Released today by the Smithsonian Institution. The ebook is a free download (links at the bottom of this post).
From a Summary/News Release:
Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, asks museums a fundamental question: “How can we prepare ourselves to reach the generation of digital natives who bring a huge appetite—and aptitude—for the digital world?” His thoughts on how the Smithsonian is tackling this issue and how others have fared in museums and libraries around the world are the subject of a new e-book, “Best of Both Worlds: Museums, Libraries, and Archives in a Digital Age.
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The e-book begins with a summary of what has already taken place in libraries and archives—documents once available only in the stacks or back rooms are now available, often for free, through the Internet. The Library of Congress and the National Archives, along with thousands of local libraries around the country, have led the way in digitizing two-dimensional objects.
For museums, the digital world presents a bigger challenge. Clough cites several reasons for this. First, and most obvious: Producing images of three-dimensional objects is more complicated than taking a picture of a page and adding some data. Most museums, including the Smithsonian, previously have not had high levels of technical expertise and equipment. Adding to the challenge is the simple fact that collections are built with exhibitions in mind rather than open access on computers.
With 137 million objects in its care, how did the Smithsonian begin the process of digitizing its vast collections to make them accessible to the millions of people who do not visit the museums in person? Clough describes the journey that began in 2009 with setting priorities for what would be digitized—a total of 14 million objects.
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Clough concludes his 75-page online book with this thought: “While digital technology poses great challenges, it also offers great possibilities. For the Smithsonian and our nation’s other museums, libraries and archives, today is a time when we can serve the role our founders envisioned for the educational systems of our republic. We can help all the people, not just a few of the people, to understand our culture, the cultures of other countries and life in all its dimensions.”
Direct to Full Text eBook (77 pages; PDF)
The ebook is also available via iTunes.
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