Comments on: Collecting blogs in archives

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:50:55 +0000

The old school way to do preservation of ephemera is to commit it to paper, and then hope that it stays around long enough in the archives of someone distinguished enough to make it into their papers at an institutional archive.

I’ll give the Karl Zinn papers at U of Michigan as an example:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=bhlead&idno=umich-bhl-0476

Karl L. Zinn, a specialist in computer-assisted instruction, joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1963 as a research associate with the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Promoted to research scientist in 1969, Zinn was instrumental in establishing the MERIT computer network and developing CONFER, the first computer-based conferencing systems on campus. Papers document the development and utilization of CONFER and contain extensive examples of print-outs of conferences, particularly those relating to the use of computers in instruction. Topical files chronicle various technological issues, including the development of MERIT and early uses of computers in the classroom.

By: sharon

sharon — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:46:59 +0000

The UK Web Archiving Consortium is archiving blogs (I know this because they’ve already asked me if I want mine included and I haven’t got round to returning the agreement form yet…). They’re using the same software as the Australian web archiving project, apparently.

http://www.webarchive.org.uk/
http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/2001/cathro3.html

By: Marilyn Dunn

Marilyn Dunn — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:50:56 +0000

The Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at The Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, is part of a pilot to collect materials born digital. Our specific project is to capture, describe, store, and make accessible blogs that represent dimensions of women’s experience that are currently under represented in our collection. Working with the Harvard University Library’s Office of Information Services, we are nearing the end of year 2 of our pilot and hope to have a fully developed system in place by the close of 2008. Although there were many challenges in developing a system and a few remain, we are very pleased with the progress the talented librarians in the OIS have made to date. Further information is available at http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/wax/

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:09:20 +0000

I actually think that this is an interesting topic for the upcoming Web 2.0 or Library 2.0 technologies. I don’t believe anything in my life, other than authoring several blogs or self-cataloging would be in the works now. Still if it is a noteworthy email or blog, then what’s to say that won’t occur. Cataloging blogs.

By: Lisa Wallis

Lisa Wallis — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:26:52 +0000

Ack! the link should be http://phha.mlanet.org/blog . Sorry!

By: Lisa Wallis

Lisa Wallis — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:25:28 +0000

The Public Health section of the Medical Library Association is in the process of launching a blog to replace our newsletter. A number of members have expressed interest in having "issues" available to them, so we've installed a WP plugin that will convert blog posts to PDF and email them upon request. The Post to PDF Sidebar plugin will convert whatever posts are showing on the page at the time. So you could archive by month, category, etc. This might be one option for users out there.

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:41:27 +0000

@Lynne, fantastic! Thanks for the resource links! For anyone else interested in this, you should visit Lynne’s post at http://niurarebooks.blogspot.com/2008/06/digital-preservation-redux.html.

@Aaron, thanks for letting me know about your project. It’s nice to learn about the criteria being used to archive these materials in other places. You’re right that this will become increasingly complex as the amount of online scholarship taking place on blogs, wikis, etc. continues to grow.

By: Aaron Tan

Aaron Tan — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:14:59 +0000

Hi Meredith, the National Library of Singapore has a similar web archive project where websites deemed authoritative, and/or have cultural and historical significance are captured. It also archives authoritative blogs such as those written by people known in their fields, award-winning blogs, and those by grassroots organizations, political leaders and celebrities. It's not easy to map some of these common criteria used by national libraries to an academic library. Faculty members are authorities in their own right (do we archive everything?), and the number of wikis/blogs used in classes and scholarship 2.0 is going to grow exponentially. My guess is academic libraries may have to archive some of these alongside what they're doing with LOCKKS and Portico.

By: Lynne Thomas

Lynne Thomas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:00:09 +0000

Meredith,

Since I am currently researching this, I posted a list of the projects that I have found thus far on my blog this morning. If anyone has other projects to add, I would LOVE to hear about them!

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:48:53 +0000

@Deborah and @Lynne, that’s great to hear that other libraries are at least thinking about this stuff as well. I’ll be curious to see how it pans out at both of your institutions. Best of luck in navigating these uncharted waters!