Croatian Digital Web Archive From project to service of the National and University Library in Zagreb

Abstract

Since 1997 online publications are included in the legal deposit. Being a deposit  library,  NUL  has  an  obligation  to  collect   and  preserve  online  publications.
For this reason, NUL began experimenting with cataloguing Web publications as early as 1998. However, the processed publications were not archived, therefore, they could only be accessed at their original address.
In  order  to  set  up  a  tool  for  capturing  and  archiving  online  contents,  the National and University Library and the University Computing Center (SRCE) in Zagreb launched a project Design of the System for Harvesting and Archiving
Legal Depost of Croatin Web publication on November 1, 2003. The objective was  to  establish  a  tool  for  harvesting  and  archiving  the  deposit  copy  of Croatian publications on the Internet while preserving, to the largest measure possible,  the  original  contents,  formats  and  functionalities,  in  order  to  ensure access and use in the future.
The digital archive is based on the concept of selective  collection of static and dynamic Web publications in interaction with the NUL’s WebPAC. Each Web resource  is  fully   catalogued  and  thus  retrievable  in  the  NUL’s  catalogue. The Digital Archive  is  fully  integrated  with  the  libraray  information  system  and  is running as a service since January 2004.