[ARSCLIST] Libraries versus bytes--was: Zits cartoon strip, or, a personal rambling rant

[steven c <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okeh...my opinion on the controversy...

First, certain types of data are better suited to being made available
via the Internet...or at least digitally. Once the information has been
transferred into a digital file, it can usually be quickly sorted into
another order, or searched for any sequence of bytes (i.e. words,
numbers, etc.) For example, if ADBD were to be made available as a
digital database (or even a very large text file?!) finding, for
example, all the recordings of a given song...or by a given artist,
or on a given label, or whatever...becomes a much quicker and fully
digital process.

Second, there is some information which is more-or-less "format
neutral." A long written work...essay, whatever...can be presented
as a large text file, as a word-processor-specific file, or in
"hard copy" form as a book or other paper document. As long as
the "real" and "digital" documents contain exactly the same
information, either is of equal value (although the digital form
can be more easily searched for specific text if/when that becomes
necessary.

However, in a lot of cases, the document as object tells us something
about the circumstances in which it was created...usually through other
aspects than the actual content of the document itself! In this sense,
libraries also function as museums, by preserving physical objects
from another time. This is particularly true when the document
contains large amounts of information, often unrelated to the
reason for the original search...like an old magazine or newspaper,
where the advertisements can tell us much about life as it was
lived at the time. Even the physical aspects of an old book can
tell us things about the era in which it was created!

So...let's just say "No clear decision..."

Steven C. Barr
(who maintains an archive of 78rpm records...)