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Category: Outreach and Events

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From Books to Bits: Library of Congress Electronic Literature Showcase Highlights Emerging Literary Forms

Posted by: Bill LeFurgy

This is a guest post by Susan Garfinkel, research specialist, Digital Reference Section at the Library of Congress. Electronic literature—past, future and present—is the focus of a free three-day program at the Library of Congress, April 3 to 5. The Electronic Literature Showcase, sponsored by the Library’s Digital Reference Section, includes a variety of events designed …

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First Aid on the Front Lines: Immediate Training Needs

Posted by: Butch Lazorchak

The following is a guest post by Jody DeRidder, the Head of Digital Services at the University of Alabama Libraries. Have you been digitizing and managing digital content?  Are you the go-to person in your organization for accessioning digital materials into your special collections, or collecting electronic records for your archives? More than likely, you’ve …

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Hacking, Making and Library-ating: A Week in the Trenches at SXSW 2013

Posted by: Butch Lazorchak

South by Southwest is a marathon. Actually, it’s more like trying to sprint your way through a hot and dusty marathon populated with approximately 60,000 badge-wearing attendees across the Interactive, Film and Music conferences and numerous others in town to bask in the vibrations. In other words, it’s crazy, amazing and discombobulating all at the …

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The Personal Pain of Data Loss

Posted by: Bill LeFurgy

We digital archivists warn about the risk of losing data with the assumption that the threat of loss is enough to stir people to action. But while most everyone has their own experience with data loss, people have a way of tucking past pain away rather than remaining hyper-vigilant about something similar happening again. Or …

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Digitization and Digital Preservation: Questions Persist

Posted by: Bill LeFurgy

Digitization–making a digital copy of a non-digital object–is a bedeviling topic for digital preservationists. Establishing a clear line of demarcation between the process of creating the digital copy and the process of keeping the copy over time is the central issue. I’ve always thought this was semantics. Well-meaning, but ill-informed, people said “digital preservation” when …

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Preservation Week 2013: Saving Our Cultural Hertiage and Personal Family Collections

Posted by: Erin Engle

Preservation Week 2013 is just over a month away, and we’ve been busy planning Library of Congress events. Every year, we like to mix things up and hold various types of events for our local Washington, DC communities.  This year, we’re pleased to co-host the Rosenzweig Forum on Technology and the Humanities on the evening …

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Why South By Southwest is Important for Libraries, Archives and Museums

Posted by: Butch Lazorchak

Digital information professionals are converging on Austin, TX this week for the 26th annual South By Southwest conference and libraries, archives and museums will be there in force. Why is it important that LAMs have a strong presence at SXSW? Once you siphon off the (often overwhelming) branding and marketing noise, the value of SXSW …

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Emotion, Meaning and Digital Collections

Posted by: Bill LeFurgy

Getting emotional about historical collections is unusual for most people. Ask the average person to free associate words for “archives” and your will hear “dusty, “old,” “dark” and so on. Ask about digital archives and you will likely just get a blank stare. This is an occupational hazard of digital archivists, that awkward first attempt to …

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Personal Digital Archiving 2013: “Everyone Should Have an Archive”

Posted by: Bill LeFurgy

You should have an archive for your personal digital materials. We all should. Archives preserve memories of “me” as well as “us.” Our personal archives also offer exciting new ways to remember and reconstruct our lives. Attendees of the Personal Digital Archiving 2013 conference considered these ideas over two days of presentations and discussion last …