraries to collect documents that do not go through the usual publishing channels. The website of the municipal library of Lyon<\/a> further adds that the legal deposit \u00ab est essentiel \u00e9galement dans d\u2019autres domaines, notamment dans le secteur juridique (valeur probatoire en ce qui concerne la date de publication d\u2019une \u0153uvre) ou \u00e9conomique (statistiques de l\u2019\u00e9dition, r\u00e9f\u00e9rence pour le commerce du livre…) \u00bb<\/p>\n\n

Which documents are concerned?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
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Ron Lach, Pexels<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The legal deposit website<\/a> states: “Legal deposit applies to all documents made available to the public in bulk, whether in return for payment or free of charge. This obligation applies not only to printed documents but also to maps and plans, photographs, musical scores, audiovisual documents, software, databases, video games, etc.”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full list of documents subject to legal deposit is available here:https:\/\/www.bnf.fr\/fr\/depot-legal-pour-quels-documents<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Who deposits?<\/h2>\n\n

In France, the deposit concerns:<\/p>\n\n