Current Issues in Collection Development: Italian and Global Perspectives/Anti del Convegno Internazionale sullo Sviluppo delle Raccolte, Bologna, 18 Febbraio 2005 Ed. by the IFLA section on acquisition and collection development, coordination and revision by Rossaba Morriello and Pentti Vattulainen. Bologna: Editrice Compositori, 2006. 184 pp. €15.00 soft cover ISBN 8877945109
✍ Scribed by Ina Fourie
- Book ID
- 104039715
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2007
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 51 KB
- Volume
- 31
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1464-9055
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This collection of 24 chapters provides the reader with a snapshot of the state of newspaper digitization projects as of 2006. Each chapter represents a presentation at one of two conferences sponsored by IFLA, and held in Salt Lake City (May 2006) and Seoul, South Korea (August 2006). Many national library digitization projects are described, as well as a number of regional projects in the United States.
Several themes emerge in the many project descriptions. The value of online newspapers is reiterated by many of the authors who report on the high level of use of historical newspapers for genealogical and other research. Preservation issues are also a significant theme of many of the papers. Issues related to the digitization of newspapers include whether to scan from the original paper (often in poor shape for older materials) or from microfilm. Many of the microfilm holdings in libraries include film that was created before best practices and standards were well developed, so the quality of the film varies significantly. Digitization as a preservation option is also discussed, with many of the authors in agreement that digitization has not been proven as a preservation option, as has microfilm. Technical specifications are discussed in a number of chapters as well.
Less useful are the several chapters that are represented solely by PowerPoint slides or other brief outlines. It would have been more helpful to have these outlines more fully fleshed out; as it is, they are of limited value. Also helpful would have been a more thorough editing of the text. Many of the chapters have numerous typographical or grammatical errors that could have been prevented with a more careful reading of the text.
Overall, this is a very useful collection of reports that will inform any library interested in pursuing the digitization of newspapers in their collections. It presents the many issues that need to be considered, and provides many examples of how projects were conceived, implemented and ultimately assessed. It would be a useful addition to any library where there is interest.