Congratulations Loobylu!

The National Library of Australia has requested Claire Robertson's permission to archive loobylu.com - and its associated Month of Softies gallery - because it is an "electronic publication... of lasting cultural value".

According to its website, The National Library of Australia is "responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people. The Library's collections of Australiana have developed into the nation's single most important resource of materials recording the Australian cultural heritage."

Loobylu is the personal website of Claire Robertson, an illustrator and mother from the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. She's kept an online journal since December 1999 and won at least one 'bloggie' for each year they've been running:

2005: best-designed weblog
2004: best australian or new zealand weblog
2003: best merchandise of a weblog, best australian or new zealand weblog, and best-designed weblog
2002: best australian or new zealand weblog
2001: best australian or new zealand weblog, and best-designed weblog

In November 2004, she launched the group craft project, A Month of Softies:

A theme is supplied and it's your task to create some crafty item which uses this theme as inspiration. The themes will be mostly aimed at people who make dolls, toys, monsters and other such items but can easily be applied to any craft project... At the end of the month publish a snap of your piece on your web site and email it to me so that I can turn it into a thumbnail... Under each thumbnail there will be a description, the participant's name and a link to the participant's website or larger gallery photo...

...and voila! Community!

Brava Claire. It is really delightful to see such a beautiful part of the web both recognised and preserved.