Harvesting process

The process of using software to search the world wide web. The concept is used in the UK government's consultation on extending the requirements of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 to non-printed publications (see private works, qv). Its revised proposals (April 2011) indicate that it will extend the requirement to provide a copy of published material to off-line works and to on-line works that can be obtained using a harvesting process (although the draft Legal Deposit Libraries (Non-print Publications) Regulations 2011 do not define or even use this expression: "web harvester" is defined, though, meaning "software which is used to search the world wide web and requests delivery of an on line publication on behalf of a deposit library"). The set of on-line works that may be so obtained includes content that is freely available or has access restrictions (this could include paid for content) and which has been published in the UK but is by its nature likely to be confined to free online content. In its original proposals the government said that harvesting software would only be used to locate and request the deposit of freely available on-line content, which is likely to be extensive enough anyway.