Legal Research

Nova's Law Library and Technology Center was a signatory on a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), protesting the decision not to preserve a digital snapshot of public federal websites as they will appear at the end of the Bush administration.  Such snapshots, or harvests, were conducted at the end of the Clinton administration and also at the end of the first Bush term in 2004.  In an internal memo to federal agencies, the NARA claimed that archives in the private sector would provide an adequate history of federal agency websites and that NARA's efforts were better expended elsewhere.

Nova's Law Library and Technology Center joined an eclectic list of signatories, including the
American Conservative Defense Alliance, the Association of Research Libraries, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of  the Press, in signing a letter authored by OpenTheGovernment.org.  The letter points out that the government websites are public records, and that the work of private archivists, while laudatory, cannot be counted on to remain available without restrictions in perpetuity.  The websites are clearly of great historical importance, and thus should be maintained by an agency that is accountable to the public.