The Infinite Library
Wade Roush,
Technology Review,
Apr 22, 2005
The librarians' dilemma: "Once the knowledge now trapped on the printed page moves onto the Web, where people can retrieve it from their homes, offices, and dorm rooms, Âlibraries could turn into lonely caverns inhabited mainly by Âpreservationists." This article looks at projects like Google Scholar and Internet Archive, both of which are massive repositories of digital content open to public access and contrasts it with projects like Corbis, a private image library. “This organization got its start by digitizing what was in the public domain and essentially putting it under private control,†says Kahle. “The same thing could happen with digital literature. In fact, it’s the default case.†The librarians' role, to me, is to prevent this from happening. And it is in managing and protecting the public trust that librarians and libraries have a role to play in the future.
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