Selection in Web Archives: The Value of Archival Best Practices

Abstract

The abundance of valuable material available online has mobilized the development of preservation initiatives at collecting institutions that aim to capture and contextualize web content. Web archiving selection criteria are driven by the limitations inherent in harvesting technologies. Observing core archival principles like provenance and original order when establishing collection development policies for web content will help to ensure that archives continue to assure the authenticity of the materials they steward. This paper addresses the difficulty of applying archival principles to web materials, technical constraints that preclude inclusion of some materials, and options for resolving technical limitations by relying on the archival principles of provenance and original order.