[Foundation-l] Old newspapers going to destruction

[Andrew Gray]

2008/9/25 Klaus Graf <klausgraf at googlemail.com>:
> I fully disagree with Schlottmann.
>
> 1. Nicholas Baker has shown in its book "Double Fold"
> http://delicious.com/Klausgraf/doublefold that microfilms are not a
> substitution for the original newspapers. And digitization isn't, too.

I sympathise greatly with his viewpoint, but I wouldn't go so far as
to say his book clearly "shows" anything beyond that he is passionate
on the subject. It's a polemic, not an analysis; I gave up reading it
half-way through because I was becoming frustrated with the one-sided
approach.

> 2. National Libraries might have the duty to digitize newspapers but
> if they don't do it or if they cooperate with toll access companies
> like the British Library http://newspapers.bl.uk/? The Public Domain
> belongs to us all!

The budgets of libraries, especially big institutions, are shrinking
continually. We can't just say "oh, they should do this, they should
do that" - the money has to come from somewhere.

Digitisation isn't cheap; cataloguing and indexing of digitised
material isn't cheap. If these institutions don't get additional funds
from somewhere for the explicit purpose of digitisation, then they'll
*only* be able to do it as a commercial venture like that, or as some
kind of partnership program (as with Google &c).

-- 
- Andrew Gray
 andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk