Digital literature, online scientific research and internet journalism that should have been saved in the nation’s main libraries over the past five years may have been lost because ministers have failed to give them the legal power to copy and archive websites, the Guardian has learned.
Lost digital archive: ‘It’s taken 6 years to begin consultation’ Link to this audio Senior executives at the British Library and the National Library of Scotland (NLS) are dismayed that legislation giving them the right to collect online and digital material is still not in force, more than six years after it was passed by parliament.
The omission has meant the libraries – which are legally required to archive books, newspapers and journals – have failed to record online coverage of major events such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the release of the Lockerbie bomber and the MPs’ expenses scandal.
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Phil Spence, head of operations at the British Library, said the failure had left a major “digital black hole” in the library’s collections, with huge gaps in the archives for researchers, scientists and historians.
It meant the British Library was unable to store the BBC’s website, the National Gallery or British Museum website, any UK newspapers’ websites, or scientific journals published online because of copyright issues. Blogs, community pages, government and business websites can only be archived after laborious voluntary agreements. The act would protect the libraries against copying defamatory material, but would also protect a publisher’s copyright.
“We’ve lost five years of digital content which is gone potentially for ever, and the ability of the nation to capitalise on that as well,” he said.
Much More in the Full Text Article Including a 3.5 Minute Audio Report
Source: The Guardian
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on Monday, October 5th, 2009 and is filed under Archives and Special Collections, Digital Preservation, Libraries and Librarianship, Technology and Internet.
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