Feature: Preserving Author Websites — Local Web Archive Workflows for 2026

Hook: An author's website is an irreplaceable asset — treat it like a cultural deposit

Too many author sites disappear after a domain lapses or a platform sunsets. In 2026 the pragmatic answer is a hybrid approach: cloud hosting for live access plus automated local web-archive exports so every chapter, interview, and reader comment remains discoverable and verifiable.

Step-by-step ArchiveBox workflow (practical)

ArchiveBox continues to be the most practical open-source tool for periodic exports. Here's a high-level workflow tailored for author sites:

1. Schedule a nightly crawl of the author site and linked landing pages.
2. Produce both WARC and export HTML/EPUB packages for portability.
3. Store hashes and manifests in your cloud provider and mirror a copy to an institutional archive or local server.

For a concrete end-to-end setup and automations, review detailed instructions at How to Build a Local Web Archive for Client Sites (2026 Workflow with ArchiveBox).

Publishing governance and donor notices

When preserving public-facing author artifacts, add a governance manifest and public notice describing retention, access restrictions, and takedown procedures. Templates help you get this right; see the starter pack at Toolkit: Governance Templates, Manifests, and Public Notice.

Provenance and evidentiary hygiene

If you're preserving signed pages, archival photographs, or limited-edition covers, capture high-resolution images and provenance metadata. Note the technical limits: image formats matter for later validation — consult the analysis on JPEG forensics at Security and Forensics: Are JPEGs Reliable Evidence?.

Automation and monitoring

• Automated integrity checks: run periodic hash comparisons and alert on mismatch.
• Uptime and link rot monitoring: auto-rescue outbound links by archiving targets.
• Retention policies: store immutable snapshots for at least five years; rotate cold storage for older exports.

Collaboration: sharing exports with libraries and presses

When sharing web-archive exports with partner libraries, include manifest metadata and a rights statement so recipient institutions understand permitted uses. Use the governance toolkit for a public-facing statement that preserves donor intent: Toolkit: Governance Templates, Manifests, and Public Notice.

Future-proofing: standards and identity

Adopt persistent identifiers and link them in your manifests. For platforms integrating identity and authentication, review OIDC extension roundups to see how identity claims can carry provenance metadata: Reference: OIDC Extensions and Useful Specs (Link Roundup).

Final checklist

1. Nightly ArchiveBox export (WARC + EPUB + HTML)
2. Store hash manifest in cloud and local mirror
3. Publish governance manifest and public notice
4. Capture provenance metadata for physical artifacts
5. Set retention and integrity monitoring policies

Closing

Preserving author websites is not optional. Implement this hybrid workflow now and your content will survive platform changes, domain lapses, and editorial transitions — available to readers and scholars for decades.