New and Noteworthy

Citation

(1999), "New and Noteworthy", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 16 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.1999.23916gab.002

New and Noteworthy

Council on Library and Information ResourcesReport Summarizes Preservation Challenges and Accomplishments

The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) has published The Future of the Past: Preservation in American Research Libraries, a report by Abby Smith, Director of Programs at CLIR.

The report provides a summation of the challenges and accomplishments of the library preservation community and is targeted particularly at educators, university administrators, and scholars in order to apprise them of the issues being confronted to ensure continued access to research materials in the future, according to a CLIR release. Smith encourages a collaboration between scholars, who can advise about the intellectual value of collection items, and librarians, who can make judgments about the physical risks that threaten collections.

The report gives an overview of the preservation and management of research collections and describes the context in which decisions are made by researchers and librarians about what to preserve and how. By examining how librarians and scholars grappled with the first great crisis in the preservation of library materials ­ the pandemic loss of information printed on embrittled acid paper ­ it traces the development of the current consensus on how to manage large collections recorded on many media of varying stability. Further, the paper addresses the problem that, despite striking progress made in preservation technology and management, the difficulties of preserving original library materials have scarcely diminished over time and demand the same thoughtful cooperation between scholars and librarians as they enter the twenty-first century as the brittle-book problem received in the 1980s.

The use of new technology to digitize materials is often proposed as the obvious solution to a range of preservation problems. But the author asserts that this is not necessarily the best alternative and in fact may be more problematic than traditional preservation methods using microfilm. Digitization greatly increases access to research material, but there is as yet no reliable and cost-effective means to preserve digital files of a complex nature. Research libraries should continue to devote resources to preserving their collections through the variety of tested methods available to them.

The Future of the Past is available for $15 prepaid, including postage and handling. Council on Library and Information Resources: c/o CLIR Publication Orders, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Ste. 500, Washington, DC 20036-2124; (202)936-4750, fax: (202) 939-4765, info@clir.org, http://www.clir.org

Colorado Digitization ProjectTo Share Images, Digital Tools

A unique collaborative initiative of Colorado libraries, archives, museums and historical societies is creating an online collection of digital images to provide Internet users with unparalleled access to Colorado's history and culture. The Colorado Digitization Project (CDP) http://coloradodigital.coalliance.org captures the written and visual record of Colorado's history, culture, government and industry, providing access to photographs, manuscripts, and art exhibits from a variety of institutions. The project is funded by a grant from the Colorado State Library.

Any institution with Internet access can link to the project, according to a CDP release. Linking to the Web site is free and there is no charge for users of the collections. The Web site also includes a guide for using primary sources material in grades K-12 and a "digital toolbox" to help institutions get started with a digitization project.

"For the general public, students, and lifelong learners, unique resources about state history, industry, culture, and the arts have always been difficult to find," said Liz Bishoff, project director for the CDP. "There are pockets of 'information treasures' in every state, but finding them and getting to them isn't easy. That's what makes this collaborative project in Colorado so exciting. There is nothing like it going on in any other state."

Anyone with access to the Internet can view the collection. Once at the Web site, users can search by media format or geographic location, or browse the entire collection. Foremost among the collections is the Denver Public Library's Western History Photodigitization Project. Currently, the digital image collection has grown to over 50,000 images out of 500,000 photographs held by the Western History Collection at DPL. The nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographs are primarily images of Colorado and the American West.

Other collections available via the Web site run the gamut from historical photographs of Boulder and Boulder County hosted by the Boulder Public Library, to photographs and line drawings of the Crow Canyon Archeological Center, to the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum's Van Briggle Pottery Collection, one of the first dynamic data interactive exhibits in an online museum, according to the release.

Manuscripts available at the site include records of the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, US District Court, Federal Highway Administration and the US Mint from the Rocky Mountain region of the National Archives. For each collection on the site, users will find a brief description of the project and a link to the project site or to the host institution site if the collection is not yet available online.

