On the Linguistic Data Consortium's (LDC) 20th anniversary, this paper describes the changes to the language resource landscape over the past two decades, how LDC has adjusted its practice to adapt to them and how the business model continues to grow. Specifically, we will discuss LDC's evolving roles and changes in the sizes and types of LDC language resources (LR) as well as the data they include and the annotations of that data. We will also discuss adaptations of the LDC business model and the sponsored projects it supports.

The Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) seeks to provide its members with quality linguistic resources and services. In order to pursue these ideals and to remain current, LDC monitors the needs and sentiments of its communities. One mechanism LDC uses to generate feedback on consortium and resource issues is the LDC Member Survey. The survey allows LDC Members and nonmembers to provide LDC with valuable insight into their own unique circumstances, their current and future data needs and their views on LDC’s role in meeting them. When the 2006 Survey was found to be a useful tool for communicating with the Consortium membership, a 2007 Survey was organized and administered. As a result of the surveys, LDC has confirmed that it has made a positive impact on the community and has identified ways to improve the quality of service and the diversity of monthly offerings. Many respondents recommended ways to improve LDC’s functions, ordering mechanism and webpage. Some of these comments have inspired changes to LDC’s operation and strategy.