electronic publication

[Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr.]

There will always be some sort of ROM related format.  There has to be
some way to permanently protect a work or set of data so that the next
"borrower" does not corrupt or, worse, slightly alter in an undetectable
way the data.  I do not think that CD-ROM will disappear so rapidly
simply because authors or databasers will see the advantage of
distribution in an unalterable format.  I see this as a major problem
now.  Is the file that got from a server somewhere in the Internet, the
same file that you put up for distribution, or has it been altered or
corrupted someplace along the way?

Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr.
USDA, Agricultural Research Service
Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory
Room 304, Building 011A, BARC-West
Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350 USA
Voice telephone: 301-504-9447
FAX: 301-504-5810
Internet: jkirkbri at asrr.arsusda.gov

On Mon, 24 Apr 1995, Jerry Brickler wrote:

> On Mon, 24 Apr 1995, Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr. wrote:
>
> > On Sat, 22 Apr 1995, Timothy Rowe wrote:
> >
> > > However, these messages overlook a more significant point, which is that the
> > > real cost in time and labor is in the digitizing process - in converting
> > > analog records like old monographs or in generating new digital information.
> > > Once the data are stored in digital format, it is trivial to convert them
> > > to some other format provided that reasonable choices were made in picking
> > > the initial data format.
> >
> > >From your point of view and from mine, format conversion seems a trivial
> > matter.  Ten to twenty years from now when a library has millions of
> > CD-ROMs to convert, it is no longer a trivial matter.  Libraries have
> > been so successful exactly because they only had to conserve materials,
> > not convert everything every few decades.
>
> > In terms of one item, conversion is not difficult (if the equipment is
> > still available), but in terms of an entire library, it is monumental.
>
> Will libraries have CD-ROM in ten to twenty years?  All indicators point
> to the read only format being replaced by one that allows the user to save
> to compact or mini-disc in 5 years or less.  If that is the case, then the
> ROM format is rapidly facing becoming obsolete.  The question for
> consideration isn't whether technology should be incorporated into library
> holdings (think of all the trees we'll save) but how to do so to eliminate futur
> e compatibility problems.
>
> Jerry Bricker
> Dept. of Biology
> Laramie County Comm. College
> Cheyenne, WY 82007
> Voice telephone: 307-778-1139
> FAX: 307-778-1399
> Internet: lcjbrick at antelope.wcc.edu
>