Readings 11/27

Information Technologies in the Twentieth Century by Richard E. Rubin

Rubin gives an excellent overview of the technologies in libraries throughout the twentieth century. From his description and from experience, it is clear that change is constant and innovations in the field have been numerous. Actually this article was very helpful in better understanding some of these technologies. Rubin gives an excellent description of both the Web and the Internet and tells us the difference between the two. He goes into more detail describing the terms and acronyms that are thrown about when discussing them. In this article I also discovered why people say in different veins, whether they be comedic or political, that Al Gore invented the internet. He actually was a great proponent of it and worked hard to pass legislation supporting it.

Digital Libraries, Chap. 1, 4 by William Y. Arms

Probably the most useful part about these chapters are the fact that Arms makes the case for digital libraries and systematically lays out all the benefits that they afford us. One important one is cost. Digital libraries and the technologies associated with them are constantly becoming better and cheaper. But there are other points for making the case for digital libraries as well such as sharing information, keeping information current, and the information being readily available to the user at the time and point of need. He does not simply make the case for digital libraries and then turn a blind eye to their criticisms. In chapter 4 he realizes there are challenges such as changing formats and operating systems, interoperability, and that data can be quickly lost due to quick obsolescence of technologies. Change is constant and it is our job to navigate through all these changes without getting lost or overwhelmed.