 Screenshot as of January 9, 2011 | |
Type of site | Public affairs video streaming |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | C-SPAN |
| URL | http://www.c-spanvideo.org/ |
| Registration | None |
| Launched | March 17, 2010 [1] |
| Current status | Online |
C-SPAN Video Library is the audio and video streaming website of C-SPAN, the American legislative broadcaster. The site offers a complete, freely accessible archive going back to 1987. It was launched in March 2010, and was integrated into the main C-SPAN website in 2013.
The site provides access to C-SPAN's collection of Congressional proceedings and other political and public affairs programming, including complete archives dating back to 1987. Content is searchable and browsable by program, topics, date, and speaker. At its launch in 2010, the site offered 160,000 hours of archived programming. New programming is archived shortly after broadcast. [2] [3] [4] [5]
C-SPAN was launched in 1979 but has limited archived material from its early years. According to C-SPAN itself, the first ever event broadcast by the network to be archived was the 90-minute confirmation hearings for Judge Robert Bork that aired on C-SPAN1 in September 15, 1987. [6] When the site was launched in 2010 its director Robert X. Browning said 10,000 hours of other tapes from 1979 to 1987 were slated for restoration, digitization, and addition. [3] [7]
Congressional Chronicle is a section with searchable transcripts of House and Senate floor debates and pages for current and past members of Congress, with biographies, voting records, campaign finance records, and a timeline of House and Senate sessions. [8] The site also provides episodes of Book TV and Booknotes , its now discontinued series of author interviews. [3] [9] In addition to C-SPAN programming, the site provides access to certain historic videos from the National Archives, such as video from President Nixon's 1972 trip to China. [5]
Journalists and opposition researchers have used the site to locate past statements by politicians. Three sources used it to locate clips and information about Christine O'Donnell during her failed 2010 Senate bid. [10]
Political commentator and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is a prominent fan of the site. She said having access was "like being able to Google political history using the ‘I Feel Lucky’ button every time." [3] Mediaite columnist Frances Martel called it "a landmark in government transparency" and said it was valuable for historical research. [4]
In September 2010, the site was awarded the Golden Beacon by the Association of Cable Communicators, [2] and in May 2011 it was recognized with a Peabody Award. [11]
C-SPAN has recorded and catalogued its coverage of Congress and other public affairs programming since the establishment of the C-SPAN Archives in 1987 at Purdue University's Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Indiana. [12] However, prior to the Video Library's launch, C-SPAN's archived programming was only available to the public via videocassette and DVD purchase from C-SPAN; with the approval of the network's board of cable industry executives, the online archive was developed to make C-SPAN content more immediately accessible. [7] The C-SPAN Video Library debuted unofficially in August 2007, with hosted video streaming and limited search tools. The following year, C-SPAN added an embeddable player to the Video Library's website. [13] The full archive officially launched March 17, 2010, [1] [13] upon completion of a multi-year project that digitized C-SPAN programming from 1987 onward. [2]
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money to establish a college of science, technology, and agriculture in his name. The first classes were held on September 16, 1874, with six instructors and 39 students. It has been ranked as among the best public universities in the United States by major institutional rankings, and is known for its engineering program.
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also tasked with increasing public access to those documents which make up the National Archives. NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential directives, and federal regulations. NARA also transmits votes of the Electoral College to Congress. It also examines Electoral College and constitutional amendment ratification documents for prima facie legal sufficiency and an authenticating signature.
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network is an American cable and satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises proceedings of the United States federal government and other public affairs programming. C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit organization funded by its cable and satellite affiliates. It does not have advertisements on any of its networks or radio stations, nor does it solicit donations or pledges. The network operates independently; the cable industry and the U.S. Congress have no control over its programming content.
Tippecanoe County is located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Indiana about 22 miles east of the Illinois state line and less than 50 miles from the Chicago and the Indianapolis metro areas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 186,251. The county seat and largest city is Lafayette. It was created in 1826 from Wabash County portion of New Purchase and unorganized territory.
Lafayette is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located 63 miles (101 km) northwest of Indianapolis and 125 miles (201 km) southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, which contributes significantly to both communities. Together, Lafayette and West Lafayette form the core of the Lafayette metropolitan area, which had a population of 224,709 in the 2021 US Census Bureau estimates.
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James Hadley Billington was an American academic and author who taught history at Harvard and Princeton before serving for 42 years as CEO of four federal cultural institutions. He served as the 13th Librarian of Congress after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, and his appointment was approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate. He retired as Librarian on September 30, 2015.
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The Purdue University system is a public university system in the U.S. state of Indiana. A land-grant university with nearly 75,000 students across five institutions comprising six physical campuses, a statewide technology program, extension centers in each of Indiana's 92 counties, and continuing education programs. Additionally, there are another ~44,000 students enrolled in an online university. Each university in the system maintains its own faculty and admissions policies which are overseen by the Purdue University Board of Trustees. Purdue's main campus in West Lafayette is the best-known, noted for its highly regarded programs in engineering and adjacent subjects.
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The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., that serves as the library, research service of the U.S. Congress and the de facto national library of the United States. Founded in 1800, the library is the United States's oldest federal cultural institution. The Library is housed in three elaborate buildings on Capitol Hill. It also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its collections contain approximately 173 million items, and it has more than 3,000 employees. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages."
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Robert Xavier Browning is a professor at Purdue University and head of the C-SPAN Archives in West Lafayette, Indiana.