A Model Technological and Social Architecture for the Preservation of State Government Digital Information Project

Lead Partner: Minnesota Historical Society
Additional Partners: Arkansas History Commission, Arkansas State Library, California Digital Library, California Legislative Counsel, California State Archives, California State Library, Illinois Legislative Information System, Illinois State Archives, Illinois State Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Kansas Information Technology Office (Legislative Branch), Kansas Legislative Computer Services, Kansas State Historical Society, Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, National Conference of State Legislatures, Nebraska Library Commission, Nebraska State Historical Society, Nebraska State Library, Nebraska's Clerk of the Legislature, North Dakota Legislative Council, State Historical Society of North Dakota, Tennessee Legislative Information Services, Tennessee State House of Representatives, Tennessee State Library and Archives, Tennessee State Senate, Vermont Department of Libraries, Vermont Enterprise Project Management Office, Vermont Joint Fiscal Office, Vermont Legislative Council, Vermont Office of the Chief Information Officer, Vermont State Archives

The project is working with legislatures in several states to explore enhanced access to legislative digital records. This will involve implementing a trustworthy information management system and testing the capacity of different states to adopt the system for their own use. Content will include bills, committee reports, floor proceedings and other legislative materials.

Objectives

• Capture, preserve and provide access to "at-risk" digital content from state legislatures
• Test the model in MN
• Determine capacity of other states to adapt the model
• Promote the results through education and outreach
• Connect to national cyberinfrastructure

More detailed project information can be found at the Project Web site (external link)

Highlights

• Paper: Project Final Report (PDF)
• News: New Reports on Preserving Legislative Data
• Paper: Legislative Metadata Comparison (external link)
• Paper: Best Practice Principles for Opening Up Government Information (external link) (PDF, 131KB)
• Paper: Web Archiving Evaluation and White Paper (external link)
• Presentation: XML Standards for Archiving Legislative Records (external link) (PDF, 341KB) from the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit 2010
• Paper: eXist Pilot Project Final Report (external link)
• Paper: XML Native Databases (external link)
• Video: Good Government Through Digital Infrastructure and Preservation (external link)
• Paper: Options for Improving Access to Legislative Records (external link) (PDF, 135.41KB)
• Paper: Digital Audio and Video White Paper (external link) (PDF, 769.20KB)
• Paper: Retrospective Digitization Resources (external link) (PDF, 627.86KB)
• Paper: Mashups Using Government Data (external link) (PDF, 327.34KB)
• PI Bob Horton is a digital preservation pioneer
• Video: "Preserving Digital Content in the 21st Century" (external link) from Principal Investigator Robert Horton
• Preserving Legislative Records in the Digital Age Brochure (PDF, 1MB)
• Paper: Comparison Chart of State Use of XML Bill Drafting Systems White Paper (PDF, 387KB)
• Paper: Minnesota Legislative History Information White Paper (PDF, 293KB)
• Presentation: Slides from Partner Kick-Off meeting in February 2008 (PDF, 34KB)
• Video: "Preserving State Government Digital Information," principal investigator Bob Horton's presentation at the Library of Congress on April 24, 2008 (Real Media Webcast)