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Digital Preservation

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Program Background

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Areas of Focus

The Program focuses on three areas:

  • Capturing, preserving, and making available significant digital content. Content under stewardship by NDIIPP partners includes geospatial information, web sites, audio visual productions, images and text, and materials related to critical public policy issues.
  • Building and strengthening a network of partners. The NDIIPP national network currently has more than 130 partners drawn from federal agencies, state and local governments, academia, professional and nonprofit organizations, and commercial entities.
  • Developing a technical infrastructure of tools and services. NDIIPP partners work collaboratively to develop a technical infrastructure by building the information systems, tools, and services that support digital preservation.

Program History

In December 2000, Congress appropriated $100 million for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, to be led by the Library of Congress. The legislation called for the Library to work with other federal agencies and also with a variety of additional stakeholders to develop a national approach to digital preservation.

Initial work focused on convening and engaging stakeholders across different communities to develop a plan for the program. Congress approved Preserving Our Digital Heritage: Plan for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (PDF, 3.15MB) in 2003. Other documents relating to initial NDIIPP planning are available here.

In 2004, the Library funded proposals for preserving content and establishing a network of preservation partners. NDIIPP entered into a partnership with the National Science Foundation in 2005 to undertake a program of pioneering research to support advanced research into the long-term management of digital information. Over the following years, the program entered into agreements with a number of other partners, including Portico, Stanford University, and SCOLA to address specific areas of interest.

In 2007, the Library funded the Preserving Creative America initiative to target preservation issues across a broad range of creative works, including digital photographs, cartoons, motion pictures, sound recordings and video games. The Preserving State Government Information Initiative got underway in 2008 with support for four projects involving 23 states.

The Library has sponsored regular meetings with its preservation partners since 2005.

In 2011, the Library published a report, Preserving Our Digital Heritage: The National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program 2010 Report, that documents the achievements of the Library of Congress and its NDIIPP partners