[PADG:2213] RE: PADG Meeting Announcement

["Cybulski, Walter (NIH/NLM)" <Cybulskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David:

I find it interesting that Deanna asks the same question I have been trying
to write about for quite some time now: what is a library?  Actually, I am
writing about the future of print collections, but the gist is the same.  In
times of uncertainty we all find ourselves asking fundamental questions.
Another way of saying that is to use the words of Czeslaw Milosz: "Evil is a
test of what is real."  Of course, I do not think computers or digitization
are evil.  They certainly do seem to be a test of what is real, at least as
far as librarians are concerned.  And I am probably only speaking of those
of us who work with analog collections any more.

I would ask people to consider what happens if traditional modes of research
and scholarship become disconnected entirely from print collections (if they
haven't already).

There is a huge amount of what Deanna calls "curated print" - and tons of
"curated" microfilm, for that matter.  In a sense, libraries have always
been, as Nicholas Pickwoad writes, "museums of the book."  It is obvious if
you think about it.  Libraries became more than that during the era when
multiple cheap copies were available.  That ear has come and gone, and the
idea of buying multiple copies has become obsolete (at these prices).  But
the core of what libraries have been all about is that somewhere among the
many collections there is a single copy of a work that someone needs to use.
There it is, the very thing you were looking for, as old and interesting as
a Civil War musket, or a Honus Wagner T-206 tobacco card.  Robert
Grosseteste's treatise, "De Luce," in the form of a brittle pamphlet,
translated into English by a scholar long dead.  At last I can read the
context of the quote "Sunt, lumina" in Pound's Cantos.  There it is, in my
hands, in the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, circa 1969.  I can see
it there as plainly as if it were on my desk now.  But hey, what the hell!
A newer translation is available on the web, so who needs to keep the old
pamphlet?  Right?

In my understanding, everyone's understanding of what is real changes in the
presence of the real thing.  Students who spend their entire lives
keystroking stop and admire old books, newspapers, &c.  Perhaps someone
should ask them if they think print collections are worth saving (just don't
tell me what they answer).

Obviously, the task of making sure digital "works" remain available is
incredibly more urgent.  Millions of people creating original material
electronically are doing so without a clue (or a hint of concern) as to what
needs to be done to ensure the survival of what they create.  Formal
electronic "publishing" ventures are probably masterpieces of organization
and good digital sense compared to the immense chaos of what's out there.
(What's out there?)

Part of the main problem as far as libraries concerned seems to revolve
around staffing and funding.  How many librarians can you fit on the head of
a pixel?  How many responsibilities can librarians be expected to assume,
and how will they all coherently managed and funded?  Which ones and zeroes
will be kept and how will they remain accessible five minutes later?  Let's
not forget the story about all those disappearing web links in journals.
Imagine what happens to the links in dissertations.

Print collections are simply too big and magnificent to be dismissed
offhand.  Users will return to them if librarians make them interesting
enough.  If not, librarians may find they have to defend keeping those big
buildings full of books.  Outside the door, the print junkies and
antiquarians will be waiting to see if the dumpsters come rolling up.

It is somewhat disconcerting to think that keyboarding, web surfing and
screen reading are really all that is happening in the academic kingdom.  It
is, to a certain extent, but every preservation class I teach makes it very
clear to me that they are readers of books.  I would be mistrustful of polls
and statistics that say the opposite is entirely true.  If you reason
absurdly enough, you can end up believing anything.  You can start to think
that whatever comes before the "digital age" (meaning generations of
authors, great works and brilliant ideas) is at risk of not even being
acknowledged any more, unless librarians haul it up from the inky darkness
and plaster it onto a monitor.  I say: Say it ain't so, Joe (or should I say
Pete?).

PS: note that I am obviously keyboarding and screen reading myself into a
state of clickety-satori.  However, I did actually go to the staff library
and make a photocopy of Deanna's article.  Don't tell anyone!  Don't tell
Deanna!  I don't want to be left behind, alone in the dark, cold museum
stacks.

- Walter

-----Original Message-----
From: David Walls [mailto:david.walls@xxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 4:12 PM
To: padg@xxxxxxx
Subject: [PADG:2208] PADG Meeting Announcement



The Preservation Administrators Discussion Group will meet Saturday January 
10th from 9:30 to 12:00 at the Westin Horton Plaza, California Ball Room A. 
A lunch reception will be held following the meeting in Ball Room B from 
12:00 to 1:00 pm.

This PADG meeting we will continue the trend of devoting the majority of 
the time to discussing a single topic and providing time to meet with 
colleagues and friends.

Deanna Marcum's article "Research Questions for the Digital Era Library" 
(Library Trends:  Vol. 51 Issue 4, p.636) raises significant questions 
about our preparation for preserving the digital era library.  We will have 
an informal discussion about the digital projects underway at various 
institutions and discuss some of the issues raised in the article.

After our meeting, we will have lunch, courtesy of Preservation
Technologies.




David E. Walls
Preservation Librarian
Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University
PO Box 208240 (130 Wall Street)
New Haven, CT 06520-8240
203.432.1715  (Fax) 203.432.9900