Technology and Books for All, Marie Lebert [graded readers .TXT] 📗

The poem itself is much older than the manuscript - some historians believe it might have been written circa 750. Scholarly discussions on the date of creation and provenance of the poem continue around the world, and researchers regularly require access to the manuscript. Taking Beowulf out of its display case for study not only raised conservation issues, it also made it unavailable for the many visitors who were coming to the Library expecting to see this literary treasure on display. The digitization of the manuscript offered a solution to these problems, while providing new opportunities for researchers and book lovers worldwide.

[In Depth (published in 1999)]

Libraries began using the web to make their treasures freely available to the world.

Here is the story of Beowulf.

Beowulf is a treasure of the British Library. "It is an Old English heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship. This work of Anglo-Saxon literature dates to between the 8th and the 11th century, the only surviving European manuscript dating to the early 11th century. At 3,183 lines, it is notable for its length." (excerpt from Wikipedia)

The manuscript was badly damaged by fire in 1731. 18th-century transcripts mention hundreds of words and letters which were then visible along the charred edges, and subsequently crumbled away over the years. To halt this process, each leaf was mounted on a paper frame in 1845.

Scholarly discussions on the date of creation and provenance of the poem continue around the world, and researchers regularly require access to the manuscript. Taking Beowulf out of its display case for study not only raised conservation issues, it also made it unavailable for the many visitors who were coming to the Library expecting to see this literary treasure on display. Digitization of the manuscript offered a solution to these problems, as well as providing new opportunities for readers, and for the world to enjoy.

The Electronic Beowulf Project was launched as a huge database of digital images of the Beowulf manuscript and related manuscripts and printed texts. In 1998, the database included fiber-optic readings of hidden letters and ultraviolet readings of erased text in the manuscript; full electronic facsimiles of the 18th-century transcripts of the manuscript; and selections from important 19th-century collations, editions and translations. Major additions were planned, such as images of contemporary manuscripts, and links with the Toronto Dictionary of Old English Project and with the comprehensive Anglo-Saxon bibliographies of the Old English Newsletter.

The project was developed in partnership with two leading experts, Kevin Kiernan, from the University of Kentucky and Paul Szarmach, from the Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University. Professor Kiernan edited the electronic archive and produced a CD-ROM containing a number of electronic images.

Brian Lang, chief executive of the British Library, explained in 1998: "The Beowulf manuscript is a unique treasure and imposes on the Library a responsibility to scholars throughout the world. Digital photography offered for the first time the possibility of recording text concealed by early repairs, and a less expensive and safer way of recording readings under special light conditions. It also offers the prospect of using image enhancement technology to settle doubtful readings in the text. Network technology has facilitated direct collaboration with American scholars and makes it possible for scholars around the world to share in these discoveries. Curatorial and computing staff learned a great deal which will inform any future programmes of digitization and network service provision the Library may undertake, and our publishing department is considering the publication of an electronic scholarly edition of Beowulf. This work has not only advanced scholarship; it has also captured the imagination of a wider public, engaging people (through press reports and the availability over computer networks of selected images and text) in the appreciation of one of the primary artifacts of our shared cultural heritage." (excerpt from the 1998 website)

The British Library was a pioneer in Europe. Other treasures of the library were already online: Magna Carta, the first English constitutional text, signed in 1215, with the Great Seal of King John; the Lindisfarne Gospels, dated 698; the Diamond Sutra, dated 868, which could be the world's earliest print book; the Sforza Hours, dated 1490-1520, an outstanding Renaissance treasure; the Codex Arundel, a notebook of Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), and the Tyndale New Testament, the first English version of the New Testament, printed by Peter Schoeffer, in Worms.

Brian King also stated the importance of the paper world, and the ongoing commitment of the British Library to its paper collections. He added: "The importance of digital materials will, however, increase. We recognize that network infrastructure is at present most strongly developed in the higher education sector, but there are signs that similar facilities will also be available elsewhere, particularly in the industrial and commercial sector, and for public libraries. Our vision of network access encompasses all these. (…) The development of the Digital Library will enable the British Library to embrace the digital information age. Digital technology will be used to preserve and extend the Library's unparalleled collection. Access to the collection will become boundless with users from all over the world, at any time, having simple, fast access to digitized materials using computer networks, particularly the internet." (excerpt from the website)

Other national libraries started digitizing their collections to offer a free digital library.

When interviewed by Jérôme Strazzulla in the daily newspaper Le Figaro of June 3, 1998, Jean-Pierre Angremy, president of the French National Library, stated: "We cannot, we will not be able to digitize everything. In the long term, a digital library will only be one element of the whole library." The digital library Gallica went online in 1997 with thousands of texts and images relating to French history, life and culture. A major collection of 19th-century French texts and images was available one year later.

