Digital Document Quarterly newsletter volume 7 number 4 available

Dr. Henry Gladney sent this announcement around on New Year's Day 2009:

The Digital Document Quarterly newsletter volume 7 number 4 is available at http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/ddq_7_4.htm. Its table of contents is available at http://home.pacbell.net/hgladney/ddq.htm#Y2008.

In 2006, Deanna Marcum, Assoc. Librarian at the Library of Congress wrote, "we kept on producing digital resources because we had to while whistling in the dark about their long-term preservation".

This DDQ number sums up the long-term digital preservation (LDP) situation by asserting that it is time for major institutions to choose LDP strategies, arguing that the technical alternatives are now known, with few surprises likely about what can be done. Readers who want to acquire understanding of the topic quickly can do so by selectively following Web links in recent DDQ numbers.

The number also summarizes a recent CLIR assessment of the role of research librarians. Its conclusions are unlikely to please members of the profession.

As usual, the number provides technical news, practical advice, and recommends books that I found excellent.