N the strongest signal to date of its commitment to preserving the nation's digital legacy, Congress has set aside $100 million for the Library of Congress to carry out a plan for collecting and preserving digital information, including images, CD's, Web pages and electronic journals.

In December 2000, Congress provided an initial $5 million for the library to come up with a proposal for digital preservation. The library submitted the plan to Congress last September, and lawmakers approved the plan in January. Another $20 million will now be released for carrying out the early phases of the plan.

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"I don't think we've ever had a single shot of this size in our entire history," said James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress.

Congress will allot an additional $75 million on the condition that this amount is matched by the private sector. The private contributions could be in the form of cash, hardware, software or consulting services. Initially, the matching funds had to be raised by March 31 of this year. But the library is seeking an extension to March 31, 2005.

The library has digitized some of its physical collection, including items like Civil War photographs and presidential papers. But it is lagging in the task of archiving electronica: scholarly journals, books and magazines that are "born digital"; CD-ROM's; digital photographs, music and films; and millions of miscellaneous pieces of Internet-based material. Digital technology "has spawned a surfeit of information that is extremely fragile, inherently impermanent, and difficult to assess for long-term value," wrote the authors of the plan that was submitted to Congress.

The problem of preserving digital archives is complex. Not only do computer hardware and software quickly become obsolete, but the durability of storage media is also limited. "We know about paper disintegrating, but the digital world is so much more evanescent," Dr. Billington said.

Two years ago, Congress established the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, charging the Library of Congress with leading a nationwide plan for the long-term preservation of digital content. To help carry out the work, the library has formed partnerships with companies and with other federal agencies, including the Commerce Department and the National Archives.

Archival experts say the Congressional action is coming not a moment too soon.

"We're talking about losing the potential to be able to access or reuse all of the information and knowledge that's being generated in digital form if we don't come up with effective and economical ways to preserve digital information," said Margaret Hedstrom, associate professor at the School of Information at the University of Michigan and an authority on digital archiving.

"Everything from basic research data to online art and poetry and performance is digital," Dr. Hedstrom said. "It's a huge part of our heritage and our intellectual capital."

Laura Campbell, associate librarian for strategic initiatives at the Library of Congress, said that carrying out the plan could take five to seven years, but that the actual preservation of material "will go on forever."

One example of the infrastructure that is needed could be a collaborative effort by a group of research libraries to collect electronic journals and put them on a central computer.

Whether the library will be able to attract the matching funds it needs from the private sector, especially given the state of the economy, remains unclear.

"We can do it, though it's much tougher than it would have been, say two or three years ago,'' said James Barksdale, president and chief executive of the Barksdale Management Corporation, an investment firm in Jackson, Miss. Mr. Barksdale, the former chief executive of Netscape, is a member of the library's National Digital Strategy Advisory Board.

"All the relevant players have had serious downturns in their stock prices, the value of their companies, and their own personal worth," he said. "It's going to take some work."