In special libraries, digitization of resources is now common practice. Should everything be digitized just because it can be? Is there a danger that resources are being digitized without consideration of actual worth? And, does digitization mean that a document will be eternally accessible, even as the way users access information keeps changing?
Before digitizing any document, you must concentrate on the copyright law beforehand. Just my little concern about this point.
Hi,
It seems that reference material in the library, such as handbooks, dictionaries,should not be digitized, while journals, book series, and material that appear on a regular basis should be digitized. It is also a question of the space available in the library. Material that appear on a regular basis such as journals usually occupy a lot of space that can be saved if the library subscribes to its electronic format.
Also consider the cost. Not just in terms of digital processing but also storage cost. Are you maintaining digital storage on site? What is the server cost? Cost of cooling system? Backup/cloud storage cost? Because you want to have a duplicate offsite backup. Can you monetize digital access in some way to offset storage costs? And the original documents? Will you continue to store on site or will they move to offsite storage? What are the those costs? (Storage, transport, etc) Does it affect insurance plan at all?
Forgive me, but I think that's the wrong question or, at least, the question you can only answer if you focus first on some key factors. The factors of most importance are the content/information needed by your special library customers and the format desired by the majority of your customers. While other issues, e.g., cost (as mentioned in the previous comment) may come into play, content comes first and format comes after surveying customers. You might end up with all electronic in some settings and far less electronic in others.
True about researching user needs. Also digitization NEVER means it will be eternally accessible. Paper typically lasts 100 years. Digital you're lucky to get ten if you don't remember to keep the data updated to readable formats. And even then you lose data over time. It's not do it and you're done by any means. You need to plan for degradation and media format obsolescence. It's a big problem with born digital media.
Digitization is never going to be the solution of the problem. the biggest problem with the electronic documents is the frequent advancements in the IT world, whereby latest technological offerings become obsolete within no time. Even it may not be inappropriate to say that majority of the internet and computer users do not even get exposed to various such formats, given the pace of soft services development each new day. Given the fact, every danger is involved with the electronic documents whereby we may not be able to keep pace with the technological developments and may not be able to timely change the format of all electronic documents to the latest compatible mode, especially while accessing archived documents. hence involving a danger of electronic dooms day.
Do provides your library with policies and guides before digitize and document. Proper strategy is also important. Making everything available online is good but make sure it been approve by the top management. Make sure not everything can be access by anybody.
Hi,
In the process of solving the balance between physical and digitized material in a special library one could apply to this problem the variables involved in collection building and development , such as usage, faculty and curricula profile, library size and budget etc, and attach priority rank to each variable.
Acknowledging all the previous posts, Olivier, another thing to consider is how people will access the digitised content. Metadata schema and access protocols for special items in special library collections take time and resources to develop. Your digital library audience needs to have positive discovery experiences, otherwise all the effort of your digitisation programs could be lost...
This is an area for stronger library collaboration. While the following is not a special library example, it provides a model for how such collaboration can produce results. The National Library of Australia offers a digitisation service for newspapers published across the country, as outlined here: http://www.nla.gov.au/content/newspaper-digitisation-program
Not only are standard digitisation protocols followed to ensure digital preservation, the newspapers are hosted on the national database, TROVE. You can see the titles and date ranges here: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/titles Note that Australian copyright laws are upheld, with only issues published prior to 1955 being digitised.
Thank you all very much for your interest in this question, and for the informative answers you kindly provided. I will be giving a talk on this subject in Cambridge in early September 2015, toward which I drafted a paper, and will share some of your insights with the participants on that occasion. (I will post the paper and related presentation on ResearchGate upon my return.) PS: In Cambridge, I will also speak on the second topic I posted a question for in mid-August 2015, and likewise prepared a paper and presentation (that I will upload too on ResearchGate in good time). That second question attracted less interest: In special libraries, how might data and web specialists collaborate better to meet the fast-changing needs of users? Thank you all again.
Striking a Balance Between Physical and Digital Resources, the paper mentioned in my post of 26 August 2015, is now available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281684470_Striking_a_Balance_Between_Physical_and_Digital_Resources (or http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/intl/469/ if you prefer), with a presentation at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281684654_Striking_a_Balance_Between_Physical_and_Digital_Resources (or http://www.slideshare.net/Celcius233/striking-a-balance-between-physical-and-digital-resources if you prefer).
Knowledge Collaboration: Working with Data and Web Specialists, the second paper referred to, is available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281619948_Knowledge_Collaboration_Working_with_Data_and_Web_Specialists (or http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/intl/470/ if you prefer), with a presentation at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281619887_Knowledge_Collaboration_Working_with_Data_and_Web_Specialists (or http://www.slideshare.net/Celcius233/knowledge-collaboration-working-with-data-and-web-specialists if you prefer).
Conference Paper Striking a Balance Between Physical and Digital Resources
Presentation Striking a Balance Between Physical and Digital Resources
Conference Paper Knowledge Collaboration: Working with Data and Web Specialists
Presentation Knowledge Collaboration: Working with Data and Web Specialists
- Badges
- Science topic