Digital Preservation Pioneers
The Library's Digital Preservation Program has only existed since 2000. The relatively new field of digital-information management is thus reliant on individuals and organizations that are willing to embark on cutting-edge programs that will lead others to follow their examples. Each month, this section will present a profile of a new digital preservation pioneers and how that individual's or organization's work enriches the work that all libraries and other repositories are doing to collect and preserve our digital heritage.
Caroline ArmsCaroline Arms came to the Library of Congress in 1995 to work on the American Memory project, but the looming challenge of preserving digital content caught her attention. |
 Fran BermanComputer scientist Fran Berman muses about the intersection of libraries, science and technology. |
 Howard BesserAlthough he may have a collection of more than 2,000 T-shirts, Howard Besser is best known as an often-quoted visionary. Learn what he has to say about digital preservation. |
 Eileen FentonWhat happens when an electronic journal from a publisher suddenly becomes unavailable? Eileen Fenton and the folks at Portico are working to build an archive of electronic journals as an insurance policy to be used in just such an emergency. |
 Myron GutmannWhat's the oldest digital media in the world? Social science data, and Myron Gutmann has decades-long experience in the field. |
 Cathy HartmanThe CyberCemetery of the University of North Texas Libraries is archiving expired federal Web sites and making them permanently accessible to the public. |
 Margaret HedstromMargaret Hedstrom has some concerns about how the current state of digital preservation might bias history in favor of certain cultures. The associate professor at the University of Michigan has decades of preservation expertise to back her up. |
 David KirschThe boom and bust years of the early days of the so-called dot-com era tell a fascinating story. The trouble is, much of that information is not being saved. David Kirsch of the University of Maryland is doing something about it. |
 The LOCKSS Team: Vicky Reich and David RosenthalThe idea that "lots of copies keep stuff safe" is at the heart of Stanford University's LOCKSS program, an ingenious and economical approach to preserving electronic journals. |
 Steve MorrisWeb-based maps are increasingly being used by individuals as well as local, state and federal governments. Steve Morris of North Carolina State University heads an NDIIPP project to determine how best to save and preserve this important digital information. |
 Michael NelsonIn Michael L. Nelson's view of digital preservation's future, data will be well behaved but promiscuous. Dead Web sites will be brought back to life, digital data will be born archivable, files will describe themselves, and data will spread freely among the masses for safekeeping. |
 Richard Pearce-MosesArchivist Richard Pearce-Moses has the daunting challenge of building a system to curate all the state digital records and data from the state of Arizona. By his example he is leading the way for 21st century archivists and librarians, and their future work with digital content. |
 Section 108 Co-Chairs Lolly Gasaway and Richard RuddickCo-chairs of the Section 108 Study Group Laura Gasaway and Richard Rudick talk about the group's recently released report and its future implications for copyright and cultural heritage institutions. |
 John SpencerThe recorded music industry faces a staggering digital media storage problem, one that will ultimately result in loss of revenue and assets. John Spencer has some ideas on what needs to be done about it. |