My tax dollars at work!

This is really cool. I was contacted by Karen at Library and Archives Canada [a government agency that keeps a record of all publications in the country]. When she first wrote, I wondered if I was in trouble, but it's just the opposite.

I am writing to you today on behalf of Library and Archives Canada with a request to archive and make accessible your online journal, Knitty, http://www.knitty.com/ . Library and Archives Canada's mandate is to ensure this country's printed and recorded heritage is acquired, preserved and made accessible for present and future generations. To that end, we would like to ensure that our collection includes your online journal, Knitty.

In January 2007, the Legal Deposit Act was extended to include electronic publications and web sites. As a Canadian publisher, you are required to send us your online publication so that we may archive it and make it available for future generations of Canadians...We would take a periodic snapshot of your website in order to have a copy of the current issue, store the files on our servers, make them available to the public in the Library's Electronic Collection and make information about the online journal available in AMICUS, our online database which is used by reasearchers, libraries, schools and book sellers.

How freaking cool is that?

Anyway, Karen wrote today and the archiving is complete. She'll be adding to it every year with our new issues. Wanna see? Here it is. Our advertisers might be amused that their ads will live on forever, too!

I never plan to take Knitty down, ever [!], but this is a nice thing.