[jats-list] 2016-2017 Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement

["Bausenbach, Ardie abau@xxxxxxx" <jats-list-service@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Library of Congress is pleased to announce the release of the 2016-2017
Recommended Formats Statement
(https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/).  The proliferation of ways
in which works can be created and distributed is a challenge and an
opportunity for the Library (and for all institutions and organizations which
seek to build collections of creative works) and the Recommended Formats
Statement is one way in which the Library seeks to meet the challenge and take
full advantage of the opportunity.  By providing guidance in the form of
technical characteristics and metadata which best support the preservation and
long-term access of digital works (and analog works as well), the Library
hopes to encourage creators, vendors, archivists and librarians to use the
recommended formats in order to further the creation, acquisition and
preservation of creative works which will be available for the use of future
generations at the Library of Congress and other cultural memory
organizations.

The engagement with the Statement that the Library has seen from others has
been extremely heartening.  In response to interest in our work from
representatives in the architectural community who see their design work
imperiled by insufficient attention to digital preservation, we have updated
the Statement to align more closely with developments in this field.  Most
importantly of all, we now include websites as a category of its own in the
Statement.  Websites are probably the largest field of digital expression
available for creators today, yet most creators tend to take a passive role in
ensuring the preservation and long-term access of their websites.  By
including websites in the Recommended Formats Statement, we hope to encourage
website creators to engage more fully in digital preservation, as we aim to do
with all the other forms of digital works included in the Statement, by making
their websites more preservation-friendly.

The Library remains committed to acquiring and preserving digital works and to
providing whatever support it can to other similarly committed stakeholders.
We shall continue to build our collections with their preservation and
long-term access firmly in mind; and we shall continue to engage with others
in the community in efforts such as the Recommended Formats Statement.  We
encourage any and all feedback and comments
(https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/contacts.html) others might
have on the Statement that might make it more useful for both our needs and
for the needs of anyone who might find it worthwhile in their own work.  And
we shall continue to engage in an annual review process to ensure that it
meets the needs of all stakeholders in the preservation and long-term access
of creative works.

For more information, please contact Ted Westervelt [thwe@xxxxxxx].