British Library warns web heritage at risk

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The British Library has warned that it is unable to keep up with archiving because of laws requiring it to ask permission to save web pages.

Since it started archiving sites in 2004, the British Library and its partners have managed to record just 8,000 out of the estimated eight million pages created in the UK.

The UK Web Archive collection has now been made available to the public to view, but a library spokesperson told the BBC that legal issues stemming from confusing elements of the Legal Deposit Libraries Act were getting in the way.

"We're in the ridiculous position where we have to ask permission of each webmaster before we archive a site," the spokesperson said.

According to the British Library's chief executive Dame Lynne Brindley, at the current rate of archiving, "it will be feasible to collect just one per cent of all free UK websites by 2011," leaving the UK with a "digital black hole" in its memory.

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