Standard identifiers with the metadata of the publication can be used inside the whole book sector in order to support the identification, handling and search of the publications. The Finnish ISBN Agency is in charge of the ISBNs for books and other monographic publications as well as of ISMNs for notated music. The Finnish ISSN centre coordinates the identifiers for continuing resources (periodicals, serial publications etc.) and the cataloguing of this material.

The customers of the Legal Deposit Office are the submitters of material to be preserved in the National Library. In practice this means printing houses, manufacturers of sound, image and CD-ROM recordings, and all publishers and producers who manufacture their publications themselves or have them manufactured abroad. Additionally, the archiving of on-line material requires cooperation between the Legal Deposit Office and on-line publishers.