The Copyright Act 1968 requires all publishers to lodge a copy of every printed book to the National Library of Australia (NLA) and their relevant state library. This is called legal deposit. Print on demand is considered a form of print and thus legal deposit is required. ‘Published’ simply means ‘made available to the public’ (regardless of whether it is free or at a cost).

Electronic publications (that have no physical form, such as ebooks, though not those distributed on physical media like CDs) are not covered by the current Act, and this means that legal deposit is not required for them, though it is being planned for.…