Writers, publishers advised to deposit publications with Sarawakiana

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KUCHING: The law requires writers and publishers to deposit publications with the state deposit centre.

State library’s head of Sarawakiana unit Hayati Sabil said that this was to ensure that the written treasures in the state are preserved for current and future research purposes.

“Sometimes, writers or publishers are not sensitive to the importance of depositing their publications, so I wish to stress that writers, publishers, government and private agencies as well as non-government agencies are to deposit their publications with the state library,” she said when speaking at the Legal Deposit of Publications Awareness seminar at the state library here yesterday.

Failure to do so would violate the law, according to Hayati, who added that they could be charged under sections 15(1) and (2) of the Sarawak State Library Ordinance 1999, which carries a fine of not more than RM3,000.

“Writers and publishers should send five copies of printed publications to the permanent deposit, Sarawakiana collection, main collection, Miri library as well as Sibu public library.

“As for non-printed materials, only two copies need to be sent to the permanent deposit as well as to University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas),” she explained, adding that since the year 2000, a total of 30,655 publications comprising books, serial publications and theses had been received.

“As many as 127,092 newspapers comprising The Borneo Post, Utusan Borneo, See Hua Daily News, Utusan Sarawak, The New Sarawak Tribune and International Times have been deposited since 2000 to the present,” Hayati added.

The seminar was attended by about 40 participants from various private and public sectors, and featured four other speakers.