Internet Archive Is Now a Federal Library, Will Offer US Documents Online for Free

[trappedslider]

The Internet Archive is now a federal depository library, meaning it can provide free access to bills, laws, regulations, presidential documents, studies, and other documents.

The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), run by the US Government Publishing Office (GPO), was established in 1813 to open up free access to official federal documents. Currently, there are 1,150 FDLs across all 50 states; all of them, except a few, are physical libraries.

According to San Francisco's KQED, the GPO has been pushing for digital preservation since 2016 and intensified its efforts recently. To add new entrants to the FDLP program, members of Congress are allowed to designate up to two qualified libraries. For the Internet Archive, the designation came from California Senator Alex Padilla.

"The Internet Archive will help remove barriers so that communities from across the nation and around the world can access federal government publications online," Padilla wrote to the GPO. "As technology continues to evolve, the Internet Archive is leading the way when it comes to providing online library services and would be an asset to the Federal Depository Library Program."

The Internet Archive is a nonprofit, and joining the Federal Depository Library Program is part of its mission to keep knowledge accessible, founder Brewster Kahle tells KQED.

Internet Archive Is Now a Federal Library, Will Offer US Documents Online for Free

The platform gets its federal library designation as part of its mission to keep knowledge accessible for all, says founder Brewster Kahle.

www.pcmag.com

 

[BookTenTiger]

This is 100% purely awesome.

 

[Morrus]

What does "Federal" mean? I'm not familiar with the concept.

(I know what a library is)

 

[trappedslider]

What does "Federal" mean? I'm not familiar with the concept.

for the purposes of this thread it means the highest level of US Government.

 

[Morrus]

for the purposes of this thread it means the highest level of government.

Oh, you mean to say Parliament?

 

[trappedslider]

Oh, you mean to say Parliament?

Not being under a parliamentary system, I can't say.

 

[Morrus]

Not being under a parliamentary system, I can't say.

Not being under a federal system, I also couldn't say.

Also you edited your post to make my reply look stupid. Which is not good behaviour.

 

[trappedslider]

Also you edited your post to make my reply look stupid. Which is not good behaviour.

umm no i didn't. i do not see the "Last edited" tag.

 

[Staffan]

What does "Federal" mean? I'm not familiar with the concept.

(I know what a library is)

I believe it refers to the federal government (as opposed to individual states). From a British perspective, this would concern things on the UK level as opposed to Scottish/English/Welsh/Northern Irish level or individual county levels. Though the analogy isn't perfect as I believe US states have considerably more self-government than the UK's constituent countries.

 

[Morrus]

umm no i didn't.

Oh, man. Really, dude? Yes. You did. Are you seriously trying to gaslight me?

You do understand that I can see what happens on this site? I have the receipts. If you're going to publicly gaslight somebody on EN World, I would suggest you not target me as your victim. Did you really think you'd get away with gaslighting me?

Especially for something so very inconsequential? What's up, man? Why?

Gaslighting is really bad. I don't know if you do this to people all the time here--this is the only time I've caught you because you were silly enough to try it on me, of all people--but you are really on notice now. Gaslighting is not cool.