Step 3 – Access Conditions

As part of the deposit process, you can nominate the level of public access for your publication. NED will increase the discoverability of your publication, reaching new audiences across Australia. Publications deposited with the NED service will have a catalogue record in Trove, the National Library of Australia and any relevant state or territory library.

Prior to selecting your preferred access condition, you will need to confirm that you have authority, including from relevant copyright holders, to deposit publications, nominate access conditions and grant required licences.

Is this electronic publication currently commercially available?

Commercially available means that your publication can be purchased by the public or via a fee-based membership or subscription.

What are the access conditions and what do they mean for my publication?

Access conditions are what we use to make an agreement between you (the publisher) and us (our library/libraries) on how the public can view your publication.

There are six access conditions that you can select from:

Openly on the Internet The content can be viewed openly on the Internet from any web browser and may be downloaded, copied or printed.
Openly on the Internet – with temporary download restriction The content can be viewed openly on the Internet and becomes downloadable after 6 months for serials or 12 months for monographs.
Openly on the Internet – with download restrictions The content can be viewed openly on the Internet from any web browser but cannot be downloaded.
Openly on the Internet – with temporary download and location restrictions The content can only be viewed from within the premises of the National, state and territory libraries for the first 12 months. Following this it can be viewed openly on the Internet and may be downloaded.
Onsite only at the national, state and territory libraries The content can be viewed from within the premises of the national, state and territory libraries and is protected from unauthorised copying and downloading.
Onsite only at the National Library of Australia and applicable state/territory libraries The content can only be viewed from within the premises of the National Library of Australia and applicable state/territory libraries and is protected from unauthorised copying and downloading.

If your publication is available commercially, you may choose to limit access to ‘onsite only’. Choosing ‘onsite only’ means the item can be viewed, but will not be able to be downloaded, transferred, saved, printed or copied. ‘Onsite only’ access allows users to view your publication via a secure viewer which does not permit capturing or storing the publication in any way.

Access to deposited publications is consistent with the Copyright Act 1968 and legal deposit laws and in accordance with the access conditions nominated by depositors, noting that these access conditions cannot reduce or restrict rights under legislation.

Copying, document delivery and provision of accessible formats

Australian copyright law permits copying or re-use of in-copyright material in certain circumstances. The provisions of the Copyright Act that set out these circumstances are known as 'exceptions'. Fair dealing exceptions apply when material is copied for the purpose of research, study, criticism, review, parody, satire, reporting the news, or giving legal advice. The Copyright Act expressly states that certain acts constitute fair dealings, such as copying up to 10% or one chapter of a book, or copying one article, for research or study.

NED will provide document delivery of publications to library users in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. For example, by providing a user with a copy of one article from an issue of a journal, or a copy of 10 per cent or one chapter (whichever is less) of a one-off publication of more than 10 pages.

There are also exceptions which allow some copying by cultural and educational institutions on behalf of people with print or intellectual disabilities. Amendments in 2017 introduced exceptions to facilitate the import and export of accessible formats of published works (in accordance with the provisions of the Marrakesh Treaty). There are also exceptions that enable persons with a disability and anyone assisting them, as well as organisations assisting persons with a disability to use copyright material.

Will NED affect the commercial viability of my publication?

NED member libraries understand the importance of protecting publishers’ commercial interests and the intellectual property of creators. It is not anticipated that NED will affect library acquisition programs for print or electronic commercial publications. Publications will continue to be purchased to provide offsite access through lending and electronic resource subscription services. The Trove catalogue record for your publication will include links to online retailers and booksellers if your publication is available for sale.