Call For Input For an Upcoming Revision of the “Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement”

From a Library of Congress E-Mail by Ted Westervelt, Chief, U.S./Anglo Division:

The Library of Congress is pleased to announce the latest annual call for input from stakeholders involved in the lifecycle of creative works for the upcoming annual revision of the Recommended Formats Statement.  This is all the more important this year, as the current version is the result of the most careful and intensive revision of the RFS since it was first launched in 2014.  The changes made last year in developing the ‘RFS 2.0’ represent the Library’s understanding of the growing importance of the Statement not merely in its own work, but to the broader community and its determination to ensure that it meet the needs of all its stakeholders.

In its last revision which created this new RFS 2.0, the Library focused on two key improvements.  The first was a restructuring of the Statement itself, to represent developments in how works are created in our increasingly digital world.  As a result, in this version of the RFS are included three new categories of creative works: Musical Scores; GIS, Geospatial and Non-GIS Cartographic; and Design and 3D.  Each category represents the remarkable and unique ways in which creation is happening of all three types of works.  The second was the creation of a file format evaluation matrix.  This tool provides our in-house experts a structured way to manage their review of digital file formats as part of the annual revision process of the RFS; and it offers external users of the Recommended Formats transparency in how the Library evaluates digital file formats in the RFS hierarchies.

In addition to hearing back from you about how the latest version of the RFS is working and what might be improved, the Library wants to know more about specific aspects of interest and use to particular groups of users.  For example, what does the independent game development community consider to be the master, or archival, version of the software that they have created?  How might the RFS be revised in order to better meet the needs of your particular community?

The Library of Congress is encouraged by the value its partners and stakeholders around the world have found in the Recommended Formats Statement.  We look forward to hearing your thoughts by March 31 as we prepare for the upcoming revision of the Statement this summer, due out on June 30.

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