The BBC news announced today that The British Library wants to archive every British website, for posterity. This GREAT IDEA has been dedicated quite a bit of air time on TV and radio – as well as coverage on the BBC website.
The coverage is all about how important it is not to lose these websites, as they are a part of the Internet’s heritage. They say that we don’t want to lose these sites for ever – Good point.
But – The service already exists!
There’s already internationally respected archives, like The Internet Archive, which have done exactly this, for years! Right now, you can pull up an old copy of almost any website or copies of deleted websites, simply by entering their URL into The Way Back Machine.
I thought to begin with, that no one at the BBC or The British Library had heard of the other archive providers, but I was wrong. A long article on the BBC website, which restates the need for this service, ends with the following:
Other informal projects – such as the WayBack Machine – also exist.
Of course, that statement pretty much renders the entire article as pointless and shows why there’s no real need for the service. I LOVE the British Library and what they do, but cannot see why they are selling this idea as something new.
RT @thetechnewsblog: British Library Web Archive Confusion? http://bit.ly/9Bkq1J Here is how the BL found the data http://bit.ly/91qFAf
The reason that the British Library are keen to have their own project is that it is important to keep the nations heritage available for future generations. The TNA and the country’s legal deposit libraries are charged to keep all published material from their catchment area in order to see it so preserved. It would be sad to see them unable to do that, we are facing an information dark age at present as it is without these institutions unable to do their jobs.
That isn’t to belittle the Internet Archive or any other project that aims to take on this mammoth task the work they they do should be applauded. It just seems a shame to rely entirely on what is essentially a private organisation when we have institutions in place all over the world who already have responsibility for the task.
I cannot imagine why they would want to do it. The Internet Archive is pretty rock-solid. It sounds like somebody just wants another way to spend some extra tax dollars.
It is kind of cool to see the Internet history. I will go and look at some of my old sites once in a while and get a laugh. Things have changed a lot, and it will be interesting to show my kids what it was like in the days of the “dinosaur” websites once they are older.
British Library Web Archive Confusion? http://bit.ly/cfE56M