Mission
The National Audiovisual Conservation Center develops, preserves and provides broad access to a comprehensive and valued collection of the world’s audiovisual heritage for the benefit of Congress and the nation’s citizens.
Goals
Collect, Preserve, Provide Access to Knowledge
The National Audiovisual Conservation Center (NAVCC) of the Library of Congress will be the first centralized facility in America especially planned and designed for the acquisition, cataloging, storage and preservation of the nation’s collection of moving images and recorded sounds. This collaborative initiative is the result of a unique partnership between the Packard Humanities Institute, the United States Congress, the Library of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol.
The NAVCC will consolidate collections now stored in four states and the District of Columbia. Once complete, the facility will boast more than 1 million film and video items and 3 million sound recordings, providing endless opportunities to peruse the sights and sounds of American creativity.
The NAVCC will use state-of-the-art technologies to significantly increase preservation capacities and capabilities, and new large-scale digital acquisition and archiving systems that will serve as a prototype for the global audiovisual community.
The NAVCC will offer unprecedented public access to the Library's audiovisual holdings via electronic transmissions to the Library's reading rooms on Capitol Hill, and through curated online exhibits, regular theatrical screenings, festivals, symposia and events open to the public at no charge.
The NAVCC will conduct cooperative public and educational programs in partnership with libraries and archives, university training programs and other educational institutions, professional associations, standards organizations, and with producers, distributors and exhibitors throughout the audiovisual creative community.
In addition to safeguarding the Library's own collections, the NAVCC will provide innovative preservation services to other libraries, archives and industry constituents in both the public and private sectors.
The NAVCC will play a critical role in implementing the American Television and Radio Archives legislation, as well as the national moving image and recorded sound preservation plans prepared under the National Film Preservation Act and the National Recording Preservation Act.
Spark Imagination and Creativity
The NAVCC will engage and inspire individuals with the Library’s unparalleled collection of audiovisual items, and cultivate innovative methods for preserving our nation's creative legacy.
The NAVCC will work in collaboration with archival, university, and industry partners to develop educational programs and creative learning opportunities that will help train new curators and bring new meaning to the Library’s audiovisual holdings.
The NAVCC will offer film screenings, festivals, online exhibits, symposia and other events to spark the public's imagination and promote the creative use of the Library's unparalleled audiovisual collections.
The NAVCC will collaborate with educators, filmmakers, television historians, and publishers to create new media productions and foster creative reuse of the collections.
The NAVCC will engage the general public as well as film, television and radio producers in showcasing the rich and diverse heritage of American creativity embodied in the National Film Registry and National Recording Registry.
The NAVCC will foster new access partnerships with rights owners to bring to life large segments of our audiovisual heritage that have been unavailable for decades.
In designing the NAVCC, the Library collaborated with the Packard Humanities Institute to create a facility that is both a test bed and a model for innovation in the development of new preservation technologies.
Not only will the NAVCC provide preservation services to other library and archival constituents, it will continue to cultivate new research and development by sharing standards and best practices with the preservation community.
Recognize and Celebrate Achievement
The NAVCC celebrates our nation's audiovisual heritage and recognizes the importance of preserving and providing access to the Library's collections in order to cultivate achievement for future generations.
Beyond a celebration of the nation's creative legacy, the NAVCC recognizes the creators and curators, the experts and educators who have contributed to and illuminated the Library's collections.
The NAVCC is just one of the Library's initiatives designed to recognize the richness and variety of our nation's audiovisual legacy. Each year, the Librarian announces the National Recording Registry and the National Film Registry, annual selections of culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant recorded sounds and motion pictures to be added to the Library's collections.
The NAVCC collaborates with a network of partners to recognize and preserve those audiovisual materials that will best serve Congress and the public for generations to come.