By Kate Murray and Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress
If you are a fan of digital file formats and we know there are lots of you out there, get your thinking cap on and editing pen ready because we want to hear from you! It’s that time of year when The Library of Congress is seeking input on its yearly review and revision of the Recommended Formats Statement.
The Library of Congress needs a helping hand with comments and suggestions on the Recommended Formats Statement.
Image Citation (in Chicago Style): Friedman, Leo, and Lloyd Shook. A Helping Hand. [North American Music Company, Chicago:, 1918] Notated Music. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2013563743/. (Accessed March 19, 2018.))
Starting in April, the teams of internal experts charged with maintaining, improving and ensuring the accuracy of the RFS, as it is known, will begin the annual process of critically reviewing the information in the Statement and the creative works represented in it, to ensure that it reflects correctly the technical characteristics which best encourage preservation and long-term access.
The goal of the RFS is twofold: first, it provides internal guidance within the Library to help inform acquisitions of collections materials (other than materials received through the Copyright Office) and second, it’s intended to inform the creative and library communities on best practices for ensuring the preservation of, and long-term access to, the creative output of the nation and the world. We’re trying to encourage our staff to seek out digital content for LC’s collections in reliable packages or formats and we’re also encouraging the wider community to help us out by making digital content available in forms that assure their longevity over time.
Have a suggestion for us? We want to hear it!
Citation: Mauldin, Bill, Artist. Employees' Suggestion Box. , 1963. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016686598/. (Accessed March 19, 2018.)
In 2017, we were pleased to be able to do more to foreground metadata and to link the Statement with other crucial digital preservation documents at the Library, including the Sustainability of Digital Formats, making what we think helps make a more holistic network of digital preservation guidelines for the creative community. But there’s more work to do. We have seven content categories Textual Works and Musical Compositions, Still Image Works, Audio Works, Moving Image Works, Software and Electronic Gaming and Learning, Datasets/Databases and the newest, Websites, which was added in 2017.
The RFS is a continuing work in progress and we take feedback and suggestions to heart. We’re reaching out because we want to know how we can make the RFS more user friendly and valuable to the broader community. We have some ideas already about updates we’d like to make, like more specificity and uniformity across the content categories, links to related standards, updating some of the format preferences and more. Please take the time to share your comments and expertise with us by April 7, through one of the e-mail contacts listed on the Recommended Formats Statement website or through the e-mail address listed below.
Provide feedback on the Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement before March 31, 2018! https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/
For more information, please contact Ted Westervelt (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
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