National Research Libraries and Protection of Cultural Resources

The strategic stewardship of the nationʹs cultural resources assumes the existence of a national strategy to preserve and protect those resources. As we work to develop that strategy, we should be reminded that stewardship involves responsibility at the local level for the daily security and preservation of the vast historical and intellectual records of human experience. Any national strategy to preserve and protect must be based on the defining issue of selection-selection based upon common approaches, values, and prioritization across the research library and scholarly community-as well as on the choice of format for preservation.