LC Consultation with States regarding digital information
This past week I was in Baltimore for the second of three workshops provided by the Albany-based Center for Technology in Government and sponsored by the Library of Congress. This was in support of the Library of Congress Collaboration for Preservation of State Government Digital Information. My feeling about the workshop is that it was better than I expected, but did not live up to its inital announcement. That announcement convinced a number of us state documents folks that the workshop was going to be mostly toolkit and that we would take it home and let LC know how it worked out. Still, I found the workshop as structured to be helpful and encourage anyone going to the final workshop to keep an open mind. The workshop turned out to be an information gathering exercise for the Library of Congress. The day consisted of reports and discussions among state representatives. During the last 15 minutes of the workshop we were given a binder containing "Building State Government Digital Preservation Partnerships: A Capability Assessment and Planning Toolkit," along with a short overview briefing. The toolkit identifies 19 capabilities needed by successful digital preservation partnerships. The toolkit was developed by the Center for Technology in Government and reviewed by libraries and archives at the state level including the Illinois State Library and the New York State Archives. Continue reading
Conference notes and proceedings
Below you will find links to various conferences of interest to FGI -- Depository Library Council (DLC), American Library Association (ALA) and more. Continue reading
Emulation in action, retrieving Malawi census data from 1970s
Emulation is one proposed method of preserving digital information. Below is a case study of using emulation to retrieve 1977 Census data from the African nation of Malawi. FGI obtained the permission of Brian Spoor to post this message here. Emulation may not be practical in all circumstances, but it's nice to see a real world example. This example also shows how time and resource intensive digital preservation can be. >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Digital-Preservation Announcement and Information List >>[DIGITAL-PRESERVATION@JISCMAIL.AC.UK]On Behalf Of Kevin Ashley >>Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 2:05 AM >>To: DIGITAL-PRESERVATION@JISCMAIL.AC.UK >>Subject: A practical use for old system emulators >> >> >>I copy below in its entirety a post by Brian Spoor to the newsgroup >>alt.folklore.computers which demonstrates a very practical use for >>old system emulators in rescuing digital data. Brian used the ICL Continue reading
Blow against open govt in Cheney case
NYTimes: Appeals Court Backs Cheney in Secrecy Case By David Stout. (if it asks for a user name/password, go to BugMeNot to get one!) The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed that the Vice President's Energy Task Force was within its rights to meet behind closed doors with industry participation since the industry participants were not, strictly speaking, members of the Task Force. The ruling is a victory for the Bush White House and a new constraint on open government. See "D.C. Circuit Narrows Advisory Committee Openness," for more analysis from the National Security Archive. See Findlaw.com for other documents relating to the case. [Thanks Steven Aftergood and Secrecy Continue reading
FCW: fugitive docs in the news
"Fugitive Documents Elude Preservationists" by Aliya Sternstein, Federal Computer Week, May 9, 2005. In the latest from FCW, fugitive documents, as well as some of the difficulties with web harvesting, are discussed. One of the most interesting things about this article is that this is the first time that I've seen in print that GPO plans to deposit e-documents in libraries. We here at FGI believe that libraries will continue to be integral partners in the preservation of govt information (like they have been for 150+ years), and see this as a positive sign that perhaps the GPO is starting to come around to that perspective as well.
Web harvesting is one of three activities that will contribute to what GPO officials say will be the Future Digital System. In addition, GPO officials plan to convert paper-based government information to digital formats and deposit electronic documents in libraries that are part of GPO's Federal Depository Library Program. (my emphasis. JRJ) Continue reading