This story appeared on Network World Fusion at
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2000/0814bradner.html

'Net Insider:

A library is not a book museum

By Scott Bradner
Network World, 08/14/00

Libraries are not a new idea. The Egyptians built an impressive one in Alexandria about 280 B.C. Two millennia later, libraries - especially the large public and university libraries - perform a vital role in society and education. But defining the role of the library in this increasingly digital world is not easy.

It is particularly not easy for the largest library in the world, the U.S. Library of Congress.

The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council has just published an in-depth review and set of recommendations for the Library of Congress. (The full report is on the Web at www.nap.edu/books/0309071445/html/). The report is no whitewash and is far from complacent. It paints a picture of considerable challenge for the library and, in extension, for dealing with keeping a historical record of the ephemeral Internet.

Historically, libraries have been collectors and catalogers of things - books, periodicals, maps and papers - but the equivalent of these things in today's world is increasingly digital. The Library of Congress does not have a good history of collecting digital things; for that matter, no one else does either.

With more than 100 million items in its collection, the Library of Congress does have a remarkable 200-year track record in collecting things in the physical world. This is helped in no small matter because the Library of Congress is where copies of works copyrighted in the U.S. go.

What should the approach in the digital arena be?As the report notes, no one institution, no matter how large, could possibly hope to collect even a majority of all digital content.

The report recommends the Library of Congress work in cooperation with other institutions, public and private, to figure out what to do. This is quite Internet-like in that the 'Net has to be managed in a cooperative way to work at all. Unfortunately for the Library of Congress, it works at the whim of Congress, and dealing with the digital world will require more funding and perhaps some legislation to clarify the Library's rights in the area of copyrighted digital materials. Thus, even if the Library of Congress knew the right thing to do, getting congressional attention is by no means a sure thing.

The report notes that the IT department of the Library of Congress is not as good as it might be and, like the rest of the world, it is having a hard time finding good technical staff. I guess stock options are out of the question.

The problems with the libraries dealing with digital materials may seem like an overly academic concern, but throughout history, libraries have served a vital role in the education of students and the development of laws, science and society. Failing to figure out how libraries can deal with the digital world would threaten our basic foundations.

Disclaimer: Harvard reworks its foundations every now and then, but I did not look at them for this column.

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