Legal Deposit
An important task of the State Library is to collect and archive all literature published in its region. The library provides access to this literature and makes it permanently available for use by the public. This task is codified in the Hessian Library Act (HessBiblG) of September 20, 2010 (current version dating from 12 December, 2021), §6. The State Library is responsible for the administrative region of Kassel (Regierungsbezirk Kassel, excluding the district of Fulda) and the district of Marburg-Biedenkopf.
Based on the Hessian Ordinance on Compulsory Copies ("Verordnung über die Pflichtablieferung von Medienwerken" vuirrent version dating from 14 August 2017), every publisher (in the wider sense) is obliged to deliver one copy of its new publications to the State Library within one month from publication. This does not only apply to commercial publishing houses, but to all authors and institutions that issue publications (e.g., associations, public and private institutions). - As early as 1748, every publisher in Hesse-Kassel was required by law to deliver one copy of each of their new publications to the Landgravial Library without charging for it.
In addition to commerical publications, the State Library also collects so-called "gray literature", literature distributed outside the conventional book trade. Among the publications coming into the library as a deposit copy, one finds for example:
- Jubilee publications issued by clubs and associations
- Daily newspapers
- Llocal periodicals
- Fiction
- Maps
- Guidebooks
- Sheet music
Legal Deposit and Electronic Publications
Since September 2017, Hessian regulations on legal deposit also include the delivery of electronic publications. For general information as well as information on the status of the procedure, please refer to the website on electronic legal deposit of the Hessian Library Consortium (hebis)