Sweden has a long tradition of collecting documents by way of a process of legal deposit of copies. Its aim is to ensure the availability of material for research, cultural preservation and citizens’ right to free information. New forms of publications, made possible by technical advances, are not accommodated in the traditional deposit submission criteria. Certain information accordingly risks being lost. This problem has been reviewed in a national public study with the purpose of providing proposals for new legislation. Our thesis is focused on the central questions of the appearance of the discourse surrounding "what is to be preserved" and which definitions of document have been presented in the discourse. To answer the first question, we have utilised the discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe and for the second question we have used the model presented by the Pédauque research group containing three proposals for a definition of document. The conclusion of the discourse analysis is, among other things, that we identified the overarching themes of the discourse as: democracy, cultural preservation, technical development, accessibility and publication. There is an antagonism within the discourse as regards the level of accessibility of electronic online information and the level of priority of collection in relation to privately and professionally published material. Our analysis of the definition of document led to the conclusion that Pédauque’s document perspectives is used in an integrated manner in the discourse and that these are dependent upon each other when the actors in the discourse present them. / Uppsatsnivå: D