The Internet Archives: Is It the New Library of Congress?
May 28, 2025
It’s been a challenging time with two US presidential administrations allegedly rewriting history and basic facts to fit their political agendas. Adding and deleting information can make it quite difficult to determine if a fact is an old-fashioned fact or an alternative fact. Powerful people, companies, and software seem to be using the Internet and other digital tools to weaponize what might be “basic” information. Hey, Mr. Orwell did you envision the US in the 21st century. Naked Capitalism works hard to explain the importance of preserving digital information and protecting corresponding archives in “As History Erasure Intensifies, Independent Internet Archives Are Helping Fortify The ‘Digital Preservation Infrastructure.’”
The Freedoms Archives in Berkeley, California are preserving digital information related to activism, social issues, and history. They’ve noticed that one administration is rewriting historical facts more so than any other president and changing how certain aspects of history can be taught in public schools. Their work is integral to the historical record, but they’re not taking into account other administrations and that most modern presidents have dealt with such sweeping reformations with access to this level of technology before.
Other important archives include the Internet Archive now seeking additional funds:
“In April 2025, the San Francisco Standard reported that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had cut funding for the Internet Archive while the organization “was halfway through an NEH [National Endowment for the Humanities] grant of $345,960.” Jefferson Bailey, the Internet Archive’s director of archiving and data services, said that funding from other sources would help the organization stay afloat, but he worried about the impact of the cuts on smaller nonprofits.”
Nonprofit organizations, libraries, and those intent on preserving the historical record as it stands are important. As a librarian, there may now be more people eager to shape facts than people interested in accessing information that can be verified in an objective way. But this may not be a problem. When facts become fluid, no one will know what happened. The Internet Archive is fighting a good fight, but it may lose the war.
Whitney Grace, May 28, 2025
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