CARLI News

Greg MacAyeal, Northwestern University

For those of us gifted with the ability to hear, it’s hard to imagine a world without sound. Meaning is carried in the listening of our loved ones voices, the music we consume, and in all the other sounds we are surrounded with every day.  Recorded audio is the mechanical or digital capture of meaning – the rich experience of humanity. As stated by Rob Bamberger and Sam Brylawski in the introduction to The State of Recorded Sound Preservation in the United States: A National Legacy at Risk in the Digital Age (Library of Congress, 2010): “Recorded sound is more than music and entertainment; it encompasses the sounds of the streets, of nature, and of the vanished folk heritage of indigenous and transplanted cultures, as well as of important national events and precious moments in our own personal lives.” It’s easy to understand the impact of audio. Reading Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous address on the Lincoln Memorial steps is inspiring indeed, but hearing the speech is altogether unforgettable. Everyone deserves the chance to hear “I Have a Dream”.

Library collections both large and small are likely to have some captured audio whether it’s in the form of a CD, a cassette tape or one of the many other formats. It’s not uncommon to find digital audio tape (DAT), open reel tape, LP phonodiscs, and 78 RPM phonodiscs. Special libraries and archives additionally own wire recordings, microcassettes, and Dictaphone belts and tapes. Of course, in 2016 most captured audio is in a digital format, of which there are many versions and kinds. Simply meeting the need of ensuring the longevity of audio collections is a large challenge, and one complete with a time sensitive deadline. If the format itself is not degrading, the playback equipment is hard to find and repair. For born digital collections, we have been slow to realize the need for a reformatting plan. With the estimated 46 million sound recordings at risk[1], action is needed now.

February 23, 2016
By: Nicole Swanson


From: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library

Wakefield's guide to health

Cyrenius Wakefield, a doctor of PR more than actual training, was a noted acquaintance of President Lincoln and created the Dr. C Wakefield & Co. Company to make various goods designed to promote good health.
 
 
 
 
 

 

February 15, 2016
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From Struggle and Progress-African Americans in Knox County, Illinois (Knox College) in CARLI Digital Collections.

This photo comes from a collection that has not yet been featured on the CARLI website as part of the bi-monthly featured image posts, and I thought it was time to correct that. “Struggle and Progress-African Americans in Knox County, Illinois” is a fascinating and eclectic collection of photographs, newspapers, letters, documents and interviews that form a picture of the African-American community in and around Galesburg, IL from the late 19th century through the early twentieth century.

February 5, 2016
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Public Services Committee Spring 2016 Open Houses 

The CARLI Public Services Committee is happy to announce two days of open house events on March 3 and 11, 2016. Come check out fellow CARLI libraries and some tools they're using to enhance services and operations.

Tech Savvy Online Tools for Public Services – Both days will be full of practical and innovative ways to engage students, make your day-to-day work easier, and communicate effectively with colleagues.

January 28, 2016
By: Michelle Haake

Miriam Centeno, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Why do you need to conduct a collection assessment?

Thus far in the year-long project on the preservation of audiovisual (AV) materials, the CARLI Preservation Committee has concentrated on the need for getting to know an institution’s AV holdings, by taking inventory and identifying formats. Much like the principle that “Form follows function,” the collecting priorities of an institution, the nature of the holdings, and their physical condition will greatly influence the creation of a preservation plan.

Conducting an assessment survey gathers all of the information together in one place, so that the next steps can be prioritized.  The survey can be as simple or as complex as a collection needs, the important thing is that the tool used to gather, store, and process the information is adequate to the scale of the holdings. This allows the surveyor to avoid building a huge survey that takes a very long time to complete and yields little useful information. For very small collections, a single spreadsheet that can be sorted by selected categories can suffice. For larger institutions, a tool that can grow as needs change will work better such as adding new locations and new collections to the general survey.

January 27, 2016
By: Nicole Swanson


From Bowen Country Club (University of Illinois at Chicago) in CARLI Digital Collections.

Though Illinois was spared from the recent Snowpocalypse that buried our neighbors to the East, we can still look forward to spring, right?
 
 
 
 

January 25, 2016
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Effect of Quality of Surface and Color upon Absorption of Light
From: Illinois Institute of Technology

Alternative titles for this post:

  • Ceci n'est pas un yearbook!
  • When Serendipity Strikes Too Late
  • Practical Applications for Digitized Stuff (a could-have-been case study)

 

 

January 15, 2016
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From Japanese Lantern Slides (Dominican University) in CARLI Digital Collections.

Dominican University has published a wonderful collection of lantern slides from the late 19th century depicting scenes from Japan.
 
 

January 8, 2016
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From Patricia Ellen Ricci Posters (Dominican University) in CARLI Digital Collections.

If it's life-affirming hope and optimism you seek as we transition from one year to the next, look no further than this new digital collection of posters by Patricia Ellen Ricci. (And if not, take a look anyway.)
 
 

 

 

 

December 18, 2015
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CARLI Holiday Hours

The CARLI office will be closed from December 24 through January 1 and will reopen on January 4. ILDS will not provide delivery service on December 24, December 25, December 31 or January 1. Business will resume on January 4.

December 17, 2015
By: Michelle Haake

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