Quick quiz: Is the employment outlook for librarians growing or shrinking? The answer depends on what you call a “library job.” According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for librarians is “slower than average,” with a projected rate of change in employment this decade of 7%, slower than the 14% average growth …
In anticipation of the Museum Computer Network conference next week in Seattle, I’ve been giving some extra thought lately to museum community involvement in digital preservation. We (the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, that is) work with many partners from a range of industries, and in the last couple of years this has …
The following is a guest post by Nicholas Taylor, Information Technology Specialist for the Repository Development Group at the Library of Congress. Prompted by questions from Library of Congress staff on how to more effectively use web archives to answer research questions, I recently gave a presentation on “Using Wayback Machine for Research” (PDF). I …
As digital preservation and stewardship professionals, we approach digital objects from a unique perspective. We evaluate the long-term value of any particular digital object and work to develop a technical and social infrastructure that will enable us to successfully preserve the objects over time. Preserving and providing appropriate access are our primary functions, but no …
I had the distinct pleasure of hearing about the on-going development of the free and open-source Archivematica digital preservation system twice this year. First, from Peter Van Garderen at the CurateGear conference and second from Courtney Mumma at a recent briefing on the project for staff at The Library of Congress. Peter and Courtney both …
In what we hope will become a regular feature here on The Signal I am excited to have a chance to chat with Lori Emerson, a representative from the newest member of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance. Lori is the Director of the Media Archaeology Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Department of English …
I’m obsessed with maps, especially digital maps. I’m continually amazed by the tools being developed to use location data to make our lives easier. Luckily, this interest dovetails with NDIIPP’s concerns about ensuring that digital mapping survives for the long-term, so I’m regularly scanning the landscape to figure out ways we can engage the wider …
The October 2012 Library of Congress Digital Preservation Newsletter is now available. http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/news/newsletter/201210.pdf In this issue: *Find out how you can help define levels of digital preservation *Reflections on CurateCamp processing *Read about three individuals who are working on the preservation of video games *Learn about the difference between domains and subdomains in web archiving …
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Designing Storage Architectures for Digital Collections meeting, or the storage meeting for short. Why is this annual meeting a highlight for many of my colleagues here at the Library? Because it zeros in on the critical data storage challenge cultural heritage organizations face …