The Source: news about digital libraries and library innovations from around the web

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A future for our digital memory: Permanent access to information in the Netherlands - 20 page English-language summary of the report (Note: PDF)

Full report (in Dutch)

From the Netherlands Coalition for Digital Preservation website

In order to underpin its strategy, the NCDD decided build a detailed picture of the current situation in the public sector in the Netherlands. Can institutions or domains be identified which have successfully risen to the challenge of digital preservation and permanent access? What categories of data are in danger of being lost? How can the risks be managed? The so-called National Digital Preservation Survey was funded by the Ministry of Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and was held in the first six months of 2009.
A team of three researchers conducted some seventy interviews with stakeholders in three distinct sectors: government & archives, the research community, and cultural heritage institutions.


Quantifying the Economic Impact of the Internet

From the Harvard Business School website

Businesses around the advertising-supported Internet have incredible multiplier effects throughout the economy and society. Professor John Quelch starts to put some numbers on the impact. Key concepts include:

• Each Internet job supports approximately 1.54 additional jobs elsewhere in the economy, or roughly 2 percent of employed Americans

• The advertising-supported Internet creates annual value of $444 billion

• About 190 million people in the United States spend, on average, 68 hours a month on the Internet. A conservative valuation of this time is an estimated $680 billion

Changing Roles: The August 2009 issue of Library Connect (Note: PDF)

From the Elsevier website

Articles include:

• Thrive rather than survive: Incorporate assessment into your library planning

• Today’s changing environment brings benefits and challenges to researchers

• From stronghold to threshold: The library’s role in supporting the University of Aberdeen’s quest to join the ranks of the world’s top 100 universities

• Academic research executives and managers (REMs) face increasingly complex and changing challenges

• What is the value of content to the research workflow?

• Partnering further with faculty and university administrators: Academic librarians offer a vision of their future

• Librarians in Argentina sharpen their skills in unleashing the power of digital resources

Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills (Note: PDF)

From the Institute of Museum and Library Services website

The report outlines a vision for the role of libraries and museums in the national dialogue around learning and 21st century skills and includes case studies of innovative audience engagement and 21st century skills practices from across the country.