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Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
It’s finally come–my last day at the Library of Congress. I’ve got plenty of mixed emotions. On the one hand I’ll miss working with my Library colleagues and with the NDIIPP partners–we spent 12 years working together on projects that made a difference. On the other hand, I could not have asked for a better …
Posted in: Inside the Library
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
The following is a guest post by Christie Moffatt, Manager, Digital Manuscripts Program, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine Developing case studies around digital content subject areas has been a major focus of the NDSA Content Working Group, and the activity has enabled members to share the concerns and challenges specific to their communities. …
Posted in: Digital Content, NDSA
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
I’m cleaning out my office in preparation for retiring on March 7. I’ve accumulated a few mementos during my career, and moving them out stirs up memories. One of my favorite keepsakes is a framed 1986 poster from the National Archives and Records Administration that proclaims “Our Records, Your Responsibilities.” It offers little in the …
Posted in: Personal Archiving
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
Here’s a simple experiment that involves asking an average person two questions. Question one is: “how do you feel about physical books?” Question two is: “how do you feel about digital data?” The first question almost surely will quickly elicit warm, positive exclamations about a life-long relationship with books, including the joy of using and …
Posted in: Digital Content, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
We hear a constant stream of news about how crunching massive data collections will change everything from soup to nuts. Here on The Signal, it’s fair to say that scientific research data is close to the heart of our hopes, dreams and fears when it comes to big data: we’ve written over two-dozen posts touching on …
Posted in: Digital Content, Tools and Infrastructure
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
This is a guest post by Abbie Grotke, Library of Congress Web Archiving Team Lead and Co-Chair of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance Content Working Group You may have seen the news on this blog and elsewhere that the National Digital Stewardship Alliance launched the first ever National Agenda for Digital Stewardship last July. One …
Posted in: Digital Content, NDSA
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
Curiously, most of us in the digital memory business are hesitant to visually document our own work. Possibly this has to do with the perceived nature of the enterprise, which involves tasks that may seem routine. But pictures tell an important story, and I set about finding a few that depicted some of the digital preservation …
Posted in: Outreach and Events, Partners and Collaboration, Personal Archiving
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
The humble bloggers who toil on behalf of The Signal strive to tell stimulating stories about digital stewardship. This is unusual labor. It blends passion for a rapidly evolving subject with exacting choices about what to focus on. Collecting, preserving and making available digital resources is driving enormous change, and the pace is so fast …
Posted in: Inside the Library, Outreach and Events
Posted by: Bill LeFurgy
The first images I recall of the Kennedy Assassination are grainy black and white television broadcasts. I was in the fourth grade 50 years ago today, and after an anguished announcement on the public address system, we were sent home. The TV was on in the living room with solemn reports. What followed over the …
Posted in: Digital Content