Recommended Formats Statement

Archival quality paper (ISO 11108: 1996 for Archival Paper)

Paper which does not meet this standard can successfully be preserved by the Library of Congress

1. Lithography (offset printing press)
2. Inkjet ((inkjet printer using stable pigment or dye-based inks)s)

1. Xerography (Electrophotography)

Binding, in descending order of preference:

1. Hard cover
1. Library binding (NISO Z39.78-2000)
2. Sewn through fold
3. Other sewn leaf attachment
4. Double Fan Adhesive
5. Other adhesive leaf attachment
6. With slip case and/or dust jacket if available
2. For broadsides and musical compositions, the Library prefers items:
1. In protective folders
2. Rolled (rather than folded)

1. Soft cover
1. Sewn
2. Glued only
3. Spiral- or plastic-bound
4. Stapled
2. Unbound material,  such as manuscripts, ring binders, etc.

• Limited editions (including those with special binding or special features)
• Editions with the greatest number of unique features (such as pop-ups, overlaps, magnifiers, overlays, tabs, notches, etc.)
• Illustrated editions; original color illustrations preferred over black and white reproductions

Editions without these features

• Complete work. For items published in a finite number of separate components, all elements published as part of the work and offered for sale or distribution must be submitted.
• All updates, supplements, releases, and supersessions published as part of the work and offered for sale or distribution must be submitted. Insertions (including all binders and indexes) must be received in a regular and timely manner for proper maintenance of the deposit.
• For unaccompanied vocal musical compositions: open score, with each part on separate staff
• For vocal musical compositions with orchestral accompaniment and for instrumental musical compositions:
1. Full score and up to 13 parts, if applicable, if published only by rental, lease, or lending, submit full score only
2. Conductor's score and up to 13 parts, if applicable; if published only by rental, lease, or lending, submit conductor's score only

1. As displayed on item:
1. Title
2. Creator
3. Publication/Creation Date or Start Date/End Date
4. Place of Publication
5. Publisher/Producer/Distributor
6. ISBN/ISSN
7. Contact information
2. If available:
1. Other relevant identifiers (e.g., DOI, LCCN, etc.)
2. Edition
3. Subject descriptors
4. Abstracts

1. As displayed on item:
1. Title
2. Creator
3. Publication/Creation Date or Start Date/End Date
4. Place of Publication
5. Publisher/Producer/Distributor

Character encoding, in descending order of preference:

1. UTF-8, UTF-16 (with BOM), US-ASCII
2. ISO 8859

Other character encodings not listed in Preferred section

1. XML-based markup music notational format, with included or accessible DTD/schema, XSD/XSL presentation stylesheet(s), and explicitly stated character encoding
1. MusicXML
2. Music Encoding Initiative (MEI)
3. Other widely-used and publicly documented musical notation DTDs/schemas
2. Page-layout formats
1. PDF-UA (ISO 14289-1-compliant)
2. PDF/A (ISO 19005-compliant)
3. PDF (highest quality available, with features such as searchable text, embedded fonts, lossless compression, high resolution images; includes document formats such as PDF/X)

1. Other structured or markup formats
1. XHTML or HTML, with DOCTYPE declaration and presentation stylesheet(s)
2. SGML, with included or accessible DTD
2. Page-layout formats
1. PDF (web-optimized)
3. Other formats
1. Widely-used proprietary music notation formats
2. Other music composition formats (including graphics-based formats) not listed here

• Limited editions (including those with special features)
• Editions with the greatest number of unique features (such as additional content, multimedia, interactive elements, etc.)

• Complete work. For items published in a finite number of separate components, all elements published as part of the work and offered for sale or distribution must be submitted. Includes all associated external files and fonts considered integral to the publication.
• All updates, supplements, releases, and supersessions published as part of the work and offered for sale or distribution must be submitted and received in a regular and timely manner for proper maintenance of the deposit.
• For unaccompanied vocal musical compositions: open score, with each part on separate staff.
• For vocal musical compositions with orchestral accompaniment and for instrumental musical compositions:
1. Full score and all parts, if applicable; if published only by rental, lease, or lending, full score only may be submitted;
2. Conductor’s score and all parts, if applicable; if published only by rental, lease, or lending, conductor’s score only may be submitted.

1. As supported by format (e.g., standards-based formats such as ONIX for Books, XMP, MODS, or MARCXML either embedded in or accompanying the digital item):
1. Title
2. Creator
3. Creation Date or Start Date/End Date
4. Place of publication
5. Publisher/ producer/ distributor
6. ISMN
7. Instrumentation
2. Include if available:
1. Language of work
2. Other relevant identifiers (e.g., ISBN, DOI, LCCN, original URL, etc.)
3. Edition
4. Subject descriptors
5. Events
6. Abstracts

Files must contain no measures (such as digital rights management [DRM] technologies or encryption) that control access to or prevent use of the digital work.