National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program

The program convened several working groups, administered grant projects, and disseminated information about digital preservation issues.

The Library of Congress has formed a national network of partners dedicated to preserving specific types of digital content that is at risk of loss.

In July 2010, the Library launched a National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) to extend the work of NDIIPP to more institutions.

They recommended that the Library, working with other federal and non-federal institutions, take the lead in a national, cooperative effort to archive and preserve digital information.

This effort falls within the Library Services mission, which includes providing access to and preserving information for the benefit of the United States and the World.

Federal legislation calls for the Library to work jointly with the Secretary of Commerce, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Archives and Records Administration.

In early 2001, the Library established a National Digital Strategy Advisory Board to help guide it through the planning process.

With the rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web, millions of people have grown accustomed to using these tools as resources to acquire information—from a Ph.D. candidate conducting research for a dissertation to a teacher who might not be able to take a class on a field trip to see historical artifacts to a lifelong learner.

Digital has become the principal medium to create, distribute, and store content, from text to motion pictures to recorded sound.

NDIIPP provided a national focus on important policy, standards, and technical components necessary to preserve digital content.

This resulted in an e-book on the topic and the seeds of the current Library of Congress website on Personal Digital Archiving.