diff --git a/gnu/packages/libreoffice.scm b/gnu/packages/libreoffice.scm
index e285e5f897..fc0ca836fa 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/libreoffice.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/libreoffice.scm
@@ -163,10 +163,12 @@ (define-public libe-book
      `(("cppunit" ,cppunit)
        ("gperf" ,gperf)
        ("pkg-config" ,pkg-config)))
-    (inputs `(("boost" ,boost)
-              ("icu4c" ,icu4c)
-              ("librevenge" ,librevenge)
-              ("libxml2" ,libxml2)))
+    (propagated-inputs ; in Requires or Requires.private field of .pkg
+     `(("icu4c" ,icu4c)
+       ("librevenge" ,librevenge)
+       ("libxml2" ,libxml2)))
+    (inputs
+      `(("boost" ,boost)))
     (arguments
      ;; avoid triggering configure errors by simple inclusion of boost headers
      `(#:configure-flags '("--disable-werror")))