General Prepublication Data Service application process
Please note: The Prepublication Data Service will close at 5pm on 16 December 2024 and return from 9am 13th January 2025. Enquiries and applications will be responded to after that time, but response times may be affected. The National Library appreciates your patience and understanding during this time.
1. Complete your application
You only need to fill out the fields with a blue tick, although we encourage you to fill out as many other fields as possible as they contain useful information for libraries and library suppliers. Please ensure your application has the most accurate and up-to-date information possible as we do not make changes to prepublication catalogue records.
Publisher details: If you are a self-publishing author, you are considered to be the publisher. Fill out this section with your own details, not those of the printer or the self-publishing service that you used.
City/Town/Suburb and State: This information will help libraries to acquire material that is relevant to their location. If you are a self-publisher, add your own City/Town/Suburb and State, not that of the printer or self-publishing service that you used.
Expected year of publication: If your book is due to be published at a date later than those provided in the Prepublication Data Service form, please fill out the form closer to publication.
Creator name: Name the person or organisation who is primarily responsible for the content of the publication. Use the additional name fields to add other people or organisations who also created the publication's content. If your book has more than four creators, we will add them to the catalogue record once your book is published and the legal deposit copy has been received and processed.
Year of birth: We use year of birth to differentiate between creators with the same or similar names. This field is not mandatory.
Role: If the creator of your book does not fall into any of the given categories, do not select a role.
Select a subject
In the application form, you have the option to specify the subject(s) of your publication. You may select one fiction subject or up to two non-fiction subjects. Your book may fit into multiple subject categories. Choose the primary subject.
Subject descriptions
The Prepublication Data Service form uses a defined selection of Thema subjects.
Biographical fiction: fictional accounts of the lives of real people
Classic fiction: works of literary and non-genre fiction, first published before 1960 or widely regarded as ‘classic.’ For example, new editions of For the Term of His Natural Life and The Great Gatsby.
Family life fiction: novels of domestic or small-scale family life
Fiction companions: fan-based fiction
Generational sagas: novels which chronicle the fortunes of a family or families often over generations
Modern & contemporary fiction: works of literary and non-genre fiction first published after 1960. For example, new editions of Oscar and Lucinda, and The Natural Way of Things.
Speculative fiction: Speculative fiction asks 'what if?' about our world. It is narrative fiction with supernatural or futuristic elements, and can include fantasy, science-fiction, horror or alternate history. Examples of speculative fiction include: The Handmaid's Tale, 1984, American Gods, World War Z and Defying Doomsday.
Biography: general: Includes biographies and autobiographies
Family & health: family, relationships, parenting, fitness, diet, personal safety, popular medicine, home nursing and caring, coping with personal problems (including illness, disability, stress, abuse and bereavement)
Fine arts: art forms: Painting, drawing, graphic arts, sculpture, art installations, performance art, ceramics, glass art, textile art, decorative arts
Fine arts: treatments & subjects: art history, artists, exhibitions, collections, art technique and principals, humans in art, animals in art, genre subjects in art, religious art
Lifestyle, Hobbies & Leisure: antiques, collecting, craft, gardening, home maintenance, hobbies, quizzes, games, humour, personal style guides, transport
Mind, body, spirit: fortune telling, divination, meditation, dreams, psychic phenomena, the paranormal, feng shui, mysticism, magic, complimentary therapies (including acupuncture, aromatherapy, naturopathy, homeopathy, reflexology, reiki, traditional medicine)
Nature & the natural world: general interest: dinosaurs, countryside, working animals, farm animals
Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects: encyclopaedias, reference works, research, interdisciplinary studies
Society & Social Sciences: Includes books on culture, media, social groups, popular beliefs, sociology, anthropology, criminology, social and ethical issues (including social discrimination, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, welfare, disability, violence, refugees and political asylum, immigration, health, addiction, abortion, euthanasia, censorship, sex and sexuality)
2. Add the cataloguing statement to your publication
Once you submit your application, we will automatically generate a brief prepublication catalogue record for your upcoming book. This prepublication record will appear in Libraries Australia and Trove within 48 hours.
To show in your publication that there is a record of it in the National Library's catalogue, you may choose to include the cataloguing statement. This will be included in the application confirmation email or can be downloaded below.
Cataloguing statement with National Library logo
Cataloguing statement with National Library logo
- Download and open the ZIP file above or from your application confirmation email.
- Select your preferred layout and open the relevant file. One file contains the cataloguing statement with the National Library logo. One file contains the cataloguing statement without the National Library logo.
- Select your preferred image format for the cataloguing statement. For your convenience, we provide the cataloguing statement in the following formats: JPG, PNG and EPS
The cataloguing statement should be printed on the imprint page with the publication details and copyright information. This is usually located on the reverse side of the title page.
For electronic publications, the cataloguing statement should also appear with the publication details and copyright information.
The cataloguing statement may be resized (with constraints maintained), ranged left or centred to suit your design arrangements. The cataloguing statement may not be altered in any other way.
Your imprint page is usually on the reverse side of the title page, and is also known as the copyright page. It may contain as little or as much information as you like.
We recommend that you print your publisher details, the publication date, copyright information and ISBN or ISMN.
You may also choose to print the cataloguing statement on this page. This is optional.
3. Meet your legal deposit obligations
The last step in the Prepublication Data Service process is sending your book to the National Library of Australia under legal deposit once it is published.
Legal deposit is a requirement for publications to be deposited with the National Library of Australia, and applies to both online and offline Australian publications. Learn more about legal deposit.
The prepublication catalogue record will be upgraded to full cataloguing standards once the National Library has received and processed the legal deposit copy of your published book. The full catalogue record will be uploaded to Libraries Australia and Trove, with the information that your book has been published and the following acknowledgement: A copy has been contributed to the Library through legal deposit.
The National Library of Australia is streamlining the Pre-publication Data Service (PDS) and National edeposit (NED) system to provide a more efficient experience for publishers of digital publications.
Now if you deposit in NED, metadata entered into the PDS form will be re-used and pre-fill data when you deposit a monograph in electronic format in NED.
Take note of your reference number (NLAppxxxx) contained in your confirmation email after submitting your online PDS application, as this is needed if you also deposit via NED.
You will be prompted to enter your reference number with the question: "Is your ePublication registered with the Prepublication Data Service?" on the NED "ePublication details" page.
This will prepopulate the data you entered on your PDS form. Pre-populated data can still be edited in the NED deposit form.
Not all PDS users currently deposit in NED, information about depositing your material in electronic format can be found on the NED website.
Have a question?
If you're not sure about your eligibility or have a question about the application process, submit an enquiry via our online form. We can no longer be contacted directly by telephone. You will receive a response within 10 working days. Please note we are closed on public holidays.
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