Ispectrum Magazine Ispectrum Magazine #08 | Page 46

can be useful in this field by using the techniques outlined by the preservation groups and by studying the experiences of people like Jim Boulton and his digital archaeology exhibit. When we look back at history, we can see that man-made and environmental catastrophes have caused destruction of countless texts and artifacts: the fire that destroyed the Library of Alexandria, the Nazi book burning and destruction of what was regarded as degenerate art. Destruction of libraries also occurred in the American Revolutionary War and the American Civil War. It’s troubling to see something so important in our history becoming so overlooked in modern times. We see local communities slowly deconstructing their physical libraries. Blog companies dropping support or changing technologies. Publishers writing APPs that become outdated with upgrades just months later. Proprietary file formats that are unreadable to many. It’s my hope that publishers and librarians will be wise to preserve digital-born materials as innovation of the World Wide Web speeds along. Communities in 20, 100 or 1,000 years deserve to and should be able to observe their own history. Librarians and archivists REFERENCES 1. Weiss, Rick. “On the Web, Research Work Proves Ephemeral” The Washington Post, November 24, 2003, p. A08, Print. 2. John Clute and Peter Nicholls, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, St. Martin’s Press, 1993, ISBN 0-312-09618-6, p. 178, “Tarzan is a remarkable creation, and possibly the best-known fictional character of the century.” 45