Legal deposit

According to the Legal Deposit Act, all documents that are made generally available in Norway must be deposited with the National Library, regardless of the medium on which they are published. This also includes digitally published documents and digital print source files.

Please click on the links below to find more information about different types of publications.

You can find the address for legal deposit here.

Legal deposit ensures that the Norwegian cultural heritage which is expressed through published material is preserved for posterity. The deposited documents form the basis of the National Library’s collection and are an important source for documentation and research.

Normally, the National Library requests three copies of all physical publications. For certain types of publications, the number may vary up to a maximum of seven copies. You will find a more detailed overview of what applies to different types of publications in the links above.

The revised legal deposit law came into effect on January 1, 2016.
The new regulation for the legal deposit law came into effect on July 2, 2018.


Generally available

A document is considered to be generally available when there are copies available for sale, rent or loan, or when the document is otherwise distributed beyond a private circle. A document can also be made generally available through performance, exhibition, broadcasting, or other similar means.


Documents created abroad

Documents created outside of Norway should only be deposited if they are produced for a Norwegian publisher or if they are specifically intended for a Norwegian audience.


Who should make the deposit?

Both the publisher and the printing house are obligated to make deposits to the National Library. The National Library may in some cases place the entire deposit obligation on one of the parties subject to the deposit requirement.

Digital documents should be deposited in one copy by the publisher. Both physical and digital documents should be deposited no later than when they are made publicly available.

The costs are covered by the one making the deposit. If the costs for legal deposit should be very high, the National Library may upon application provide full or partial reimbursement for production costs of the copies that are deposited.

What happens to the publications?

The publications are registered in the National Library’s databases and are digitized. The National Library preserves three physical copies of printed publications for archiving, interlibrary loans, and for use in the library’s reading room.

Recorded music and moving images are archived in the National Library’s preservation facility in Rana, and at the National Library in Oslo. The copies are not available for loan but can be listened to in designated listening rooms. Deposited audio recordings are also made available for documentation, study, and research purposes.

Digital publications are stored in the National Library’s digital preservation facility. The material is available for research and documentation purposes through university and college libraries as well as public libraries. Access is controlled by digital user licenses.