Questions and Answers about the Alaska State’s Library web snapshot of the Palin/Parnell Administration
Prepared By
Daniel Cornwall and Sheri Somerville, Alaska State Library
July 30, 2009
Prepared By
Daniel Cornwall and Sheri Somerville, Alaska State Library
July 30, 2009
Q: Where can I find the end-of-term Palin/Parnell web snapshot collected by the Alaska State Library?
A: The Palin/Parnell end-of-term website snapshot is hosted by Archive-It.org and is available at http://www.archive-it.org/collections/1200.
Q: What can I find on the end-of-term Palin/Parnell web snapshot?
A: You should be able to find every web page, photo, video and audio file hosted on the web servers of either Governor Palin or then Lt. Governor Sean Parnell. Because no web spidering software is perfect, there may have been some inadvertent omissions. Some links of interest include:
- Governor Palin’s Press Releases
- Governor Palin’s First Official Press Release 06-001
- Governor Palin’s Photo Gallery
- Sean Parnell’s Speeches as Lt. Governor
Q: Why do you have so many URLs on your start page at http://www.archive-it.org/collections/1200?
A: On our start page we offer a browseable version of the following URLs:
• http://gov.state.ak.us/
• http://ltgov.alaska.gov/speeches.php
• http://ltgov.state.ak.us/
• http://ltgov.state.ak.us/newsletters/
• http://www.gov.state.ak.us/
• http://www.ltgov.state.ak.us/
The ltgov.alaska.gov/speeches.php and ltgov.state.ak.us/newsletters/ URLs are there because our initial efforts to retrieve then Lt. Governor Parnell’s web presence failed to collect his speeches or newsletters. We are still analyzing why this happened. We added the specific URLs for his speeches and newsletters in hopes that this would succeed in retrieving these materials. We were successful.
We have both www.gov/gov and www.ltgov/ltgov because our initial retrieval efforts indicated that each address had unique content. That is, some material that was available at gov.state.ak.us was NOT available on www.gov.state.ak.us and vice versa. In an effort to be comprehensive in collecting content, we retrieved documents from both of the addresses given for the Governor and Lt. Governor.
Q: Why did the Alaska State Library collect an end-of-term web snapshot for the Palin/Parnell administration?
A: Under AS 14.56.090-180, the Alaska State Publications Program, known in statute as the “State library distribution and data access center”, has a responsibility to acquire, describe and provide permanent public access to state government information. It was in compliance with these responsibilities that we produced an end-of-term web snapshot for the Palin/Parnell administration.
Q: Is this the first time that the Alaska State Library collected an end of term web snapshot for an outgoing Governor/Lt. Governor?
A: No. We also produced a web snapshot for the Knowles/Ulmer administration and for the Murkowski/Leman administration. Due to technological and resource constraints, these were put onto optical discs:
Knowles-Ulmer:
Alaska State Publications Program. (2003). Knowles-Ulmer web site as of November 26, 2002. [Juneau, Alaska]: Alaska State Library, Alaska State Publications Program.
See libraries holding this disc at http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52370720.
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Murkowski-Leman
Alaska State Publications Program. (2007). Alaska Governor/Lt. Governor web sites as of November 30, 2006 Governor Frank H. Murkowski (12/5/2002 - 12/4/2006), Lt. Governor Loren (12/5/2002 - 12/4/2006). [Juneau, Alaska]: Alaska State Publications Program.
See libraries holding this disc at http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/123425349.
Q: How much is the subscription to Archive-It cost each year?
A: We paid $5,000 to subscribe to Archive-It. The subscription provides the Alaska State Library the ability to manage our archived collections and preserve selected data for long-term public access. Anyone with Internet access can keyword search all web content found on Archive-It.
Q: What makes Archive-It different from the Wayback Machine at www.archive.org?
A: The Wayback Machine was established in 1996 as a mechanism to create an Internet Library. In past years, the Wayback Machine has successfully archived State of Alaska web sites. Archive-It allows the Alaska State Library to fulfill its statutory mandate to preserve publications for long-term public access through periodic captures of select web sites. In this way, we are better able to manage the materials that are archived.
Q: What else is the State Library doing/planning to do with Archive-It?
A: We are exploring our use of Archive-It, not only for preservation of state documents for library purposes, but also in support of the individual needs of State agencies. The plan is to continue capturing material for our current collections and adding new collections based on single events or topics of particular interest. If you would like to discuss Archive-It or make collection suggestions, please contact Sheri Somerville at sheri.somerville@alaska.gov.
Q: Who is Archive-It?
A: From the Archive-It “about us” page at http://www.archive-it.org/public/about-us (Retrieved 7/30/09):
“Archive-It is a subscription service developed in 2005 by the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded in 1996 to build an 'Internet library,' with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format.”
Q: Do other state libraries and state archives work with Archive-It?
A: Yes. The folks at archive-it work with a number of state libraries and state archives. They have worked with most of them longer than they have with us. Current state library and state archive users of Archive-It include:
State Libraries
- Alaska State Library
- Idaho Commission for Libraries
- Montana State Library
- State Library of Ohio
- South Dakota State Archives and South Dakota State Library
- Tennessee State Library and Archives
- Texas State Library and Archives Commission
State Archives
- State Archives of Alabama
- Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
- Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Delaware Government Information Center
- Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries
- Nebraska State Historical Society
- State Archives of North Carolina and State Library of North Carolina
- South Carolina Department of Archives and History
- Utah State Library/Utah State Archives and Records Service
