British Library predicts 'Switch to digital by 2020'

diglet mentions this article that talks about the British Library switching from print to digital publications by 2020. Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, said:

Most people are aware that a national switch to digital broadcasting is expected by the end of this decade. Less well known is the fact that a similar trend is underway in the world of publishing: a study by EPS , commissioned by the Library, projects that, by the year 2020, 40% of UK research monographs will be available in electronic format only, while a further 50% will be produced in both print and digital. A mere 10% of new titles will be available in print alone by 2020.

As the British Library moves to digital publications, it is also building the infrastructure to "store, manage, preserve and provide access to digital material in the same way as we do for the ‘physical’ national collection..."

Preservation, Archives and Records, Oh, My!

Josh Shear in his blog, blogJosh, has a long posting on archiving information. Josh pulled together information from several articles and sources, noting that both digital and paper-based information is on the verge of being lost because we don't have the space or technology to keep it. In writing about the problem, Josh quotes the article "The Fading Memory of the State:"

Because the [U.S. National] Archives has no good system for taking in more data, a tremendous backlog has built up. Census records, service records, Pentagon records of Iraq War decision-making, diplomatic messages--all sit in limbo at federal departments or in temporary record-holding centers around the country. A new avalanche of records from the Bush administration--the most electronic presidency yet--will descend in three and a half years, when the president leaves office. Leaving records sitting around at federal agencies for years, or decades, worked fine when everything was on paper, but data bits are nowhere near as reliable--and storing them means paying not just for the storage media, but for a sophisticated management system and extensive IT staff.

In thinking specifically of paper files, Josh mentions that people like me want paper files kept even after the materials have been digitized. I do advocate keeping paper, because you can always read it. Personally, though, I should admit that I don't keep paper copies of everything. I know it is a risk, but one that I'm willing to take. I also know that a good portion of the information I have isn't unique, so it can be found again. Let's hope that these important files mentioned above (e.g., records of Iraq War decision-making) are held in multiple locations so that there are better odds of them surviving for future generations to study.

Mega JPEG files vs. TIFF

In January, I wrote a post entitled "JPEG2000 vs. TIFF." In the last few weeks, a similar question has come up. One vendor has suggested that librarians are too tied to the TIFF file format as a way of creating a high quality archival image. Many projects turn to the TIFF format because it is lossless and holds a tremendous amount of information. We fear losing data that may drop out if the file is compressed (like in the JPEG format). Yes, we're willing to use JPEG for smaller files that are viewed online, but we want those big unaltered TIFF files stored in the archives for prosperity posterity.

But what if we use technology that will create mega JPEG files? What if the image was created using a 16 megapixel camera and the files were huge (5-14 MB)? With that technology, could we overlook the fact that JPEG is a lossy format? Could we use these large files as the archival version instead of a TIFF file?

You might notice that I said camera above, not scanner. Using photography to create the image does not bother me; however, I'm stuck a bit on the idea of not capturing a raw file and capturing a very large JPEG file instead. I keep wondering if I would be missing something. Would I have regrets? Perhaps it would depend on what I was digitizing. For example, I might be willing to use JPEG files when capturing pages from a book, but not if I'm digitizing art work. Obviously, this is a topic/idea/reality that is not going to go away. The technology is being used already on digitizing projects. I just need to get comfortable with the idea...

Report: Digital preservation in the regions

Digital preservation in the regions is a report based on a "sample survey of digital preservation preparedness and needs of organisations at local and regional levels An assessment carried out from December 2004 to March 2005" by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in the United Kingdom. The nine key findings from the survey include the fact that long-term "management of digital material needs to be more firmly and clearly embedded in corporate planning processes and strategic thinking and planning." Besides discussing the key findings, the 30-page report also lays out a series of fourteen action points.

Event: Digital Asset Management with Fedora

From the conference web site:

The National Library of Wales is pleased to announce an upcoming Fedora conference to be held in Aberystwyth, Wales on Oct. 24, 2005.

The aim of this meeting is to bring together those using, or thinking about using, Fedora from across Europe in order to share knowledge and experience whilst making connections between institutions..

General themes will include:

• Introducing Fedora
• Implementing Fedora (a European Perspective)
• Bridging Fedora and DSpace
• Low-cost Digital Asset Management
• Workflows
• Fedora and Collaborative Working
• Fedora and METS

This conference will be held in conjunction with METS awareness day on 25th October 2005 (more details to follow). Participants are welcome to attend both events.

A formal conference programme will be circulated in late July. Until then, please contact the conference organizer, Paul Bevan) if you have any questions.

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Thanks to the digitizationblog for posting about this.