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By: Erin Allen
A Nobel prizewinner, a paleontologist, a taxidermist, an ornithologist, a field naturalist, a conservationist, a big-game hunter, a naval historian, a biographer, an essayist, an editor, a critic, an orator, a civil-service reformer, a socialite, a patron of the arts, a colonel of the cavalry, a ranchman … the list goes on. Add to that …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Susan Manus
The following is a guest post by Nicholas Taylor, Information Technology Specialist for the Repository Development Group. What is the value of a broken link? For understandable reasons, many would say, “not much.” While the destination-unaware nature of hyperlinks has facilitated the decentralized growth of the web, it has also greatly contributed to the perceived …
Posted in: The Signal
By: Erin Allen
Ayaka Isono lost her sight to a rare retinal disorder in 2001 at age 29 and, devastated, figured her career as a pianist was over. “I couldn’t see the score, I couldn’t work with conductors, I couldn’t play ensembles, I couldn’t write new music,” says Isono, who performed in chamber groups with some of the …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Leslie Johnston
In July 2011, Nicholas Taylor posted an entry to this blog about the amount of data transferred to the Library of Congress and the likely sources of some of the public perceptions of the size of the Library’s digital collections. And Matt Raymond of the Library posted an excellent overview of the size of the …
Posted in: The Signal
By: Mike Ashenfelder
The following is a guest post by Sarah Kim from the School of Information, University of Texas at Austin. Between June 2010 and December 2011, I interviewed 20 people about how they manage and preserve their digital documents and I asked about their long-term plans for their digital stuff. The interviewees were from varied backgrounds, …
Posted in: The Signal
By: Susan Manus
As the NDIIPP program name indicates, our mission is focused on digital preservation. That is, preserving material once it’s in digital form. And by our own definition, digital preservation is “the active management of digital content over time to ensure ongoing access.” There is also a separate, but related, concept, addressed by the question, “How …
Posted in: The Signal
By: Jennifer Gavin
Comics and cartoons are well-loved because they’re funny. Most of us think of them as a break in the monotony of a working day, a light moment, a chuckle over our morning coffee. But for some, mirth is money. Those people tend to take their comics more seriously. Take, for example, the reaction to “The …
Posted in: Timeless
By: Kristi Finefield
One hundred years ago, the city of Tokyo sent Washington, D.C. a gift of friendship that continues to bloom today. Quite literally, in fact! Three thousand flowering cherry trees arrived in D.C. in 1912, and started what has become an annual spring tradition for residents of the D.C. area and thousands of tourists: going to …
Posted in: Picture This
By: Susan Manus
The following is a guest post by Jefferson Bailey, Fellow at the Library of Congress’s Office of Strategic Initiatives. WebWise 2012, the annual, free conference held by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is both a showcase of IMLS-funded projects and an excellent opportunity to spot emerging trends, tools, and services in libraries and …
Posted in: The Signal
By: Erin Allen
A bat in the belfry? Maybe. A tree growing in Brooklyn? Sure. A light in the attic? Of course. But, a dirigible in the Library’s Jefferson Building? It happened. Walking the institution’s resplendent halls, you come across lovely murals, elaborate ornamentation, gilded embellishments, and, as it turned out the other day, two rather large balloons …
Posted in: Timeless