Beginning January 2010, per Chapter 434-662 WAC, the Washington State Archives,
Digital Archives will begin capturing and preserving annual snapshots of internet
websites of public agencies. For more information please review
Chapter 434-662 WAC Preservation Of Electronic Public Records. The Digital
Archives offers the following guidelines regarding the website capture and preservation
project:
- The Digital Archives will use a web spidering tool to crawl outward- or public-facing
websites to capture annual ‘snapshots’ of public agencies’ websites. This will capture
documentation of each agency’s history as shown through their public website. No
action is required on the part of the agencies. Our web capture process will be
completely transparent and will not cause any interruptions to agencies’ sites.
- Web spidering does not absolve agencies of their responsibility to identify, manage,
and transfer archival content that may be contained in, or integral to, an agency
website. If you need assistance or guidance in identifying archival content on your
website, contact the Records Management Division of the Washington State Archives.
You can find information regarding the Records Management Division by visiting the
Records Management General
Information page.
- If your website is dynamically driven by a database, you will be required to provide
a copy of the entire code base to the Digital Archives. We may ask for additional
technical information in this case.
- If you have additional questions regarding the capture and preservation of the annual
snapshot of your agency’s website, please contact the Digital Archives at (509)
235-7509.
