LIPA saves legal information. We advocate, initiate, and support preservation and archival projects related to the law and legal resources. Our members are law libraries across the United States and Canada who are committed to preserving our legal legacy.

Steve Leggett, program coordinator of the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress (LC), laughs as he retells this Hollywood urban legend. Nevertheless the story contains truth. Scores of films were destroyed during cinema’s early years by studios that viewed silents as obsolete. These silent classics were not seen as works of art … Continue reading Saving Our Celluloid Past →

"Inherent vice" in art.

Built in a former bomb shelter, the Library of Congress' National Audio-Visual Conservation Center stores 1.4M films, TV and video recordings that tell America's story

The Eagles have sued a concert footage archivist, accusing the man of violating their copyright after screening unlicensed footage in October.

After companies shut down and collectors lose interest, the Library of Congress is supposed to keep our cultural history intact. But digital media has turned our understanding of preservation on...

We are all aware of the expectation from the general public that EverythingEver is digitized and available online already. This is of course frustrating because, 1) when presented with the reality there is often a negative reaction from the public, primarily that archives are lazy and behind the times, but also, 2) the perception is often trotted out as a reason why preservation efforts are frivolous or don’t need to be funded, especially if the citation is in reference to commercial assets that are widely torrented. “There are a million copies online,” the argument goes, “Why should we care about archives or pay attention to their uptight rules?”, little aware that the bulk of cultural material in existence does not consist of Hollywood films, studio albums, and published works (or student websites from 15 years ago).

Analyze your collection to find out how much waiting to digitize will cost.

Lots of worthwhile papers/posters.

A tool for trawling through a ton of email looking for the good stuff. Includes visualizations.

Beloved 20th-century movies—and their distinct aesthetic—could be in danger.

Maine shared-preservation strategy.

The article has been all over the news media, which is unusual for something about copyright. In my RSS feed from a Google search for copyright issues it has appeared at least a dozen times, based on different newspapers that have run it. What “it” is, is an article from the Associated Press about copyright … Continue reading Examining an “essential” copyright →

Something that lasts, really lasts, would be nice...