Formulating a Collection Development Policy for websites as collection items: the British Library ex

1
Formulating a Collection Development Policy for
websites as collection itemsthe British Library
experience

• Richard Price
• Head, Modern British Collections, The British
  Library
• 19th January 2006

2
What is a Collection Development Policy?

• A formal written statement of the principles
  guiding a librarys selection of materials
• Joan M. Reitz, ODLIS - Online Dictionary
  for Library and Information Science,
  lu.com/odlis/
• Published Transparent Manages Expectations
• Principles A High Level Statement
• Prepares Way for Selection Criteria / Guidelines

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First Steps 1. Attuning to Existing Organisation

• What is the organisations mission? Helping
  people advance knowledge to enrich lives.
• leading role in the changing world of research
  information
• academic, personal, commercial users
• providing ready access
• connecting / partnering with others
• What criteria does the organisation apply to
  nearest equivalent traditional materials? E.g.
• Legal Deposit Comprehensive but Co-operation
• Early Printed In depth (English, but not
  exclusively)
• International Collections Selective (e.g.
  Research Level)
• Manuscript Collections Selective (e.g. mainly
  UK)
• Involvement of Traditional Digital Materials
  Staff
• Co-written Policy - by Printed and Web Archiving
  Staff
• Consultations across Printed / Digital divide

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First Steps 2. Attuning to Digital Differences

• In Scale
• In Lifespan of Webpage
• In Territoriality
• In Reachability Deep Web
• In Preservability
• In Uniqueness Digital Only Publishing, eg
• Research
• Policy, Opinion, Campaigns
• Creativity
• In Law Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003
  Intellectual Property Rights
• In Public Perception Rubbish or Research?
• Pioneer Approaches e.g. Internet Archive
  National Library of Australia

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From Reality to Selectivity

• Reality? (UK Webspace)
• Selectivity?

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Collection Development Policy Summary Statement

• The British Library will collect sites
• selectively
• from the UK web space
• by prioritising research value sites
• across the spectrum of knowledge
• 2. The Library will collect a selection of sites
  which are
• representative of British cultural heritage
• in all its diversity
• across the regions
• web-innovative
• 3. The Library will also, in due course, adopt a
  comprehensive archiving strategy periodic
  snapshots of the UK web presence
• 4. The Library will seek a collaborative approach
  with other stakeholders (selection, acquisition,
  storage and access)

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Next Steps Implementation (1.)

• Internal Organisation
• Senior Management Commitment
• Technical Project Management Team
• Curatorial Team, including Permissions
• Selection Panel of Cross-Collections Curators
• Events Selection ability to respond
  permissions negotiations
• Resource Discovery collection records on ILS
• Performance Indicators Other Evaluation
  Processes
• Refining of Selection Guidelines
• National International Co-operation
• Technical e.g
• United Kingdom Web Archiving Consortium
• International Internet Preservation Consortium
• Selector Expertise e.g.
• United Kingdom Web Archiving Consortium
• Womens Library
• Policy Representation Joint Committee on Legal
  Deposit (JCLD) Legal Deposit Libraries Committee
  (LDLC) Legal Deposit Advisory Panel (LDAP)

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Next Steps Implementation (2.)

• Publication of Collection DevelopmentPolicy
  Other Information/Publicity www.bl.uk/collectio
  ns/britirish/modbritcdpwebsites.doc
• Direct Public Accesswebarchive.org.uk
• 875 sites archived by the six organisations (by
  end Dec 06 357 by BL) larger number selected
  and awaiting permission to archive
• Events Collections Tsunami Tragedy General
  Election London Bombings G8
• Subject Collection Womens Issues started
• Integration within Digital Object Management
  System