Re: Issues and recommendations

Quoting Ed Summers <ehs@pobox.com>:

> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Karen Coyle <kcoyle@kcoyle.net> wrote:
>> In fact, there could be particular roles for libraries in this space,
>> building on their traditional role as preserver of culture:
>
> Preserving culture and data are pretty different things, that require
> quite different expertise. To some extent I think it remains to be
> seen whether libraries are up to the challenge. The support from
> libraries for the International Internet Preservation Consortium [1]
> is a good example of the sort of work that could be done in the Linked
> Data space by libraries. I'd characterize this as an opportunity more
> than a real actualized benefit though.

Ed, good points, and I agree on the "opportunity" statement. In our  
discussions we talked about libraries having somewhat failed to move  
with the times, evidenced by their continued emphasis on books and  
other texts, and not much involvement with digital data. So I guess we  
were engaging in wishful thinking, that libraries COULD see this as a  
modern version of preservation.

That said, there is some library & archive involvement with  
preservation of data sets, such as social science data sets, so it's  
not like there is absolutely no precedence. I also think that efforts  
like HathiTrust are giving libraries experience with managing digital  
preservation.

>
>> "Library in this report refers to a collection of information resources
>> curated for a designated community and providing services around those
>> resources. In this definition, libraries may be public or private, large or
>> small, and are not limited to any particular types of resources."
>
> I like this focus on the collection of materials instead of the
> somewhat anachronistic professions. So in your mind would Wikipedia
> count as a "library"? How about Europeana, or arXiv.org?

I was thinking about this... To me, Wikipedia is a document (or a set  
of documents). I don't know enough about the others, but I think that  
community, curation and services are the key. I wouldn't consider  
Youtube a library because it's mainly a place to put stuff, and  
curation and services are missing or minimal. I wouldn't consider the  
Web itself a library, for the same reason. I'm wavering on the  
Internet Archive mainly because it's a mixture of "place to put  
things" and some curated collections.

If this definition is too broad, how could we make it better?

kc

>
> //Ed
>
> [1] http://www.netpreserve.org/about/index.php
>
>



-- 
Karen Coyle
kcoyle@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net
ph: 1-510-540-7596
m: 1-510-435-8234
skype: kcoylenet

Received on Monday, 11 April 2011 17:51:49 UTC