NY Times|History, Digitized (and Abridged)
By KATIE HAFNER. March 10, 2007
As more museums and archives become digital domains, and as electronic resources become the main tool for gathering information, items left behind in nondigital form, scholars and archivists say, are in danger of disappearing from the collective cultural memory, potentially leaving our historical fabric riddled with holes.
1 response so far ↓
jacobnadal // March 20, 2007 at 11:09 am |
There’s been some commentary on the ALA digipres listserv about how little the article discusses digital preservation issues. After we digitize all this stuff, it becomes yet another burden on us to maintain it.
I thought the article did a good job of presenting the challenges of digitization, as far as that goes, but missed the some of the important related questions. Who is responsible for keeping these massive numbers of digital objects available? Where does the public trust meet up with private ventures? Is the author’s concern really about cataloging and processing, which she only sees through the lens of digitization? There were some interesting questions begged when the author wrote about how hard it would be to find things she’d obviously found, unless they were digitized.
What’s the hook for libraries and archives? How do we make ourselves invaluable agents in helping this transition? Can we establish ourselves in such a way that our stewardship roles for both original artifacts and digital surrogates are mandated and effectively supported? Who are our allies in this? Who’s going to try to force our agenda into the back seats?
You must be logged in to post a comment.