Legal deposit what is it?   

If you publish a work in Victoria – that is, make material available to the public for sale, to registered members or free of charge – you are required to send one copy to the Library within 60 days of publication.

Legal deposit, which has its origins in the Copyright Act 1869, has helped to preserve and maintain a lasting record of Victoria’s publishing history. It has also enabled the The State Library of Victoria to collect Victorian publications not held in other libraries, providing valuable material for researchers. The National Library of Australia also wants to receive copies of community paper publications.

See detailed information here https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/help/copyright-legal-deposit/legal-deposit. Contact SLV if you need any more information.

Recently CNAV received correspondence from the State Library of Victoria. Apparently a number of community papers have got behind in submitting their papers to the library. The pandemic may have been a major reason why papers overlooked sending their papers in. Some papers may have  changed their editors or support staff and forgot to tell them about legal deposit. Some of our newer members may not have started submitting their papers yet.

As major libraries are digitising their resources, it is easier for papers to email their issues as digital copy. It can now be done through a single online service – National edeposit (NED) at https://www.ned.gov.au/ned/