The Library of Congress and the National Archives have joined the PDF Association, say the agencies. The association promotes adoption of international standards for portable document format technology, as partner organizations. Both federal agencies collect, and produce, numerous documents as PDFs.

“The library’s participation will foster enhanced relationships with industry, providing more opportunities for the library to communicate its needs to the community that develops the software which content producers and publishers use for digital documents and more,” said Mark Sweeney, associate librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress.

Founded in 2006 as the PDF/A Competence Center, the PDF Association exists to promote the adoption and implementation of International Standards for PDF technology.

The Portable Document Format, or PDF, family of standards is managed by International Standards Committee ISO/TC 171/SC 2. PDF includes subset formats appropriate for a variety of uses, including PDF/A, with characteristics appropriate for archival collections.

[Image courtesy: Library of Congress]