1998: DIGITAL LIBRARIANS

[Overview]

The job of librarians, that had already changed a lot with computers, went on to change even more with the internet. Computers made catalogs much easier to handle. Instead of all these cards to be patiently classified into wood or metal drawers, librarians could type in bibliographic records in a program that was sorting out books by alphabetical, chronological and systematic order. Librarians also began using computer programs to lend books and buy new ones. By networking computers, the internet gave a boost to union catalogs for a state, a country or a region, and furthered interlibrary loan. Electronic mail became commonplace for internal and external communications. Librarians could subscribe to newsletters and participate in newsgroups and discussion forums. A number of librarians became webmasters to run library websites, online catalogs and digital libraries.

[In Depth (published in 1999)]

I interviewed Peter Raggett, a digital librarian at OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), and Bruno Didier, a digital librarian at Institute Pasteur. Here are some excerpts.

= At the OECD Library

What is OECD? "The OECD is a club of like-minded countries. It is rich, in that OECD countries produce two thirds of the world's goods and services, but it is not an exclusive club. Essentially, membership is limited only by a country's commitment to a market economy and a pluralistic democracy. The core of original members has expanded from Europe and North America to include Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Mexico, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Korea. And there are many more contacts with the rest of the world through programmes with countries in the former Soviet bloc, Asia, Latin America - contacts which, in some cases, may lead to membership." (excerpt from the 1998 website)

The Center for Documentation and Information (CDI) of OECD provides information to OECD agents in support of their research work. In 1998, there were 60,000 monographs and 2,500 periodicals. The CDI also provides information in electronic format from databases, CD-ROMs and the internet.

Peter Raggett, head of CDI, has been a professional librarian for nearly twenty years, first working in UK government libraries and then at the OECD since 1994. He has used the internet since 1996. He built up the CDI Intranet pages, which became a main tool for the staff.

Peter wrote in June 1998: "At the OECD Library we have collected together several hundred World Wide Web sites and have put links to them on the OECD Intranet. They are sorted by subject and each site has a short annotation giving some information about it. The researcher can then see if it is possible that the site contains the desired information. This is adding value to the site references and in this way the Central Library has built up a virtual reference desk on the OECD network. As well as the annotated links, this virtual reference desk contains pages of references to articles, monographs and websites relevant to several projects currently being researched at the OECD, network access to CD-ROMs, and a monthly list of new acquisitions. The Library catalogue will soon be available for searching on the Intranet. The reference staff at the OECD Library uses the Internet for a good deal of their work. Often an academic working paper will be on the web and will be available for full-text downloading. We are currently investigating supplementing our subscriptions to certain of our periodicals with access to the electronic versions on the internet."

Peter added: "The internet has provided researchers with a vast database of information. The problem for them is to find what they are seeking. Never has the information overload been so obvious as when one tries to find information on a topic by searching the internet. When one uses a search engine like Lycos or AltaVista or a directory like Yahoo!, it soon becomes clear that it can be very difficult to find valuable sites on a given topic. These search mechanisms work well if one is searching for something very precise, such as information on a person who has an unusual name, but they produce a confusing number of references if one is searching for a topic which can be quite broad. Try and search the web for Russia AND transport to find statistics on the use of trains, planes and buses in Russia. The first references you will find are freight-forwarding firms who have business connections with Russia."

What about the future? "The internet is impinging on many peoples' lives, and information managers are the best people to help researchers around the labyrinth. The internet is just in its infancy and we are all going to be witnesses to its growth and refinement. (…) Information managers have a large role to play in searching and arranging the information on the internet. I expect that there will be an expansion in internet use for education and research. This means that libraries will have to create virtual libraries where students can follow a course offered by an institution at the other side of the world. Personally, I see myself becoming more and more a virtual librarian. My clients may not meet me face-to-face but instead will contact me by e-mail, telephone or fax, and I will do the research and send them the results electronically."

= At the Institute Pasteur Library

In 1999, Bruno Didier was the webmaster of the Institute Pasteur Library. "The Pasteur Institutes are exceptional observatories for studying infectious and parasite-borne diseases. They are wedded to the solving of practical public health problems, and hence carry out research programmes which are highly original because of the complementary nature of the investigations carried out: clinical research, epidemiological surveys and basic research work. Just a few examples from the long list of major topics of the Institutes are: malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS, yellow fever, dengue and poliomyelitis." (excerpt from the 1999 website)

In August 1999, Bruno wrote about his work as a webmaster: "The main aim of the Pasteur Institute Library website is to serve the Institute itself and its associated bodies. It supports applications that have become essential in such a big organization: bibliographic databases, cataloguing, ordering of documents and of course access to online periodicals (presently more than 100). It is also a window for our different departments, at the Institute but also elsewhere in France and abroad. It plays a big part in documentation exchanges with the institutes in the worldwide Pasteur network. I am trying to make it an interlink adapted to our needs for exploration and use of the internet. The website has existed in its present form since 1996 and its audience is steadily increasing. I build and maintain the web pages and monitor them regularly. I am also responsible for training users, which you can see from my pages. The web is an excellent place for training and is included in most ongoing discussions about training."

What about the future of librarians? "Our relationship with both the information and the users is what changes. We are increasingly becoming mediators, and perhaps to a lesser extent 'curators'. My present activity is typical of this new situation: I am working to provide quick access to information and