"Most new records -- business, governmental, historical, social, cultural, and academic -- are born-digital; digital government promises to improve our access to such records [1].Ê Written records, multi-media recordings, and data collections are the intangible product of the mind's work and, for those who live by and for work of the mind, are their principal legacy.Ê They include information critical to democratic institutions and to our well-being.Ê The taxpayers who support the administrative and research infrastructure deserve assurance that the best of this will survive well into the future along with their tax returns, social security records, building permits, and many other practical records" .

So starts the wonderful article by Henry M. Gladney from IBM. In this very simple yet profoundly accurate assessment of the digital delimma our time, Gladney tolls the warning bell for every collecting institution, private and pubblic libraries, in fact every office that uses a word processor!

 

Worthy of note are the following:

 

LC21: A Digital Strategy for the Library of Congress

http://www.nap.edu/books/0309071445/html/

Titanic 2020, Press Release (December 28, 1999)

http://www.censa.org/html/Press-Releases/Titanic2020.htm

 

The source article can be found in iMP @

http://www.cisp.org/imp/october_2000/10_00gladney-insight.htm