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This past Friday, I received excellent news from Gildas Illien (Director, Bibliographical and Digital Information Department, Networks and Services) of <a href="http://www.bnf.fr/fr/acc/x.accueil.html">Bibliothèque nationale de France</a> — the national library of France.
His email addressed all IIPC members, and informed us of the publication of a decree enforcing the law of internet <a href="http://www.bnf.fr/en/professionals/digital_legal_deposit/a.digital_legal_deposit_web_archiving.html">legal deposit</a>. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
This is an incredible accomplishment for all of our fellow colleagues and members of the <a href="http://netpreserve.org/">IIPC</a>, and everyone involved in web archiving. I and we at Hanzo Archives give hearty cheers to those who advised and lobbied since before 2000 for this to happen.
To those who "...never gave up struggling with the law until it included 'us' as heritage material," Gildas's email points out: pioneers like <a href="https://twitter.com/julienmasanes">Julien Masanes</a>, Catherine Lupovici, Sara Aubry, France Lasfargues and Clément Oury. Thank you for your foresight. Archivists are unique and amazing people—curators of our collective memory. It's what they work for—preserving our memories. THIS IS IMPORTANT TOO!
As Cicero said, “Memory is the treasury and guardian of us all.”
More than eight countries now include web archives in their <a href="http://www.bnf.fr/en/professionals/digital_legal_deposit/a.digital_legal_deposit_web_archiving.html">legal deposit</a> laws. This is a growing number and we're proud to be a part of it all.
Again, to my colleagues at BnF, well done, and thank you.
