Rethinking legal deposit: Communities of heritage and the protection of digital cultural paratext

Abstract

This thesis analyses legal deposit as a legal institution for the safeguarding and stewardship of documentary heritage and posits that the purpose and inspiration of legal deposit is to provide a legal framework for the heritage management of the publications of each country. National libraries are heritage mediators and have the institutional capacity to develop identifiers and registers for digital heritage paratext. The thesis proposes that legal deposit should incorporate a mechanism for the creation, management and preservation of digital cultural paratext/metadata with the participation of communities of heritage. It proposes the legal protection of the integrity of digital heritage paratext and its identifiers. The thesis is based on a contemporary understanding of heritage as part of human rights and the recognition of diverse communities of heritage in multicultural societies. Creation and safeguarding of digital heritage paratext will promote plurality of memories and identities through interpretation and presentation of heritage resources.