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gubernatorial web pages during times of transition from office. Pulling inspiration from the
successful End of Term (EOT) Web Archive project, initiated by the Library of Congress and
established to preserve and document changes in federal websites during presidential transitions
(End of Term Web Archive, 2018), the objective is to archive the web pages of Florida elected
officials during transitions in state government. While web archiving efforts currently exist to
preserve the websites of Florida government agencies through the Florida Department of State’s
Division of Library and Information Services, there is currently no initiative in place to preserve
state-operated web pages of elected officials or document changes in their transitions during
election years. The goal of the State of Florida Elected Officials (SOFEO) Web Archive project
is to archive the identified state websites to compliment the established preservation efforts in
place for government agencies and augment the current archive collections for purposes of state
assistance in the development of the SOFEO archive will be the Florida Department of State’s
Division of Library and Information Services, as well as the State Library of Florida, the Florida
State Historical Records Advisory Board, Friends of the State Library and Archives, the Florida
Memory project members, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services for guidance in the
creation and recruitment of a project team. It would be advisable that the Florida Department of
State house the main copy of the archive, while the State Archives of Florida holds a secondary
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copy, since they are a central repository for the archives of state government (State Library and
and State Senate comprised of 40 members (State of Florida, 2018), in addition to the two U.S.
Senators for Florida and one Governor. While the SOFEO archive will not be as broad in scope
and depth as the EOT project, there is a total number of 163 websites of interest required at a
higher frequency of acquisition than the EOT, which recommences every four years at the end of
each presidential term. Accordingly, this initiative will follow a selective method of criteria in
identification of 163 specific web resources for collection. Timing will be determined based on
election years when changes are likely to occur to current government officials’ main web pages
executive branches of state government during election years, which are staggered according to
office. For instance, members of the Florida House of Representatives serve two-year terms,
while Florida Senate members and the Governor serve four-year terms, with 20 Senators up for
election every two years. All members of the legislature are term limited, so transitions in state
office occur with relative frequency. With this in mind, the 163 websites will be crawled three
times during election years; once in August to preserve existing pages prior to election, followed
by a second crawl in November of the same year in the days following the election results, and
finally, a third crawl will be performed once all elected officials are sworn into office for that
term. This will ensure that any changes are documented during times of transition and incoming
records will be presented in accordance with the Dublin Core metadata schema (State Library
and Archives of Florida, n.d.-b), including title, description, and date, inherently improving both
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searchability and accuracy of results. As remote harvesting is one of the most widely employed
methods of collection (Brown, 2006), the SOFEO web archive will use the free, open-source
crawler software, HTTrack, which is best suited for such a narrowly focused collection of
websites. This will allow for the download of identified URLs in the original site’s link-structure
and can generate basic JavaScript or Flash (HTTrack Website Copier, 2018), but considering the
format of websites selected for harvest, there are so few dynamic features (e.g. extensive use of
Flash content) on government officials’ main pages to navigate in the capture process, nor are the
websites updated at a high rate of frequency. As quality assurance is essential for any successful
web archive, and resources will be crawled on multiple occasions, a post-collection test of a
representative sample will follow to ensure collection is complete and free of corruption or
systematic errors.
The legalities of copyright infringement, intellectual property, and privacy issues are not
a relevant concern in this case, as the public records and information compiled of Florida elected
officials from their state-run websites should be the property of, and easily accessible to, the
people of the state. The State Archives of Florida preserves records of the functions and activities
of Florida’s executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government and outlines in detail
what constitutes public record (Florida Department of State, 2010). While most websites are
subject to some degree of approval or cooperation, the SOFEO web archive is based on the
the state Constitution, and enacted in Freedom of Information legislation. Pursuant to Chapter
119 of the Florida Statute, the Florida Supreme Court has interpreted the definition of a public
record “to encompass all materials made or received by an agency in connection with official
business which are used to perpetuate, communicate or formalize knowledge” (“Public Records
Request Manual”, 2009). In fact, the Court has held that “information stored in a computer is as
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much a public record as a written page in a book or tabulation in a file stored in a filing cabinet.”
Furthermore, in accordance with Florida Statute 257.36 regarding Records and Information
Management, the SOFEO archive would have the right to collect any content “for the selection
and preservation of records considered essential to the operation of government and to the
protection of the rights and privileges of citizens” (The Florida Senate, 2012).
A variety of public institutions in the state of Florida currently maintain web archives for
the preservation of legislative history and state heritage, but none have recognized the relevancy
of preserving the official websites of state elected officials particularly during times of transition.
Following the precedent of the End of Term Web Archive as a model, 163 state government web
pages have been identified for preservation and acquisition frequency determined by the electoral
calendar. As state congressional and gubernatorial officials are term-limited and election years
staggered, seats can turn over biannually throughout the state and should be documented
accordingly. The State of Florida Elected Officials Web Archive is poised to preserve the
identified websites for historical relevance and improve upon current efforts to archive
legislative policy and agendas for the citizens of Florida to access and research in the future.
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References
Ballotpedia. (2018). Florida House of Representatives. Retrieved from
https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_House_of_Representatives
Brown, A. (2006). Archiving Websites. London: Facet Publishing.
Public Records Request Manual [Download]. (2009, March). Florida: Department of
Management Services.
End of Term Web Archive. (2018). Project Background. Retrieved from
http://eotarchive.cdlib.org/background.html
Florida Department of State. (2010). State Archives of Florida Collection Development
Policy [PDF file]. Retrieved from
https://dos.myflorida.com/media/32489/collectionpolicy2010.pdf
Florida Department of State. (2018). About Us - Division of Library and Information Services.
Retrieved from https://dos.myflorida.com/library-archives/about-us/
HTTrack Website Copier. (2018). Welcome. Retrieved from https://www.httrack.com
State Library and Archives of Florida. (n.d.-a). About Florida Memory. Retrieved from
https://www.floridamemory.com/about/
State Library and Archives of Florida. (n.d.-b). Digitization Guidelines for the Florida Memory
Program. Retrieved from https://www.floridamemory.com/about/guidelines.php
State of Florida. (2018). 2018-2020 Senators - The Florida Senate. Retrieved from
http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/#Senators
The Florida Legislature. (2018). The 2018 Florida Statutes. Retrieved from
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0200-
0299/0257/Sections/0257.36.html
The Florida Senate. (2012). Chapter 257 Section 36 - 2012 Florida Statutes. Retrieved from
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2012/257.36
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