Requests for serial articles received through the Library's Document Supply Service are met by copying the article. 1.10 All printed materials in the Library are available for use on the Library premises even if only one copy is held. Items that are particularly fragile, rare or valuable, or limited editions, may be subject to use only in a specialist reading room under supervision. These are available for use in the Library and for display and exhibition purposes. One copy only is generally acquired for overseas monographs and serials.
Overseas monographs are available for loan both within and outside the Library.
As a legal deposit library the Library does not generally dispose of Australian items in its collections. Exceptions to this are multiple copies of the same item, items outside the scope of the collection policy, material only collected by sample, and material that is replaced by consolidated or cumulated editions. The Library's overseas collection is a single-copy collection of library materials, the nature and development of which is governed by the Library's collection development policy. The Library regards itself a research library and as such it will retain, and ensure the long-term availability of, any material possessing at least a minimal level of informational integrity, once acquired and fully catalogued.