1. Legislation for digital heritage preservation: where we are today Digital Memory, Tallinn, 24.11.2005 Anita Goldberga National Library of Latvia

2. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv The traditional functions of legal deposit equally apply to digital heritage: Preservation of the national culture heritage; Informing public about this heritage

3. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv The present legal deposit act in Latvia - the state law “On the Supply of Legal Deposit Copies of Printed and Other Publications’’ of October 16, 1997

4. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv Imperfections in this Law The experts of the European Union recommend to reduce the number of copies; The attitude to the supply of legal deposit copies is unsatisfactory; The necessity to cover the digitally born publications

5. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv Amendments to the present law are concerned with: Number of copies to be supplied; Control mechanism regulating the functioning of the law; Coverage of publications and new responsibilities of NLL; Definitions

6. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv Latvian draft in comparison with legal deposit acts of other countries does not: Contain detail listing of the kinds of publications to be delivered (the listing is supplied in Appendix); Point out exceptions and limitations; Include details and the listing of the possible various cases (considering the fast changing reality that makes the laws become out of date as fast as technologies)

7. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv Latvian draft does not include also: Delivery of radio, TV broadcasts and movies because in Latvia other institutions have permanently been in charge for their archiving; Norms on copyright, as these are covered by other laws; Points on the archiving and preservation of databases and internet portals; No criteria of harvesting are given, although the gathering of on-line publications (including those of a limited access) is pointed out as the responsibility of NLL.

8. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv Substantial distinctions in Latvian draft are the following: It envisages only the harvesting of on-line publications, not a direct delivery of them from publishers; The delivery of copies to other libraries is the responsibility of NLL, and not of publishers themselves; One copy of on-line publications is preserved in NLL only.

9. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv The foreseeable tasks of NLL (1): To develop the co-operation with publishers. After the act is adopted additional rules (of the Cabinet?) will be necessary for the collaboration with on-line publishers, as the law defines general regulations, not the specific ones. There is a separate category of publishers having already their own archives; After adoption of the law the work in separate groups is to be performed; The solutions on the optimal periodicity of harvesting and the overlap of information;

10. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv The foreseeable tasks of NLL (2): The policy of preservation; Examining the criteria of selection. The possible risk to loose the information uncovered by the law; The analyses of the harvested information; The decisions concerning metadata (acquired manually and automatically), preservation standards and unique identifiers; A better understanding of the processes of long-term preservation.

11. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv The national policy for the digital culture heritage ‘’The Guidelines for Union Information System of Memory and Culture Heritage Institutions’’. http://www.kis.gov.lv/attach/MAB_IS_vadlinij as.pdf; http://www.kis.gov.lv/attach/MAB_IS_vadlinij as.pdf Ongoing activities for the elaboration of the strategy of NLL digital library “Letonica” http://www.lnb.lv/eng/dig_lib.htm http://www.lnb.lv/eng/dig_lib.htm

12. anita.goldberga@lnb.lv Conclusion: Harvesting must not be a project with separate steps any more, it shall be a long-term program with adequate resources, regular everyday contribution and a publicly available result.