The Colorado Digitization Project is funded by a Library and Services Technology Act grant from the Colorado State Library. Participation in the site is open to libraries, library systems, archival organizations, historical societies and museums that want to collaborate in a program to share via the Internet their digital images of important collections related to Colorado history, culture, government, and industry. Information on joining the project is available at the Web site.

Colorado Digitization Project: c/o Liz Bishoff, Project Director; (303) 679-0201, fax (303) 679-0282, bishoff@concentric.net, http://coloradodigital.coalliance.org.

NewsbankTo Offer Web Access to Chicago Tribune to 1849

Information publisher Newsbank will be the exclusive provider to the education and library markets of the Chicago Tribune's extensive digitized news archive dating back to 1849, NewsBank has announced. The archive will complement the existing full-text Chicago Tribune articles from 1985 to the present that NewsBank currently provides online.

The news archive will include:

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  the full text and image of every front page from 1849 through the present;

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  the full text of all obituaries and death notices from 1949 to 1997; and

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  the images and fully searchable text from some 15 million news clippings from the early 1920s through 1984.

NewsBank currently makes the complete text of the Chicago Tribune available online, specially enhanced for schools and libraries with an intuitive interface, multiple search options, and daily information updates.

The additional archival information will begin to become available through NewsBank next year, according to the company release. The first news articles to be digitized will have a strong Chicago emphasis and include retrospective information on the Prohibition and Gangster eras, Chicago-area sports teams and personalities, Chicago political figures and other prominent Chicagoans, and institutions in Metropolitan Chicago.

The archival information is being digitized by the Chicago Tribune.

NewsBank: c/o Allison Hayes, 58 Pine St, New Canaan, CT 06840-5426; (941) 263-6004, (800) 762-8182, ahayes111@aol.com, http://www.newsbank.com.

OCLC and PicaBegin Discussion on Collaboration

OCLC and Pica Foundation have announced the signing of a letter of intent that could lead to the establishment of a jointly owned organization to better serve the European library community.

Pica Foundation will establish a new not-for-profit Dutch limited liability company (Pica B.V.) to which all present activities will be transferred. OCLC will participate in the new Pica company through a graduated acquisition of part of the stock.

Pica B.V. will continue development and support of its current products and services, including the further development and support of Pica's local library systems, the central library system for cataloguing, interlibrary loan, and end-user services. Pica will also continue its associated cooperation with European partners: the Gemeinsamer Bibliotheksverbund in Göttingen, the Hessischer Bibliotheksverbund in Frankfurt, Die Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt (all in Germany), and the Agence Bibliographique de l'Enseignement Supérieur in Montpellier, France.

Pica Foundation, a cooperative, not-for-profit organization based in Leiden, The Netherlands, provides cataloguing, interlibrary loan, local, and end-user services to hundreds of libraries in The Netherlands, France and Germany. OCLC is a nonprofit corporation based in Dublin, Ohio, which serves over 34,000 libraries in 67 countries.

Subject to satisfactory negotiations, approvals by both boards of trustees, and the conclusion of the due-diligence process, the parties hope to conclude an agreement and complete the transaction by late 1999.

"Both OCLC and Pica were founded in the late 1960s with similar missions and commitments," said Look Costers, director, Pica. "Today, information flows are global, and the collaboration of the two organizations would expand and enhance the emerging global library network."

OCLC: 6565 Frantz Rd, Dublin, OH 43017-3395; (614) 764-6000 or (800) 848-5878 (US), +44 121 456 4656 (UK), (450) 658-6583 or (888) 658-6583 (Canada), fax (614) 764-4331, nita_dean@oclc.org, http://www.oclc.org

Pica: http://www.pica.nl or http://www.pica.nl.en/.

