NSK Legal Deposit Office

It is one of the principal tasks of NSK, the National and University Library in Zagreb, to collect, catalogue, store, preserve and make available all printed and non-print materials published in Croatia. The first legal provisions which entitled NSK to collect Croatian published output were introduced in as early as 1816.

The main deposit libraries in the Croatian legal deposit system, those collecting the entire national publishing output, are the National and University Library in Zagreb, which is entitled to each publication’s two copies (the archival copy, collected for the purpose of long-term preservation, and the unique copy, collected for the purpose of making the publication available for use), and the Split University Library, which is entitled to one copy of each publication, collected for the purpose of making it available for use (the unique copy).

Other Croatian legal deposit libraries, the secondary legal deposit libraries entitled to the delivery of the type of resources specified by law, are the university libraries in Osijek, Pula and Rijeka and the research libraries in Dubrovnik and Zadar, along with the library of the Croatian University of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2019 Croatian library act (Zakon o knjižnicama i knjižničnoj djelatnosti), Croatian text only.

2020 Croatian Legal Deposit Regulations (Pravilnik o obveznom primjerku), Croatian text only.

2013 amendments to the Croatian higher education act (Zakon o izmjenama i dopunama Zakona o znanstvenoj djelatnosti i visokome obrazovanju), Croatian text only.

Publications falling under legal deposit provisions

• Printed publications: books, brochures, study prints, separates, journals, newspapers, magazines, bulletins, yearbooks, geographical and other maps, conference proceedings and other collective works, reproductions of pictorial works of art, printed music, catalogues, calendars, theatrical playbills, theatre and other kinds of posters, leaflets, postcards, short advertisements and other types of ephemera, official publications, microforms.
• Audiovisual material: audio and video recordings, microfilmed recordings, phonograph records.
• Electronic, online and other non-print material: compact discs, DVDs (formerly also magnetic tapes, floppy disks, etc.), online material (books, periodicals, annual reports, websites).
• Graduation, master’s and doctoral theses accepted at Croatian universities.

Entities bound by legal deposit legislation

Entities bound by legal deposit legislation are publishers and manufacturers of all printed and non-print material registered in Croatia, i.e. legal entities and natural persons publishing or manufacturing material for the public, regardless of whether this material is intended for sale or free distribution.

The abovesaid entities and persons are obliged to deliver to NSK their published resources within 30 days of these resources’ publication, reproduction or other means of production.

Non-compliance with legal deposit requirements represents a legal offence and is subject to fines.

Publishers and authors outside Croatia

We encourage all legal entities and natural persons registered outside Croatia publishing material related to Croatia or the Croatian language as well as all Croatian authors publishing material outside Croatia to donate their material to the Library.

Number of legal deposit copies

• books, journals and collective works whose publication is fully or partially funded by public resources: 9 copies
• books, journals and collective works whose publication is not fully or partially funded by public resources: 4 copies
• newspapers, non-music audio recordings, printed music, maps and charts, multimedia and microforms: 6 copies
• official publications, artwork on paper and the reproductions of pictorial works of art: 5 copies
• music and audio recordings, ephemera: 4 copies.

Exceptionally valuable and expensive publications (bibliographies, print portfolios, etc.) whose selling price exceeds €398.17 have to be submitted to NSK in a single copy.

For all details concerning the deposit of online content, which NSK harvests and makes available as part of the Croatian Web Archive (Hrvatski arhiv weba), and non-print works as well as detailed information about the legal deposit procedure please contact our office using the contact details below.