The National Archives of Zambia (NAZ) library operates under the Printed Publications Act (cap 161) of the revised laws of Zambia 1995 edition. This mandates NAZ to get at least two copies of every publication produced in Zambia. It also authorises the registration of periodical publications; these include newspapers, newsletters, magazines and bulletins. The National Archives of Zambia is the only insitution that has legal deposit status as it is responsible for managing legal deposit publications. As a legal deposit library, National Archives library is directly answerable to the government and the general public on matters relating to the state of information generation and production in the country in printed form. Legally it should be taken as a reserachers' last resort on any particular publications as long as it was published in Zambia. NAZ is expected to keep track as well as inform the public and its cooperating partners abroad about Zambia's contribution to literature and knowledge. The National Bibliography of Zambia, an annual pubblication is compiled for the purpose of informing people what it has acquired.
In ensuring that the publications in the country are identified and collected, all periodicals are registred with the library section. Proprietors applying and registering are advised to abide with the printed publications act by submitting at least two copies of each and every publication issued.
Receipt of publications is acknowledged by National Archives. Materials received by National Archives of Zambia are then entered in the Accessions register and given accession numbers, then catalogued and classified before they are taken into the repository or special library for storage. As of August 2005 there are 759 periodicals registered.