Episode Overview

Title: James A. Jacobs and James R. Jacobs, "Preserving Government Information: Past, Present, and Future" (Freegovinfo Press, 2025)
Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Adam Kreisberg
Date: December 11, 2025
Guests: Jim Jacobs (Librarian Emeritus, UC San Diego), James Jacobs (Government Information Librarian, Stanford University Libraries)

Main Theme:
An in-depth exploration of the evolution, challenges, and future of preserving US government information—print and digital—with special attention to the institutional, technological, and political hurdles facing information professionals. The episode spotlights the authors' comprehensive new book, their decades of advocacy, the impact of the internet on federal information infrastructure, the OAIS preservation model, and urgent calls to develop collaborative, robust digital preservation strategies in light of current political realities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Authors’ Backgrounds and Motivation

• Collaboration History:

  • James and Jim Jacobs have collaborated for 20+ years, originally co-founding the Freegovinfo.info blog in 2004 (03:19).
  • Both are deeply experienced in government information—Jim for 40+ years across multiple universities and levels of government documents, James for 20+ years as a government information librarian and advocate (03:46–05:47).

• Book's Purpose:

  • To document the historical context of government information preservation, trace how the field has evolved (especially with digital transformation), and guide the profession forward (06:16).
  • “It gave me a chance to put a lot of the history into a single place and document what had happened and why it had happened and why we got to where we are today.”
    — Jim Jacobs [06:16]

2. Publishing Philosophy and Open Access (07:38–12:22)

• Decision for Open Access & Creative Commons:

  • The authors deliberately published via Creative Commons to ensure the book is “free or inexpensive,” available digitally (PDF, ebook) and in print at cost ($20) to maximize access, especially for LIS students and professionals (08:15–10:14).

• Alignment with Advocacy:

  • Their open-access approach mirrors their advocacy for free and unrestricted public access to government information:
    • “We wanted to get it in the hands of the people who could most use it at the point of need.” — James Jacobs [11:45]

3. Institutional Infrastructure: GPO, NARA, and Library of Congress (13:19–21:47)

• Key Agencies and Jurisdictions:

  • GPO (Government Publishing Office): Charged with publishing public government documents across branches.
  • NARA (National Archives and Records Administration): Responsible for preserving government records—mainly internal, not necessarily for immediate public access.
  • Library of Congress: Acts as the “Library of Congress,” not a national library; selects information for Congress, not a publisher per se (14:05–17:39).

• Overlaps and Tensions:

  • Digital information has blurred statutory lines; gaps and duplication persist as each agency leans on the others, leading to “a lot of duplication and a lot of gaps” in preservation (20:28–21:47).
  • “All three agencies...say this job is too big for us individually, so we’re going to rely on you other two...What we've seen is there’s a lot of duplication and a lot of gaps.” — Jim Jacobs [21:41]

4. The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and the Internet Disruption (24:20–31:20)

• FDLP Origins and Functions:

  • Formed in 1813, expanded in 1962 into regional and selective libraries tasked with providing long-term public access and de facto preservation (24:54–28:06).

• Internet's Disruption:

  • The Internet meant government information could be accessed directly, bypassing physical distribution, thereby reducing libraries’ traditional roles and creating new preservation challenges (29:39).
  • “When the web came in, you didn’t have to distribute multiple copies...That was the disruption.” — Jim Jacobs [29:39]

• Lost Opportunities:

  • Libraries’ roles shrank to mere catalogers, not preservation partners. Authors argue for “equal partnership in digital preservation and long-term access,” distributing preservation responsibility among all stakeholders (31:20–34:11).

5. Vision for a Distributed Digital Preservation Infrastructure (32:23–36:26)

• Proposed Model:
  • Functions—selection, acquisition, storage, metadata, dissemination—are distributed across libraries and archives based on expertise and capacity.
  • Practical example: The Data Rescue Project, where volunteers saved threatened government datasets collaboratively, is cited as a prototype for collective action (35:13).

6. The OAIS Model: Understanding & Reimagining it for Government Information (37:34–47:08)

• What is OAIS?

  • OAIS (“Open Archival Information System”) is a reference, not technical, model outlining the minimal functions and philosophy needed for digital preservation (39:12).

