National Digital Strategy Advisory Board
Report from July 24, 2007 Meeting
The Nation Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program's (NDIIPP) National Digital Strategy Advisory Board (NDSAB) met on July 24, 2007, in the Members of Congress Room at the Library of Congress to consult with the managers of the NDIIPP program. The yearly meeting brings together representatives from academia, the private sector and other federal agencies in an interactive forum to counsel the NDIIPP program, while also giving NDIIPP the opportunity to report on developments over the previous year and preview upcoming projects and programs.
Laura Campbell, the associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives, opened the meeting with a review of NDIIPP's accomplishments and reported on congressional budget deliberations to provide some funding going forward.. She also conveyed appreciation for the positive outreach efforts of the NDIIPP partners who actively communicated the importance of the program to the Librarian and to their congressional members at both the local and state level.
Mary Rasenberger, senior adviser for Public Policy and Programs in the Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) at the Library, updated the board on the status of the Section 108 Study Group. The Study Group is conducting a reexamination of the exceptions and limitations applicable to libraries and archives under Section 108 of the Copyright Act. The reexamination of Section 108 is especially pertinent in light of the changes brought about by the digital information revolution. The group is trying to look at least 10 years into the future with its recommendations, noting that the rapid change in digital technologies will continue to affect the way copies are made. The findings of the group will be submitted later this year to the Librarian of Congress.
Beth Dulabahn, senior adviser for Integration Management in OSI, next discussed the activities of the Federal Advisory Group, a subgroup of the NDSAB comprising the federal agency representatives. The group has been concentrating on reviewing common standards and approaches for the digitization of visual materials important in the federal sector, most particularly pictorial text materials, with plans to expand into other areas in the future. The group believes that the standardization efforts will help enable federal agencies to create sustainable digital content over the long term.
For this year's NDSAB meeting, the NDIIPP managers were especially keen to provide examples to the board of the tremendous variety of content being preserved by the network's partners, and a significant portion of the morning and afternoon was dedicated to these presentations.
Martha Anderson, the acting director of NDIIPP, began by sharing examples of materials being preserved in the Library of Congress Web Archives, noting the importance of capturing the current political process, which is now being played out largely in the Web environment. Bill LeFurgy, digital initiatives project manager in OSI, demonstrated the innovative interface being developed to interact with the mapping information being preserved by the National Geospatial Digital Archive. Steve Morris, project lead from North Carolina State University, demonstrated how his project is working to preserve the digital mapping information being created by state and local governments in North Carolina. David Kirsch of the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business described how digital business records are significantly endangered under the current regulatory structure. He called upon the board members to help devise a strategy to ensure that these records are available for future generations of researchers.
The discussion then turned toward NDIIPP's continuing efforts to establish and sustain a network of preservation partners. Molly Johnson, the director of Digital Resources Management and Planning in OSI, discussed some of the fundamental elements of this potential partnership network, including possible member contributions and benefits. Mary Rasenberger returned to further elaborate on this theme, describing work being done in collaboration with the Library's Office of General Counsel to explore a range of potential network governance structures. The board spent a significant amount of time engaged in a discussion on the shape and substance of a potential network, providing valuable feedback to the NDIIPP program.
NDIIPP managers then gave the board members a preview of new initiatives planned for the coming year. These initiatives include new programs and partnerships that build on NDIIPP's established technical work, as well as new outreach efforts to engage members of the creative community (filmmakers, photographers and musicians) and state and local governments in the digital preservation effort.
The meeting closed on an optimistic note with a presentation by Nan Rubin, project director of the Preserving Digital Public Television project based at WNET/13, New York. She presented a dramatic montage of historical material originally produced for public television. The engaging content brought the importance of the digital preservation effort instantly into focus, and the power of the message earned positive comments from the board members.
