I’ve been thinking lately (always a mistake) about all the cultural works to which we don't have access. Everything removed from streaming; everything locked behind DRM so that most libraries and archives won't have copies which can redundantly survive disruption. Sometimes I get real sad about the future readers and historians and others who just won't be able to find copies of the incredible things made during the current digital dark age.

As ever, I try to let this radicalize me rather than lead me into despair. I know that there are lots of horrors worth raging against, but this is one I feel well-positioned to work against. It's low-stakes enough that I won't feel self-loathing if I burn out or need to take a break. It's no secret that I like to read and organize books so this is a topic close to my heart and one which can bring me joy and allow me to share it with those around me too. There is a fair bit of tech nerd stuff to it, enough that I have an opportunity to learn & practice new things, but not so much that I’m totally out of my depth. And there are plenty of communities out there to help and share strategies.

But the big thing I see missing from my understanding and many of the conversations about shadow libraries and unauthorized archivism is the social and professional practice of librarianship rather than mechanical practice of data storage. I don't have space to go to library school, but I could definitely stand to read (and archive) introductory books on the topic, or take an online class. Friends who know: what are some of the better places to get started with an introduction to library & information science and archive science? #libraries #librarian #archivist #archives #archivism #archivist #libraryScience #informationScience #archiveScience #culture #repositories

@Infoseepage @molly0xfff

Just for those who don't know what Infoseepage is talkn bout there is:

#Kiwix is a project to make large #information #repositories available in compact #offline forms - https://kiwix.org/en/ in various languages.

Several of their downloadable #libraries are subsets and snapshots of #Wikipedia. https://library.kiwix.org/#lang=eng&q=Wikipedia

The "flagship" all-six-million-en_US article module of Wikipedia is ~110GB and I seed this torrent.

Good news from the US Repository Network (#USRN):
https://sparcopen.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Outcomes-of-the-USRN-Discovery-Pilot-Project.pdf

"At the beginning of the project, about half of the #repositories did not have their #OAIPMH interface properly configured and, therefore, could not be indexed by external discovery systems. After just over a year of the pilot, all but one repositories are now OAI-PMH compliant. This has resulted in a 50% increase in indexed content, with 728,770 new records now publicly accessible."

A recent survey of faculty at an R1 #university (with most respondents from the social sciences) revealed strong objections to #APCs at #OA #journals and deep ignorance of OA #repositories.
https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/17647/galley/16356/view/

The survey did not ask whether respondents were familiar with no-APC (#DiamondOA) OA journals.