The National Library will tighten the regulation requiring all book publishers in the country to submit five copies of each book published by them to the National Library beginning next year, in line with the provision under the Deposit of Library Material Act 1986.

Information, Communications and Culture Minister Rais Yatim said legal action would be taken against publishers who fail to do so.

"I wish to remind all publishers that for each book published, at least five copies must be deposited with the National Library because it is a legal requirement, and if they fail to do so, legal action can be taken (against them).

"Currently, many publishers do not heed this requirement resulting in the list of publications in this country being incomplete," Rais told reporters after launching the book entitled "Hotshots: 40 years of great news images by Star photographers" in Kuala Lumpur today.

The 249-page book carries photographs on government leaderships, politics, sports, conflicts and natural disasters, and is available at major bookstores in the country at a price of RM59.90 each.

Under Section 4(3) of the Act, publishers who fail to deposit their publication materials could be fined not more than RM3,000 upon conviction.

Rais said the gathering of materials published locally was to ensure that all publications in the country could be recorded by the National Library.

Regarding the launch of the book, the minister said the book publishing industry in the country which carried photo captions was beginning to draw more attention from the public.

He said that for the past two years, more than 206,000 books were published in the country and proceeds from the sale of books had increased to about RM2 billion yearly.

In this regard, Rais said the ministry would increase the writers' subsidy fund to the National Library, which was now allocated about RM2 million annually, to encourage more local writers to publish their works.

- Bernama