Stanford Libraries creates first ‘living archive’ | In a first for any major academic institution, Stanford University Libraries has named the renowned environmental architect William McDonough as its first “living archive.” In that role, McDonough will update and expand his existing archive in near-real time by recording his phone conversations and filming his meetings, with the content produced to be subsequently published online.

“How many of our daily discussions are worth keeping a detailed record of?” said Roberto Trujillo, head of the Stanford University Libraries’ Special Collections, to the New York Times. “My sense is Bill [McDonough] is booked solid with a lot of meaningful meetings, and so it will be a rich archive. This could well be a model for other repositories and libraries. I wouldn’t claim the idea is unique, but the scope is.”