POST: Collecting Digital Content at the Library of Congress

In a guest post on The Signal, the Library of Congress’ digital stewardship blog, Joe Puccio (LOC) describes the current status of digital collecting at LOC, as well as their future goals:

The adopted strategy is based on a vision in which the Library’s universal collection will continue to be built by selectively acquiring materials in a wide range of formats – both tangible and digital.  Policies, workflows and an agile technical infrastructure will allow for the routine and efficient acquisition of desired digital materials. This type of collection building will be partially accomplished via collaborative relationships with other entities.

Puccio explains that the LOC’s collections strategy is based on a few assumptions, “most significantly that the amount of available digital content will continue to grow at a rapid rate and that the Library will be selective regarding the content it acquires.” As for the future, LOC has identified six strategic goals to work on over the next five years:

Strategic Objective 1 – Maximize receipt and addition to the Library’s collections of selected digital content submitted for copyright purposes

Strategic Objective 2 – Expand digital collecting via routine modes of acquisitions (primarily purchase, exchange and gift)

Strategic Objective 3 – Focus on purchased and leased electronic resources

Strategic Objective 4 – Expand use of web archiving to acquire digital content

Strategic Objective 5 – Develop and implement an acquisitions program for openly available content

Strategic Objective 6 – Expand collecting of appropriate datasets and other large units of content

More detail can be found in the recently issued report, “Collecting Digital Content at the Library of Congress.”