Saving the Net

New O.C.L.C. Task Force is Formed to Study Storage and Preservation of Internet Content

Reliable preservation and retrieval systems have been subjects of great debate in library circles since the Internet became the hub of exchange in the information world. While it is easy to find information, it is not always the best, and the act of tagging or bookmarking, creating links to sites and files are problematic because sites change, close down, and are not often reliable.

While the Information Age has created a global network society in which access to digital information via the Internet and other means has revolutionized science, education, commerce, government, and other aspects of our lives, this technology has also spawned some unwanted side-effects. Unlike earlier mediums of information—including stone, parchment and paper—minuscule electronic "data banks" often stored in memory sticks, hard drives, and on magnetic tape are far more fragile and susceptible to obsolescence and loss.

The Internet is a highly paced structure of movement with very few sorts of reliable storage for the long haul. How many times have you clicked on a link only to find it is a dead end? Why must people who wish to find something specific in many circumstances get a needle in an information haystack? These are some of the issues that need resolving. The work of this committee in part might be to suggest methods of extraction of a great deal of quality scholarship and information that may be lost over time without better storage and retrieval systems. As it stands now even more advanced search models like Google scholar on spit out long lists of files. Often we get a lot of nothing. Often we spend a lot of time on a computer searching.

This Task Force will convene a broad set of international experts from the academic, public and private sectors who will participate in quarterly discussion panels. The group will publish two substantial reports with their findings, including a final report in late 2009 that will include a set of actionable recommendations for digital preservation, taking into account a general economic framework to establish those objectives.

Just over a week from today the task force will have its first meeting in Washington D. C.. A web site is to be established to update the activities of the task force and for people interested to post their thoughts.

Any thoughts?

http://www.oclc.org/news/releases/200692.htm