Library of Congress Requesting Input

Recommended Formats Statement

Input Sought By April 15, 2022

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. The significant changes made in recent years 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. Used as a crucial tool in implementing the Library’s new Digital Collecting Strategy, it has such broad value that it was a quarter finalist in the Digital Preservation Coalition’s World Cup this year.

Some of the planned updates for 2022 include a downloadable summary of all the RFS content categories and format designations, the addition of new file formats including WACZ for web archiving and the possible expansion of content categories, such as email, to cover acquisition pathways for non-commercially produced content.

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 April 15 as we prepare for the upcoming revision of the Statement this summer, due out on June 30.