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E-Book Museum at Library of Congress?

Posted by timothy on from the bruce-sterling-has-a-head-start dept.

David H. Rothman writes "E-books and other digital publications in the U.K. are about to go into a national archive, and in fact the Brits and others have even shown an interest in the e-book technology of yore. Goodness knows, as some have pointed out, we already have enough virtual e-book museums--unwittingly created by the march of technology. But how about an International Electronic Book Museum in the Real World, ideally the Library of Congress? Before Luddites and crypto-Luddites keel over at the thought, they should keep in mind that the technology is already several decades old and that it would be helpful to collect the artifacts in a systematic way before it's too late. More at TeleRead."

11 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. my only complaint... by chmod_localhost · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What happens when the software for reading these e-books is no longer supported? By using proprietary formats, it is inevitable that one day, the stuff in our nation's own library will be unreadable.

    Only by creating an open standard, which anyone can choose to implement on the system of their choice (open source it, while you're at it!), can the information truly be timeless.

    1. Re:my only complaint... by farnz · · Score: 3, Interesting
      What about the hardware to run it on? What about the OS? Is an eBook that only runs on 48K ZX Spectrums with Microdrives now good enough? Can we even read the media?

      The advantage of an open specification for the format (unencrypted PDF would work, for example) is that provided I can access the data, and provided I have a copy of the specification, I can read the books. If I don't have the specification in an alternative format, I'm screwed. If the reader requires (say) a PC without PCI to work, and I don't have a spec, I'm screwed.

      The second is more likely than the first, so I'd rather have a format with an open spec.

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  2. Let's just hope... by CountBrass · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They don't make the same mistake as the BBC's Doomsday book project where they stored all the data on quickly obsoleted BBC Micro controlled laser discs using a proprietary format - woops! A real pain for them to recover it only a decade later.

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  3. Books on Tape Archive? by sporkboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How many eBooks have been released as eBook only, not counting prereleases of excerpts or first chapters with "special intros". Aren't most of them just existing publications in a different format? If the format dies then there is a reason, and if the work continues in some sort of archival medium then how is it a loss? Would the same lamentations be heard over cassette recordings of books on tape?

  4. Why the LoC? by azzy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > ideally the Library of Congress?

    Why? What's so ideal about the Library of Congress to hold an international collection of e-books?

    1. Re:Why the LoC? by tommck · · Score: 3, Funny
      Yeah, I'm an American, but even I was going to say "Wait a minute!" to that one. The USA is not the whole world. Unfortunately, until we take over the planet, there isn't a single place that one can go with these things. NATO, the United Nations... They all only have some countries as members.

      I guess we now have a good reason for world domination!

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  5. misconceptions about e-books by bcrowell · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Above all, as no printed material is produced during the delivery of a 'book', the cost of publishing the book is significantly reduced and the whole process of publication is environmentally green.
    That's not true. Here (pdf file) is some info on college textbooks, for example. Printing, paper, and binding (PPB) are almost never a significant percentage of the retail price of a book.

    I would like to see the Library of Congress start accepting digital books for copyright registration, however -- it's a drag to have to send them hardcopies.

    In the early 1990s, Adobe's Acrobat reader was released. Although it is not a software specifically for eBooks, its multi-platform file format (PDF file) is an attractive feature for eBook publications. The digitization of both texts and graphics into a compact file that can be recognized in every platform is an important concept in eBooks. However, we still do not have an eBook publishing standard at the moment, though work in that direction is being done.
    Well, actually PDF is the defacto standard for digital books. It's just that none of the handheld devices use the standard; they all use their own nonstandard, proprietary formats instead.

    There are standard subsets of PDF that have been defined that are appropriate for archiving books. For example, the subsets don't allow you to include video or programs.

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  6. Library of Congress is working on it by spotteddog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Library of Congress is already working on a program for preserving "digitally born" documents. Look at http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/

    *disclaimer: I currently work at the Library of Congress, but not on this project.

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    1. Re:Library of Congress is working on it by DavidRothman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No NIH syndrome, I'd hope. Keep in mind that the E-Book Museum proposal focuses on the artifacts that the public can see right there in person and on the Net--the machines and the media, as well as videos of old e-book references in movies, on TV, and so on. That's a different issue from content preservation per se. What's more, the TeleRead item already includes a link to http://www.digitalpreservation.gov--please don't think I've denied LOC credit for existing activities. What I have in mind, of course, would make the preservation job easier by reducing the chance that LOC would be out of luck because it could not find the right machines to display dead formats and emulation was tricky. Let's hope, of course, that a nonproprietary standard e-book format arrives soon, but if nothing else, as I've noted in the TeleRead item, the E-Book Museum could help cope with the present mess. Please take a look at what I wrote for TeleRead, not just the quick summary. And by the way, I'm right across the Potomac River in Alexandria, and, though I realize you don't deal with e-books at LOC, you or colleagues are welcome to reach me at 703-370-6540. Thanks! David Rothman, for TeleRead.org

  7. [spam] Current Source for Electronic Archives by Flabio · · Score: 2, Informative

    People looking for electronic archives should check out Bluemud.org. We have what I believe is the largest online archive of electronic documents. 25,000 documents online right now and another 225,000 waiting to be sorted by our librarians. As a warning, though, it's a mish-mash of stuff. A lot of full books, but a lot of other crap too: Old hacker 'zines, random usenet archives, and other more esoteric things.

    Plus, it's an open community. Anyone can become a librarian on the site and help sort documents.

  8. It's mainly NOT about e-books! by philipx · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If you read the article, it's actually mainly NOT about books but rather about the other digital publications: zines, online-newspapers, et all.

    I think this is very useful as a large number of online versions of paper zines & newspapers have far more resources than their dead-tree counter part. Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times to name the few. So far, there was no central and/or organized way to capture this information.

    I also liked the bit: "This new legislation means that a vital part of the nation's heritage will be safe and accessible as an important resource for businesses and education users in the future," said Mole.

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