The Swiss National Library (NL) has the legal mandate to collect, list, conserve and make available information on and about Switzerland (Helvetica), in print form or stored on other medias. This broad mandate covers not only offline electronic Helvetica stored on various medias such as diskettes, CD-ROMs or DVDs but also online Helvetica published on the Internet. In order to guarantee future access to digital Helvetica, archiving these types of publications must take into consideration the conservation of the information itself along with the conservation of the various medias and operating systems. With the ever-increasing publication of information on the Internet, the NL must rise to meet the challenges linked to managing and conserving digital information.

Since 2001, the NL has been involved in e-Helvetica to determine how the digital cultural heritage of Switzerland should be preserved for future access. The goals of e-Helvetica are to put in place the basis for the collecting, listing, accessing and long-term storage and conservation of electronic Helvetica and to establish digital archives for electronic publications. This entails the creation of a platform for long-term conservation as well as determining the basis for the collection through various pilot projects.

As a Swiss library, the NL actively seeks collaboration with other Swiss libraries; both cantonal and university libraries in the context of. e-Helvetica. Given its role of national library, the NL has also established contacts with commercial publishers. At the international level, the NL collaborates mostly with other national libraries with similar mandates.