1: Content

Expand and preserve in accessible form a unified and universal body of knowledge and creativity.

Other Information:

The Library will continuously expand, organize, maintain, and ensure appropriate access to all of its content, while inspiring and rewarding creativity and achievement. This content has three dimensions: the generation of new works that become available for use, the intellectual content of the collections, and the collections as artifacts (the Library’s stored formats). The Library’s content is unified in that it is not a miscellaneous or haphazard collection, but is gathered so that the items have value in themselves and in relation to each other. We intentionally define collections in broad terms. In addition to the analog and digital information for which Library Services, the Office of Strategic Initiatives, the Law Library, and the Copyright Office are stewards, collections also includes the research products of the Congressional Research Service and the Law Library. Collections have varied accessibility. All of the collections must be grown, organized, preserved, and generally maintained so that they provide their intended audiences with ready access to the knowledge James Madison found so vital to our democracy: “What spectacle can be more edifying than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?” The Library’s roles as a guardian and promoter of content, in turn, will provoke creativity and reward human achievement. Two of the four outcomes of this goal focus on increasing the breadth of the collections, preserving the collections, and reducing the time it takes for a new item to become accessible. In addition, one outcome focuses on the importance of the Library’s leadership role in working within the national library community to set standards for the long-term retention of information. Finally, one outcome focuses on stimulating creativity, generating content, and developing descriptive data to ensure that quality collections are available to Congress, the nation, and the world. Outcomes - Outcome 1: Sustained and expanded Library content, both domestic and foreign, in traditional and new formats. Outcome 2: Enhanced preservation and accessibility. Outcome 3: Increased shared content stewardship among libraries and other cooperating bodies. Outcome 4: Increased creative and intellectual output that contributes to the body of knowledge available to the Congress and other constituencies. External Factors • The resolution of intellectual property-rights issues, especially for material that exists only in digital form, may have an effect on the way the Library acquires materials for the collections. • The explosion of digital search capabilities will affect the level of bibliographic information that society (including academia, legal, and legislative researchers) needs and wants.

Objective(s):

1.1: Selection and Retention Criteria

1.2: Legislative and Policy Proposals

1.3: Content Stewardship

1.4: Content

1.5: Acquisition Channels

1.6: Inventory Management

1.7: Search and Discovery

1.8: Non-Traditional Formats

1.9: Preservation Standards and Technologies

1.10: Standards and Best Practices

1.11: Consultation

1.12: Public/Private Partnerships

Content