Today’s Web for Tomorrow’s Generation: Web Preservation at the Library of Congress

Gina Jones
Digital Conversion Specialist
Library of Congress

An ever-increasing amount of the world’s cultural and intellectual output is presently created in digital formats and does not exist in any physical form. Such materials are colloquially described as “born digital.” This born digital realm includes open access materials on the World Wide Web. The MINERVA Web Preservation Project was established to initiate a broad program to collect and preserve digital primary source materials. A multi-disciplinary team of Library staff representing cataloging, legal, public services, and technology services is studying methods to evaluate, select, collect, catalog, provide access to, and preserve these materials for future generations of researchers. This session will report on the Library of Congress Web harvesting activities, describing experiences to date selecting, capturing, and providing access to topic-based collections, including: the U.S. Presidential Election 2000; September 11, 2001; the 2002 Olympics; and the 2002 Election.