LIBRARY OF CONGRESS COLLECTIONS POLICY STATEMENTSSUPPLEMENTARY GUIDELINES Collections Policy Statement Index Web Archiving Contents I. Scope II. Research Strengths III. Collecting Policy IV. Acquisition Source: Current and Future V. Collecting Levels I. Scope The Librarys traditional functions of acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to Congress and the American people extend to digital materials, including Web sites. The Library now acquires and makes permanently accessible “born digital“ works (i.e. digital materials which do not have an analog equivalent) that are playing an increasingly important role in the intellectual, commercial and creative life of the United States. In 2000, the Library of Congress established the MINERVA Web Preservation Project in order to initiate a broad program to collect and preserve these primary source materials. A multi disciplinary team of Library staff representing cataloging, legal, public services, and technology services studied methods to evaluate, select, collect, catalog, provide access to, and preserve these materials for future generations of researchers. As part of this program, the Library developed thematic Web archives on such topics as the United States national elections, the Iraq War, and the events of September 11th and others. The Library of Congress Web Archives (LCWA) is available through the Librarys Web. In July 2003, the Library and other national libraries and the Internet Archive (USA) acknowledged the importance of international collaboration for preserving Internet content for future generations and formed the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC). At present, 38 institutions are members of the IIPC. In 2004, the Office of Strategic Initiatives created a team to: collect Web content, test and model a variety of digital content and associated metadata capture mechanisms, build on an enterprise-wide understanding of technical decisions and tools relevant to capturing content and developing a strong web capture infrastructure. In 2005, the “Selecting and Managing Content Captured from the Web” (SMCCW) project was initiated to address some of the Life Cycle processes related to Web capture. Recommending Officers have been engaged throughout this development process in identifying and selecting appropriate Web sites to capture. With Web capture, Recommending Officers must identify 1URLs to add to the collections, rather than evaluate what is received through traditional acquisition mechanisms (such as copyright deposit.) The web is growing steadily, and at the same time is continually disappearing. Web sites disappear and the site content tends to change rapidly. Given the vast size and growing comprehensiveness of the digital universe, as well as the short life-span of much of its content, it is clear that the Library must (1) define the scope of its collecting responsibilities in this new world, and (2) develop partnerships and cooperative relationships required to continue fulfilling its vital historic mission. This Supplementary Guideline should be used in conjunction with the Electronic Resources Supplementary Guideline and other subject Collections Policy Statements. II. Research Strengths Web sites offer up-to-date information on given topics and/or document the history of a government agency or commission. As such, they may be ephemeral, disappearing after a short period of time, but their impact may be immense and provide historical sociological data that may not be found elsewhere. By amassing a collection of this material at the Library of Congress, we provide to future generations the keys to the interpretation of events that may not be extant anywhere else. As of 2008, the Library of Congress had collected over 80 terabytes sites, with collections relating to : Elections 2000-2006; September 11th ; Olympics 2002; the 107th Congress to current Congressional Web Pages; Iraq War; Papal Transition; Darfur, visual materials, organizational sites and other collections as well as single sites not related to a theme. The collections continue to grow. III. Collecting Policies The Library selects web sites for its permanent collections which rank high on the following list of criteria: usefulness in serving the current or future informational needs of Congress and researchers, unique information provided, scholarly content, at risk of loss (due to ephemeral nature of web sites), and currency of the information. Selection of works for the collection depends on the subject and extent of the collection capture as defined by the Collection Proposal and Specification that has been approved. Formats which are included may be: audio-visual materials, prints, photographs, maps, or related items required to support research in the subject covered. The Recommending Officer responsible for the subject, language, or geographic area is re