Organization Type: National Library
Country: United States
IIPC Contact Email: webcapture@loc.gov
Library of Congress Web Archive
Start Date: 2000
Archive interface language(s): English
Access methods: URL Search, Alphabetic Browsing, Subject Browsing, Topical Collections
Harvesting methods: Selective, Event, Thematic
The Library of Congress Web Archive includes more than 100 event-based and thematic collections available on loc.gov, with content selected by librarians with expertise in particular subject areas, geographical regions, or formats. International in scope, over 200 countries and 135 languages are represented. The collections document events ranging from September 11th and the Iraq War to more recent history, like the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. Additionally, thematic collections cover diverse subjects, like art, economics, science, politics, social issues, and popular culture.
The Library’s collection policy statements and supplemental guidelinesinform the selection process, and in most cases, the aim is to form representative rather than comprehensive collections. The content areas the Library collects comprehensively are websites of Legislative Branch agencies, U.S. House and Senate offices and committees, and U.S. national and gubernatorial election campaigns. The United States Elections Web Archive was the Library’s first web archive, starting as a pilot project in 2000, and it is now the program’s longest running collection, with more than 25 years of content.
With over 5PB of data at the end of 2024, the Library’s web archiving program has grown considerably since 2000 and continues to grow every year. The majority of web archives are available to view on loc.gov, but a portion are reserved for on-site access only, as determined by our permission policies. In recent years, the Library has also made datasetspublicly available to explore and hired a data librarian to handle data requests.
The Library of Congress is a founding member of IIPC and has been involved in a variety of working groups, activities, and projects. Library staff have also served in various leadership roles since the beginning of the consortium.
Visit our program page and FAQs for additional information, and stay up-to-date on the latest web archiving news on The Signal blog.