This paper is intended as a guiding framework for the collection and digitizing program of the Oregon Sustainable Community Digital Library (OSCDL). The document addresses the following issues: (1) Portland and Oregon as centers of innovative planning (2) The institutional context of planning (3) The types of planning documentation typically found (4) The definition and dimensions of sustainability (5) Issue areas and topics that are most significant and interesting for electronic access.

It then offers suggestions about priorities for digital archiving based on a historical interpretation of Portland’s key planning and policy accomplishments and its consequent planning "gems" that are of greatest interest locally, nationally, and internationally.