#Library & Archives

[latest-info]

How to Access Exclusive Research Archives Online

In the digital age, exclusive research archives have become invaluable resources for academics, professionals, and curious minds alike.

In the digital age, exclusive research archives have become invaluable resources for academics, professionals, and curious minds alike. These archives house a wealth of information, often containing rare and comprehensive collections that are not readily available to the general public. Accessing these archives can seem daunting, but with the right approach, it is entirely feasible. Here’s a…

[autistic-polarbear]

hey! i haven't ever posted anything on this blog...i prefer to be a silent observer in all aspects of my life. but i recently (okay like nearly 2 months ago) got my dream job working in my university's special collections and archives library. over the past few weeks i have stumbled upon some of the most interesting books and manuscripts that i just have to share with anyone interested because it is absolutely fascinating!

inside cover of a book from the 1800s. my roommate said it looked like the bottom of an untouched stream. i didn't see it until they pointed it out, but it is so accurate

staircase to get to the collections. pictures don't do this wood grain justice, it is gorgeous up close, especially when the early morning sun hits it just right...perfection

inside of the elevator we use to get to the different decks. it's the oldest working elevator in all of oregon !

one of the most popular requests in our collections: an original, handwritten copy of ken kesey papers. we have over 100 boxes of his books, papers, manuscripts...anything of his you could possibly think of, we probably have it

for fellow comic fans, we have an entire shelf dedicated to various books on fandoms, including marvel and batman! i have never pulled one out for anybody, but i'm hoping somebody will request one so i can look more in-depth without looking suspicious to my fellow coworkers and the librarians...

the past will not sleep, printed on shiny gold paper in a book from the 1800s (i was literally shaking holding this, it's so cool)

original journals of the lewis and clark expedition (again, i was literally shaking; this job is amazing)

as a journalism major, these were particularly fascinating...we have several books of famous journalists from our university, but all around the world too. gotta find a way to get my hands on these outside of my shifts...

the back cover of a book in our oregon collection. i believe this had something to do with farming and agriculture, but either way it was so pretty

nonsense songs, stories, botany, and alphabets by edward lear; this book was literally falling apart in my hands but wow. just the title alone is so interesting, not to mention it's from london !

songs and sonnets by shakespeare...not an original unfortunately but still super amazing to see, and be physically hold his writing in my hands

sometimes i have to take a step back and remember that i am literally living my childhood dream. then that realization sinks in and i am absolutely shocked about it.

anyway, that's all for now. i will definitely have more to share because these finds are so interesting. if anyone has any requests they want me to look for, please let me know and i will do my best to scavenge around these stacks like a creepy little gremlin and take pictures for the people in my computer.

[californiastatelibrary]

[azuremist]

I haven’t seen any posts about this! But, thanks to the Internet Archive lawsuit, half a million books have been removed from their library. They are calling for people to share their experiences to help them regain access to these books, so please considering sending something in!

6/17/2024 edit: They’re also requesting that people sign an open letter asking the publishers to restore access, so please consider doing that too!

Google Form || Open letter || More about the effects of this lawsuit

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

I love you PBS I love you NPR I love you public libraries I love you wikipedia I love you project gutenberg I love you librivox I love you libby I love you hoopla I love you openlibrary I love you internet archive I love you resources that make information free and accessible to the public

[mydirtyvalentine]

pretty normal podcast listening experience i think,

[probablymoons]

"If It's Sex You're Looking For..." Designed by Judith Johnson for Hallmark, 1971. Archived from The Peculiar Manicule.

[muppet-facts]

As someone who has relied heavily on the Internet Archive for research for not only this blog but also professional uses, I urge people to show their support to archive and openlibrary. Make sure if you have an account there, change all of your passwords!! Be safe out there!

[destielmemenews]

"Publishers accused the nonprofit of infringing copyrights in 127 books from authors like Malcolm Gladwell, C.S. Lewis, Toni Morrison, J.D. Salinger and Elie Wiesel, by making the books freely available through its Free Digital Library.

The archive, which hosts more than 3.2 million copies of copyrighted books on its website, contended that the library was transformative because it made lending more convenient and served the public interest by promoting "access to knowledge.""

source 1

source 2

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[wolfythoughts]

Publication Announcement: Space Fantasy: "Legends as Told by the Laborers of the Forest Solar System Logging Corp. – An Oral History Project"

I am thrilled to announce the publication of my space fantasy short story in Crow & Cross Keys literary journal. This literary journal is 100% free, so please give it a click and a perusal! Here’s a blurb about my piece. Oral history interview with an anonymous retired logger (Interviewee #15) for the Forest Solar System Logging Corp. Interview conducted by Tess Dalgleish on stardate 99938 on…

[laddersofsweetmisery]

I don't see enough people mourning over the slow death of physical media. And I don't just mean TV shows, video games, or movies--which don't even get me started about how we don't really 'own' anything anymore. It includes notes, journals, and letters to one another...so much of our history is lost when we lose a password, a website goes down, a file/hardware is corrupted, or a platform disappears. History that doesn't seem important until you no longer have access to it. Physical media does a lot for memory recall. How many memories will we lose because we don't have something tangible to tie it back to? Something to hold in our hands and stir up those memories we thought were once lost? Sometimes I wonder what the difference between burning a book and losing access to physical media is when someone can pull the plug and remove your access so easily.

