As much as video games are now part of our culture, somehow the words 'video games' and 'cultural heritage' don't seem to go together. Apparently, now they do; at least that's what the Library of Congress says. With the launch of “Preserving Creative America”, the Library of Congress hopes to protect American cultural heritage by preserving digital materials, video games included.

Associate librarian for Strategic Initiatives and Library's chief information officer Laura E. Campbell leads the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP), the Library of Congress' national digital preservation program. Campbell suggests that due to its susceptibilty, digital materials should be created with thoughts on how to preserve it as well. In her own words:

“We are faced with the potential disappearance of our cultural heritage if we don’t act soon and act together to preserve digital materials. We have learned from our experience that long-term preservation of digital content is dependent on influencing decisions of content providers from the moment of creation.”

On April 7, the Library organized a strategy session with producers of commercial digital content for television, radio, music, film, photography, pictorial art, and video games to pursue potential partnership projects for the preservation of digital materials. To mobilize preservation projects in the private sector, the Library also plans to issue a request for expression of interest among the private industry.

“Preserving Creative America” aims to give Congress a description of the types of commercial digital content that are at risk of loss or degradation if not preserved sooner. The ultimate goal of this project by NDIIP and some private industry is to “inform the greater population of commercial content owners and cultural heritage institutions in the establishment of such parameters as content formats, metadata standards, system architecture and other technical elements”. For the sake of the video games we treasure today, let's hope their initiatives pay off...