CyberCemetery keeps log of government's history

By: Rachel Mehlhaff

Posted: 9/12/07

Government Web sites never die - they just end up in the CyberCemetery.
NT's libraries work with the Government Printing Office and the National Archives and Records Administration on a project that archives government Web sites. The project, the CyberCemetery, captures government Web sites before they are closed down and disappear, said Cathy Hartman, assistant dean to digital and information technologies.
NT libraries started preserving government documents in 1948, when the library was certified as a Federal Depository Library. The government documents that the library chose to preserve were based on the needs of the community, Hartman said.
"It is to keep the people informed about what their government is doing," she said.
In 1997, the digital project began. Hartman has been a part of the project since the beginning. In fact, in August she was named a "Digital Preservation Pioneer" by the Library of Congress for her work on the CyberCemetery. Hartman received the award for working on digital library issues early in the Web environment.
She said NT began capturing Web sites because no one else was doing it and when the sites closed they disappeared with the information they held.
These Web sites are useful to researchers in all areas of study, Hartman said.
They have captured sites including the Sept. 11 Commissions, which did a study of the security of the nation, said Starr Hoffman, librarian for digital collections.
Some government commissions have been used to recommend legislative changes or to recommend changes in policy, Hoffman said. Preserving these Web sites aids in this, she said.
In 2006, NT libraries became a part of the National Archives and Records Administration, Hartman said.
The libraries obtain the Web sites in different ways.
"Sometimes we grab [the Web sites] and sometimes they are sent to us," Hoffman said.
Very few universities do this. It has taken time for libraries to move out of print and realize that publishing is going digital, Hartman said.
Because it is Web based it not only serves the congressional district, but the nation as well. There are even some international users, Hartman said.
The libraries place documents online that wouldn't normally be, including historical documents such as Federal Newsmaps, Hoffman said.
"It is important for our people to have as much information about the government as possible," she said.