[aceoutofthedeck]

Sorting AO3 is actually a research skill that can come in handy for writing a paper. You’re actually sorting a database by looking for characteristics of your fanfic whether by filtering tags or directly searching.

Librarian: “Where did you learn how to search like that?”

Me: “Uhm a literature website.”

Millennial librarian behind me stifling a laugh.

[macmanx]

Big Media’s lobbyists have been running a smear campaign trying to paint the Internet Archive as a greedy big tech operation bent on stealing books—which is totally absurd. If you’ve ever used the WayBack Machine, listened to their wonderful archives of live music, or checked out one of their 37 million texts, it’s time to speak up. On March 20, everyone is showing their support for the Internet Archive during oral arguments.

Here's how you can help:

The Internet Archive is our library, a massive collection of knowledge and culture accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Don't let greedy publishers burn down the next Library of Alexandria!

And if you're absolutely certain you don't use or need the Internet Archive, take a look at their projects first, you might be surprised. Those are all at risk too.

[carriesthewind]

Ok. I am maybe kind of losing my mind just a little bit.

A few days ago, I mentioned in a post that the IA only cares about information being digitized, not about actual digital access. And I mentioned that access includes patrons being able to actually find what they are looking for, and suggested IA did not prioritize that critical aspect of access. But I didn't really go into any more detail.

So someone over on bluesky linked to this write-up of a talk Brewster Kahle gave about using so-called AI. And one of his reported statements made my mouth drop open in shock.

...and then I read further in the article and realized it was incorrectly reporting basic facts around Hachette, so I had to go and listen to the whole speech myself.* (And I want to say, briefly - he raises some legitimate potential uses for LLMs! He's kind of a dick about some of it ("it's up to us to go and keep [Balinese] culture alive"), but some of the things he's talking about actually seem useful.)

*Incidentally, while Kahle doesn't lie about the ALA brief in the speech, he absolutely misleads about the nature and facts of the case and deliberately omit the part of the story where the IA decided to suspend the one-to-one owned-to-loan ratio thing, despite repeatedly emphasizing that one-to-one was what the IA was doing with their lending program.

And oh my god. He really said what the article reports. (This portion starts around 20:10.)

He says that the IA has scanned over 18,000 periodicals. And that they used to have professional librarians manually create descriptions of the periodicals in order to catalog them. (Sidenote: there are existing directories, but he describes their licensing terms as "ridiculous." This is not a field I know much about, but I spoke to one person who agreed, though for different reasons. His reason is that you can only license, not purchase, the directory descriptions. The person I spoke to was instead focused on the prices demanded for the licenses. Regardless, the idea of creating an open, free directory seems both like an incredible amount of work and an amazing resource...if it was accurate.)

But according to Kahle, it took 45 minutes to an hour to create a description and catalog each periodical.

And so now, instead, they're using AI to make the descriptions and so it only takes 7-10 minutes!

"And yes it hallucinates, and it has some problems, and whatever — but it’s a lot faster than having to write it yourself!"

Oh. My god.

Just.

YOU ARE KNOWINGLY INTRODUCING AI HALLUCINATIONS INTO YOUR CATALOG?!

(And yes, he says that they are "confirmed by a librarian" but it can't really be, not if it's only taking 7-10 minutes! Maybe the librarian can do a quick check for super obvious errors, but actually checking a AI's summary work requires actually going back to the source and reviewing it yourself!)

I just....

I need to emphasize for those of you for who aren't familiar - if a book or article is miscataloged, it is effectively lost. Because it doesn't mater if a library or an archive owes it - if someone can't find it when they are looking for it, it is not only inaccessible, the only way to find it again is through chance. Imagine if you went into a library, but instead of organized shelves (where if even if you can't find what you're looking for, the librarians know where to look), every single book was just piled in a heap.

If a book is miscateloged, it still exists, but it is lost, not truly accessible. And they know that this is happening, "but whatever." Because Brewster Kahle doesn't actually care about real, practical, digital access. (Much less non-digital access.)

(And then to top it off, he goes on to criticize the Library of Congress for not being "access oriented.")

I just. 18,000 periodicals. And they've knowing, recklessly lost who knows how many of them. I feel like crying.

18,000 periodicals.

[burningvelvet]

if the significance of the internet archive being threatened has been lost on anyone, maybe these quick comparisons will put it into perspective…

Banning the Internet Archive would be the equivalent of burning the Library of Alexandria hundreds of times…

[Image Descriptions in alt text]

[how-to-get-away-with-study]

Old school libraries and archives 📖