• Key Metaphor:

  • “If there was a reference model for ground transportation...you could conform...by building a scooter or a Mack truck...OAIS...puts the emphasis on who you’re doing it for, the designated community.” — Jim Jacobs [39:12]

• OAIS’s Role:

  • Provides shared language for interdisciplinary, cross-institution collaboration.
  • It is flexible, not overly technical, and is meant to suit each community’s needs.
  • “OAIS gives us...a common language, a common literature to communicate what...we mean by digital preservation.” — James Jacobs [45:52]

• Five Guarantees of Preservation (highlighted as the heart of good preservation work):

  • Not just preserved, but also: discoverable, deliverable, readable, understandable, and usable (47:08).

7. Current Political Context and Its Impact on Preservation (49:56–61:01)

• Reliance on Government for Preservation is Risky:

  • Past decades have shown it is unsafe to rely solely on governmental self-preservation. Information can be altered, withdrawn, or lost due to funding, policy, or technical failures (51:33).
  • “The thing...we have been saying for 20 years...is that we can’t rely on the government solely to preserve its own information for a lot of reasons.” — Jim Jacobs [51:44]

• Recent, Alarming Developments:

  • Current (Trump) administration is removing information for political purposes—erasing inconvenient data and historical records, a new escalation beyond previous instances of benign neglect or technical loss (54:49–55:23).
  • Yet, this crisis has galvanized a new wave of activists and professionals:
    • “That’s the silver lining...now there’s a whole lot of people...who are like, oh, this information is really important. And...if I see something, I’ve got to save something.” — James Jacobs [56:54]

• Need for Pre-emptive, Collaborative Infrastructure:

  • Preservation must happen as information is created and released, not just in reaction to potential deletion (58:04).

• Historical Context:

  • While the problem is acute today, information restriction is a recurring issue—past administrations have narrowed access through budget, technology, or policy (59:16–60:27).

8. Q&A: Looking Forward (62:01–66:58)

• Current Projects:

  • James Jacobs: Continues with the End of Term Web Archive (preserving .gov domains at each presidential transition) and is developing tools for making web-archived materials more discoverable (62:20–64:12).
  • Jim Jacobs: Interested in research on the PDF file format’s preservation challenges, inspired by issues surfaced in the book (64:12–65:22).

• Call to Action for the Next Generation:

  • Hopes the book will inspire younger librarians and researchers to tackle unresolved problems, e.g., expanding inventories to data repositories and social media (65:22–66:40).
  • Offers openness for collaboration and education with other library schools and organizations (66:40).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s kind of scary to say that...my association with this kind of topic does stretch back 40 years.” — Jim Jacobs [04:48]
• “We both feel that print is its own user interface that is different from the digital user interface, and some people prefer that.” — Jim Jacobs [08:47]
• “We wanted to get it in the hands of the people who could most use it at the point of need.” — James Jacobs [11:45]
• “GPO has always been responsible for published government information...NARA, its job was to deal with records management, those internal records.” — Jim Jacobs [18:05]
• “When the web came in, you didn’t have to distribute multiple copies of digital documents geographically...That was the disruption.” — Jim Jacobs [29:39]
• “What could have been done is GPO could have said, we need partners in preserving this information and guaranteeing long-term access to it. And that hasn’t happened yet.” — Jim Jacobs [31:20]
• “If you’re storing without access, you’re just hoarding.” — Jim Jacobs (paraphrasing James Jacobs) [48:25]
• “This administration...is the first one that has ever decided that past administration, past policy, past information was no longer necessary to be preserved...Rather than just simply, you know, left in libraries.” — James Jacobs [54:49]
• “We need the involvement of people whose primary job is not to create the information or to change the information, but to preserve the information.” — Jim Jacobs [60:27]

Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:19–06:40 – Authors’ backgrounds and longstanding collaboration
• 07:38–12:22 – Publishing decision: open access, Creative Commons, and philosophy
• 13:19–21:47 – Overview of GPO, NARA, Library of Congress: roles, overlaps, gaps
• 24:20–34:11 – History and disruption of FDLP; the impact of the internet; need for new preservation partnerships
• 37:34–47:08 – The OAIS Model explained and reimagined for government information
• 49:56–61:01 – Current preservation challenges under present administration and why collaboration is essential
• 62:01–66:58 – Next steps for the authors and call for involvement from new voices in the field

Conclusion

This episode provides a sweeping yet detailed look at the changing landscape of government information preservation. Jim and James Jacobs, drawing on decades of experience and advocacy, argue that facing down the risks of digital loss, political manipulation, and overwhelming information scale will require a new, distributed, and deeply collaborative approach among libraries, archives, and the broader community. Their new book—freely available—serves as both a historical primer and a call to action for the next generation of librarians, archivists, and engaged citizens.