The Library of Congress has taken a collaborative approach to the collection and preservation of digital information in order to remain relevant and useful to Congress and its constituents in the digital age. No single institution can do the job of collecting, preserving and making available all the information in digital form that that students, teachers, researchers and lifelong learners have come to expect will be available at the touch of a mouse.
In December 2000, Congress asked the Library to lead a collaborative project, called the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), in recognition of the importance of preserving digital content for future generations. Congress passed special legislation (Public Law 106-554) appropriating $100 million to the Library of Congress to lead this effort. The goal of the program is to develop a national strategy to collect, archive and preserve the growing amounts of digital content, especially materials that are created only in digital formats, for current and future generations.
Through this program the Library is working with partners from universities, libraries, archives, federal agencies and commercial content and technology organizations. The program is organized to accomplish five goals:
- Identify and collect at-risk born-digital content.
Maps, movies, sound recordings, Web sites and databases that will provide a record for history are being created only in digital form. The NDIIPP partners are saving this information for future generations.
- Build and support a national network of partners working together to preserve digital content.
The task of saving our digital heritage is too large for a single library or archive to do alone. By working together, preservation partners can leverage the network’s collective body of knowledge as well as save more content.
- Develop and use technical tools and services for preservation.
Technology is changing rapidly but it is also useful for saving digital information. Tools and services are being developed to help libraries and archives manage, store and retrieve digital information.
- Encourage public policy to support digital preservation.
There are laws and public policies that can support and encourage the saving of digital information. One of the biggest hurdles for libraries and archives is how to preserve and make available digital materials. We are tackling the very difficult challenges of copyright through a special working group of intellectual property law experts assembled from both the public and private sectors.
- Show why digital preservation is important for everyone.
Digital cameras, the Internet and portable music devices give everyone an opportunity to create and distribute digital information. Saving that information has become everybody’s task.
