Library of Congress request
Like a number of bloggers, I’ve gotten the request from the Library of Congress to be part of the 2004 Internet archive.
To Whom It May Concern:
The United States Library of Congress
preserves the Nation’s cultural artifacts and provides enduring access
to them. The Library’s traditional functions, acquiring, cataloging,
preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to
the Congress and to the American people to foster education and
scholarship, extend to digital materials, including Web sites. The
Library has selected your site for inclusion in the historic collection
of Internet materials related to the Election 2004, and we request your
permission to collect and display your Web site.The Library has
developed two previous Election Web Archives, in 2000 and 2002. These
Election Archives are available along with our other Web Archive
collections through the Library’s Minerva Web site (http://www.loc.gov/minerva/). The Election 2002 Web Archive (http://www.loc.gov/minerva/collect/elec2002/index.html)
illustrates how the Library catalogues archives and makes them
available to researchers either onsite at the Library or through the
Library’s public access Web site. This will give you an idea how your
archived site may appear on our Web site.Because of the content
value of your Web site, the Library may have contacted you for
permission to collect and display your site in other Web Archive
collections. If you previously granted permission, we thank you for
your participation, however, each new archive, including the Election
2004 Web Archive, requires separate permissions from each site owner.
At this time, the Library requests your permission to collect your Web
site located at the following URL:Our
plan is to engage the Internet Archive, on behalf of the Library of
Congress, to collect content from your Web site at regular intervals
during the United States National Election period. The Library will
make this collection available to researchers onsite at Library
facilities. The Library also wishes to make the collection available to
offsite researchers by hosting the collection on the Library’s public
access Web site. The Library hopes that you share its vision of
preserving Web materials about the election and permitting researchers
from across the world to access them.
So, of course, I said yes. Good research practice and all.
28 July 2004 at 2:08 pm.
One institution (besides our glorious postal service) that works in this country: the LOC. As an archive-researcher myself, I can say that our own historical period is afflicted with something of an archive fever. But the foresight of the LOC’s asking you now is wonderful nonetheless. They’ve learned their lesson from the material (not historical) perishability of centuries-old pamphlets. Welcome to the archive, Mr. Nate!
28 July 2004 at 2:08 pm.
One institution (besides our glorious postal service) that works in this country: the LOC. As an archive-researcher myself, I can say that our own historical period is afflicted with something of an archive fever. But the foresight of the LOC’s asking you now is wonderful nonetheless. They’ve learned their lesson from the material (not historical) perishability of centuries-old pamphlets. Welcome to the archive, Mr. Nate!