The Genevan cantonal law of 19 April 1967 requires that a copy of any printed document published in Geneva be deposited with the Bibliothèque de Genève. In this way the Bibliothèque has put together long-term reference collections of the city’s output in printed matter. The legal deposit collections are the property of the Canton of Geneva. They preserve a trace of all that the city has said, thought, done, taught, invented, debated, imagined, or built. Both daily life and major events are likely to get a mention. Every inhabitant, every social group can and does leave its mark on this legacy.

Geneva’s legal deposit was established in 1539 and is one of the oldest in the world. Since the late 16th century, the Bibliothèque de Genève has been responsible for the application of this law and over the centuries has amassed extensive collections of works published in Geneva. The legal deposit was revoked in 1907 in a court decision, but the gaps in publishing history occasioned by the repeal led the Great Council of Geneva to reestablish it in 1967 by adopting a new law that went into effect two years later in 1969.

Bibliothèque de Genève
Dépôt légal
Case postale
1211 Genève 4