Building National Collections of Internet Publications

Fundamental to the idea of national libraries is the notion that they should take responsibility for collecting, recording, providing access to and preserving their own national imprint. The extension of publishing beyond the realm of print into a variety of media forms, including online publications, adds complexity to, but does not change the fundamental role and responsibilities of national libraries. This chapter explores the issues that must be resolved in order to ensure that today’s Internet publications will still be available to researchers in the centuries to come. The transient nature of Internet publications, the huge volume of them and the difficulty of identifying what exists are challenges for national libraries. Collection building, description of resources, efficient resource discovery, technical infrastructure, permanent naming and preservation are areas that need focussed attention and development. A number of national libraries have active programs to find solutions and the progress being made is described.