Abstract:
The objective of having a legal deposit collection is to preserve the national documentary heritage of a country. The history of legal deposits in Sri Lanka started in 1885. The depositary library is obliged to conserve the collection to provide publications as evidence in legal requirements. Most of the institutes only maintain a legal deposit collection as a closed repository, not available to the public. The University of Ruhuna legal deposit collection is unique in this regard as all resources in the collection are searchable.
