Web collection
An overview of the web collection
- Contents: selection of Dutch websites collected by the KB from 2007 onwards.
- Size: 23,600 websites
- Access: can be inspected by KB members in the KB reading room.
- More information: Peter de Bode and Sophie Ham.
About the KB's web collection
The internet is fleeting: today's online information may be gone without trace tomorrow. The KB therefore selects and preserves as many websites, home pages and other digitally conceived sources as possible, storing them in its web collection. The sites are collected and stored once or twice per year. The KB's web collection is the largest in the Netherlands.
Contents of the web collection
The KB's web collection includes the Netherlands’ oldest website (1992) and one of the first home pages in the Netherlands (1994). It also contains an important collection of Dutch web incunabula - early home pages from the early days of the web (1994-2001) that were published with internet providers Euronet and XS4ALL. You will also find several dedicated web collections with sites about current topics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic (collected in an international context), the Dutch blogosphere, the Chinese Netherlands, social criticism and LGBT+.
History of the web collection
It is important to make sure that future researchers will continue to have access to information about the digital culture of the Netherlands in the current digital age. That is why the KB began archiving websites about Dutch language, culture and history in 2007. We do more than just collect these websites: we are also developing a strategy to ensure that this data remains functional in the long term. What started as a project is now one of the KB's regular tasks.
Accessibility of the web collection
The web collection (the web archive) has been available in the KB reading room since 2011 for visitors with a valid membership. Researchers can also access the data for scientific research purposes under certain conditions.
