inverse selection
Mass digitization programs move through the stacks scanning books in good condition and by-passing those that are badly damaged. This selection bias is just the opposite of preservation reformatting that, on the contrary, selects the ìbrittleî and damaged books. So preservation reformatting sustains subject coverage while commercial reformatting breeds a curious subject coverage deficiency. Who can qualify the bias of omission of publications inexpensively produced and now deteriorated? Possibly the cheap productions include genres of social, economic and political subversion.
Another factor emerges. This is the inherent complement between the two selection agendas if they work together. The titles reformatted by preservation programs exactly compensate the titles avoided in mass digitization selection. But, this inherent coverage attribute can only be realized by cross-access of the two resources.
Finally, another factor is a validation of the role of preservation in the context of digital delivery. Preservation reformatting programs select titles at risk to assure comprehensive subject coverage and access. Commercial reformatting need not assure such comprehensive subject coverage and may have reason to avoid it especially if the expedient omissions are not apparent to the user.
regional repatriation
“British Library chiefs labelled a
bid to return the Lindisfarne Gospels to their North East home as “regionalism gone mad,” it was revealed today.”
It is interesting how preservation is invoked as a decisive constraint. Little recognition that conservation is obsessed with change while relevance of preservation depends on wider and wider meanings generated from source originals.
dress code enforced
FotB (who caucused for Hillary because the election will inevitably be a referendum on good governance) will represent the future of the print book in the context of avid counter advocates in the decorums of Philadelphia. ALA Mid-winter is the small working annual with only 10K librarians expected.