Long Term Preservation

What is the future of publishing?
It concerns me as a citizen and a librarian that we could lose history. So much material is not being purchased and housed in print format. It's digital. For access or current and up to date material this is second to know but what if you want something more than 10 years old?
We are not purchasing hard copies of materials and they dissappear out of the digital world with the passage of time. Not sure how it will work out.
I am working on a cataloging project to get a collection of old vinyl albums into our OPAC. This past week I have been looking at some that are historically significant for example Ed Murrow commenting on WWII. This isn't something you can look up many places. Items like this reflect the opinions of the world at the time events occured. Several volumes of commentaries about JFK are also available. Again commentaries about the perceived effect of the events as they were happening. A lot of insight is available here. How are similar things saved now. Will there be enough archived or preserved material to save our history?

Digital Archiving

So what do you think of digital archiving? It seems to be a direction of the world. Certainly if there are rare or fragile items in your collection this is an option much more viable than allowing circulation. It also makes your collection available to the masses if you want it to be.
One tool for Digitizing is OCLC's contentdm. Information is available about it by following the link below.
http://www.contentdm.org/
This tool allows linkage to Worldcat and promotes wide availability. Besides a link to a brochure and information this site provide links to featured digital collections allowing you to better envision the possiblilities available through digitzation.

Print -- will it live on

I have been hearing about the death of print since I started library school in 2005. Last I checked it’s still alive and well. There are new forays of attack against print materials however. Tuesday I saw a woman exercising at the local Y while reading a book on a kindle. Yesterday I read a Feb. 2, 2010 article from the Wall Street Journal about using Apple iPad in classrooms instead of textbooks. Reference was also made to competition for this market from netbooks. So why do need print?
I firmly believe in print. I still think a book can go places and do things that electronic sources can’t, such as in a bubble bath with me. I also find genuine print a lot easier on the eyes. While I can’t argue with the search features of eBooks or the convenience of electronic databases we still need print. I am not going to be teaching my grandchildren to recognize and imitate animal sounds from a kindle.

Wall Street Journal Feb 2, 2010
Textbook Firms Ink E-Deals For iPad
By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG And YUKARI IWATANI KANE
—Paul Sonne contributed to this article.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Confessions of an Eco-Sinner

This title written by Fred Pearce is subtitled tracking down the source of my stuff. It relates his many adventures trying to find where different things in his household come from. Ranging broadly from the gold in his wedding ring to various foods he eats, he sets out to find out where things come from and what their impact on the environment is.
The book relates a lot of startling information which is presented in a look and see what you think manner. Pearce refrains from preaching or putting forth a green agenda. He presents facts and various conclusions that can be made from them and leaves it to the reader to decide on action. He examines the human toll that products take as well as the envirnmental toll and makes comparisons that are sometimes surprising.
If you are thinking about eco consciosness and looking for a source of information that goes beyond todays headlines this might be a book for you.

Welcome

Enter the world of Libraryslog. Being fascinated with new finds in cyberspace and librarianship I want to share some of the things I find with others. My favorite find in recent times is www.visuwords.com this is a free online graphic dictionary. Try it out and see what you think. You might just find it to be addicting, esspecially if you are a bibliophile or English major.