Blackwell's Book ServicesAcquires Academic Book Center

Negotiations have been concluded for Blackwell's Book Service (BBS) to acquire Academic Book Center of Portland, Oregon, from Dan Halloran and his partner, Barry Fast. Halloran, former president and CEO of Academic Book Center, will become president and CEO of BBS, the global library bookselling division of Blackwell Ltd, replacing Fred Philipp, who is moving to take over the management of Blackwell's Information Services offices in New York prior to his planned retirement in 2000.

Halloran is a 25-year veteran of the book industry. He began his career with Richard Abel & Co., and worked briefly for Blackwell North America. Barry Fast will join BBS in a senior management position.

The acquisition of Academic reflects the consolidation occurring in virtually every segment of the information industry, including the book business. Fueling this consolidation in the library community, according to a Blackwell's release, is the demand for rapid technology development and the requirement for an increasing range of products and services.

Blackwell's Book Services' headquarters are located in Lake Oswego, Oregon, with offices in Oxford, England; Sydney, Australia; and Blackwood, New Jersey. For the immediate future, Academic will maintain its headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

Blackwell's Book Services: c/o Matt Nauman, 6024 SW Jean Rd, Bldg. G, Lake Oswego, OR 97035; (800) 547-6426, matt.nauman@blackwell.com, http://www.blackwell.com/

TrendWatchReleases Digital Asset Management Report

TrendWatch has released their first analysis of Digital Asset Management (DAM) in the graphic arts industry. According to the "1999 TrendWatch Digital Asset Management Special Report", approximately 7,500 creative and printing establishments plan to purchase digital asset management products over the next 12 months. The report analyzed the creative markets (defined as graphic designers, corporate design departments, ad agencies, book and magazine publishers, catalog publishers, commercial photographers, and graphic illustrators) as well as commercial printers and prepress professionals.

According to TrendWatch partner in Whittington, "The owners of digital assets have the greatest motivation to manage them. Large digital asset owners tend to be corporations and publishers who deploy their proprietary assets in revenue generating activities such as promotions, and catalog and Web sites".

"Understanding buyer motivation is critical. To some degree, creative professionals view DAM as a potential revenue stream", Whittington added. "However, TrendWatch surveys indicate that selling DAM services is becoming more difficult. Many creative professionals can get by without a DAM offering because they tend to work on a job-to-job basis in a serial production flow. While they are re-purposing and re-using many of their clients' digital assets, many designers are assigned to a limited set of clients and do not have a constant need to share digital assets. This is the trend but not the rule".

From the survey analysis, TrendWatch identified several inhibiting perspections which may be the cause for DAM's slowed penetration into graphic arts markets:

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  The management problem may not yet be cumbersome enough for many asset owners to undertake a complex in-house implementation that may require data entry of years of old analog assets and complicated customization tasks.

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  While outsourcing DAM to creative professionals may appear to be much more cost effective, the reality is that many asset owners sense that no single creative house or commercial printer can handle all of their files. An incomplete solution can be perceived as a short-term fix that isn't worth the effort.

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  Implementing a DAM outsource service is complex and often beyond the capabilities of the creative professional means. With the exceptions of very large, high-powered sales organizations like those companies that service the publishing and catalog industries, few creative agencies or printers can afford the direct sales and support efforts required to make money at DAM.

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  A creative or print business' need for Digital Asset Management capabilities is a function of many interacting and sometimes conflicting factors: the market of the user, the size of their business, their customer base, the communication end-products they create, the need for cross-media capabilities, their digital infrastructure, and the skills of their employees. Vendors selling generic solutions are likely to have serious problems.

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  Larger and more sophisticated asset owners are increasingly turning to database vendors like Oracle, Informix, and Microsoft for their long-term DAM needs as these products incorporate increasingly more capability to handle imaging requirements.

The complete 1999 TrendWatch Digital Asset Management Special Report is available for $1,250 ($750 for existing TrendWatch subscribers).

TrendWatch: c/o Jim Whittingham, (415) 380-8561, or Joe Webb, (401) 568-9899; partners@trendwatch.com, http://www.trendwatch.com