The Section 108 Study Group was formed to prepare findings and make recommendations to the Librarian of Congress for possible alterations to the law that reflected current technologies. This effort was to strike the appropriate balance between copyright holders and libraries and archives in a manner that best serves the public interest.
Digital technologies were radically transforming how copyrighted works were created and disseminated, and also how libraries and archives preserved and made those works available. Cultural heritage institutions, in carrying forward their missions, began to acquire and incorporate large quantities of "born digital" works (those created in digital form) into their holdings to ensure the continuing availability of those works to future generations.
Yet it had been observed that Section 108 of the Copyright Act - which provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives - did not adequately address many of the issues unique to digital media, either from the perspective of rights owners or libraries and archives.
The former National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) of the Library of Congress sponsored the Section 108 Study Group in cooperation with the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library of Congress, with the Copyright Office, sought to obtain a greater understanding of the issues through the group and to receive its balanced, solid recommendations for revisions to Section 108.