The media landscape has greatly changed during the last decades. More and more information is being published not only on paper but (also) through other media such as cd-rom. Certain electronic information is only accessible via networks. The new information technology offers opportunities to interconnect cultural, scientific and economic interests. At the spearhead of this development is the Depot for Dutch Electronic Publications (DNEP). The KB, the national library of the Netherlands, will create the electronic information facilities, together with Dutch publishers, that are necessary for scientific research in the future, and which at the same time offer publishers the possibility to make publications available to a wide circle of users. Not only in the national library itself, but also - under conditions agreed with the publishers - via the information superhighway.
Preservation of the cultural heritage of the Netherlands
The primary goal of the DNEP is the same as that of the existing
deposit collection of printed publications: to preserve the national
heritage.
Who will concern themselves with an electronic publication when
the demand for it diminishes and the supply has ceased? Not all
electronic publications are worth keeping, but for the sake of
future research at least a portion of what is on offer, which
just like printed publications and journals belongs to the national
heritage of the Netherlands, ought to be preserved.
Electronic publications offer a new functionality which among
others manifests itself in an increase in presentation and search
possibilities. Conversely, electronic publications are more susceptible
to manipulation, such as forgery, than printed books and journals.
The DNEP aims to focus special attention on safeguarding
the authenticity and integrity of deposited electronic documents.
The Dutch Bibliography
In line with the storage process lies the bibliographic description of
and access to the deposited documents in the form of the Dutch
Bibliography and the use of the deposit collection as a last resort for
the availability of a publication. For this purpose the Dutch Bibliography
has been further expanded with the addition of a rubric for electronic
publications. Additions to the Dutch Bibliography are published
annually in book form and weekly in the journal Boekblad.
Titles can be consulted via the KB-OPAC (on-line public access
catalogue).
1 July 1997