National Archives working to preserve federal Web sites

The National Archives and Records Administration will work closely with federal agencies on preserving federal Web sites through changing presidential administrations, the deputy archivist of the United States said Tuesday. In a January memo, Lewis Bellardo, deputy archivist of the United States, ordered agencies to hand over electronic records showing what their publicly available Web site pages looked like before the transition from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration. The move is part of NARA's ongoing effort to preserve for posterity the online presence of every presidential administration from Clinton onward, he said. "We are meeting shortly with them on the guidance they need to preserve their Web sites. We're listening to them," Bellardo said Tuesday at a federal library and information forum at the Library of Congress. The memo asked agencies to submit their Web sites in 60 days, giving them a late-March deadline. As of Feb. 13, NARA said it had received 38 Web site submissions. Bellardo did not have new information on how many agencies have submitted their information so far, but said he was happy with the number. NARA is working with agencies that have requested an extension, he said. The federal library and information forum focused on the government's challenge to preserve and maintain federal electronic information in the 21st century. According to Bellardo, the government will have roughly 1 billion electronic files to contend with by 2009. In December 2000, Congress appropriated $100 million for the Library of Congress to work with government and industry to develop a federal program for preserving and maintaining digital information. During the conference's keynote address, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, urged agencies to work closely with the Library of Congress on preserving electronic and paper records, so "we don't lose our history." Stevens was the vice chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress during the 106th Congress. Efforts to preserve electronic information and government Web sites for posterity are already underway. According to Francis Buckley, superintendent of documents at the Government Printing Office, his agency has teamed up with the University of North Texas to preserve Web sites of now-defunct agencies and government initiatives. Buckley said the National Partnership for Reinventing Government's Web site is the latest addition to the "cyber cemetery." "This project is just one example of a proactive step we are taking to preserve federal information," said Buckley. In another effort, the Library of Congress collected candidates' Election 2000 Web sites before they were dismantled, and will maintain them so future generations can study campaigns at the turn of the century, said Laura Campbell, associate librarian for strategic initiatives at the library.