This work grew out of Oya Rieger's white paper focused on digitization and preservation of large collections. Rieger's credentials include responsibilities for LSD projects, winning the Research Libraries 2000 book award, and service as co‐chair for a working group charged with developing ANSI/NISO Technical Metadata for Digital Images.
The author looks at large‐scale initiatives such as Google Book Search, Microsoft Live Book Search and Million Book Project for the purpose of judging their quality and condition. Rieger also reviews the condition of the Open Content Alliance and Research Libraries projects; her review addresses issues of image quality, standards, project commitment, viability and the need for preservation strategies and collaboration.
Rieger discusses the impact of large‐scale digital initiative (LSDI) issues that should be taken into consideration during project planning stages. These issues include: goals, motivation, discovery, access, archiving and preservation. The link between LSDI and long term preservation is emphasized as an important role for research libraries as stewards of cultural collections According to the author, there is a need to define and understand the responsibilities of stewardship. Part of the problem revolves around the primary incentive to enhance access through the reformatting process. Best practices for the reformatting process have neither been defined nor used during the creation of LSD projects.
According to the author, digital preservation and archiving are used interchangeably, and are broadly defined. However, the author summarizes the definition to mean “providing enduring access.” The overview section on leading large‐scale projects presents and discusses LSDI key partnering goals and motivation factors. These are discussed from the perspective of libraries as well as commercial vendors. Partnering factors include access, preservation, research and development, along with vendor interest which often leans toward company profit.
The author uses tables to gather key related information. Table 1 provides a quick overview and comparison of the distinguishing goals of participants; Table 2 summaries activities involved in creating digital collections; and Table 3 outlines digitization specifications for LSD projects. Key information areas regarding stewardship, enduring access, and cost effectiveness are highlighted in bullet style lists. The lists describe technical features of program support for preservation and organizational infrastructure requirements.
Rieger also presents recommendations, which are gathered into themes such as: methods to preserve books, enduring access, preservation management, digital preservation strategies, and research library strategies. In conclusion, Rieger recommends collaboration, teamwork and the need to establish leadership roles that facilitate alliances.
Rieger suggests that the win‐win scenario of stewardship should be built on the operating principles of trust and mutual interest. The insights in this paper are thought provoking and timely, and they are relevant to the overall library community as well as to large‐scale commercial vendors. One minor criticism is that the author only used end notes to document the research. Reader's research interests would be better served had the references been complied into a concise list of resources.
