NeoArch

A library in Ohio just migrated to KohaZoom, the open-source version Integrated Library System. This particular version of Koha appears to be developed by a vendor, LibLime. You can see The system in action here.

Notice anything about it? That’s right, folks. It looks just like Amazon, and it uses Amazon images. Bye, bye, usability problems. Hello instant street cred with patromers.

Needless to say, I want one.

Continuing the theme from yesterday, I read this post today that extols the virtues of emulation as an answer for some problems with digital formats.

All are good points, but I seriously doubt people will be able to write emulators for every application, file format, and operating system in the future. Besides, most of the emulators I have seen seem somewhat clunky. Perhaps as the technology develops, clunkiness will decline.

Emulation seems like the best answer in many ways, but in many more it just seems untenable. We’ll see.

Francisco Partners, the company that recently completed a purchase of Ex Libris, also purchased Endeavor Information Systems. More information about the merger can be found here.

I am eager to see what this will bring forth.

Because I have not yet published anything about how to take the ACA exam yet, I thought I would at least post a fairly brief annotated bibliography of many of the books and articles I read in preparation for the exam. Hopefully, some will find it helpful. It helped me review before I took the exam. My notes are not great, and they are fairly general, but I did read fairly broadly. If nothing else, perhaps it will give people a  good start on what sorts of things they should be reading. Of course, the ACA publishes a bibliography in the handbook. This represents just a portion of what they recommend.

Modern Archival Literature

And before you ask, digital ice age does not refer to my lack of posting (Peggy, I promise I’ve not forgotten you). The title refers to two interesting pieces that I enjoyed reading today and wanted to mention. The first is a post by a “Dangerous” LIS student who wants to be an archivist.  She’s asking some of the questions that should keep us up at night, especially if we believe Ham was correct about selecting materials that document human experience.

The second is a piece from Popular Mechanics on the instability of digital information (HT: Russ).  I really enjoyed this article. It basically repeats some of the same things I have read and heard archivists say about digital preservation, except for the final line:

And remember, a printed copy is sometimes the best form of backup.

It’s funny. I often think that too. Almost every digital preservation work I have read and workshop I have attended says this is not the case. After all, archivists rightly contend that metadata is important to ensure the authenticity of documents. And authenticity is extremely important. Still, I often think that it’s better to have a printed, stable copy of a work with little or no metadata, than it is to have no document at all.