GLAM-WIKI 2015/Proposals/Accidental Canon and Other Lessons From Building Digital Libraries

This is an accepted submission for GLAM-WIKI 2015.

Submission no. GW15.1036

Title of the submission

Accidental Canon and Other Lessons From Building Digital Libraries

Type of submission

lecture

Author of the submission

Asaf Bartov

Country of origin

Israel

Affiliation

Project Ben-Yehuda (a digital library)

E-mail address

asaf.bartovgmail.com

Username

Ijon

Personal homepage or blog

Project Ben-Yehuda's Blog (Hebrew)

Twitter username

@abartov

Facebook url

Abstract

I built a digital library. It had unforeseen and far-reaching cultural and academic consequences. Not all of them good. Oh, and other digital collections do the same. And so does Wikipedia.

Detailed proposal

In 1999, I started typing public domain Hebrew poetry into my home computer. 16 years and hundreds of additional volunteers later, I am running the largest and most important public repository of secular Hebrew literature. In other words, I have become an accidental librarian! And that taught me fascinating lessons and made me realize some broad cultural implications.

For example, our volunteer actions have accidentally created a new canon of older Hebrew works; Some surprising re-use has already emerged; we have accidentally become perceived authorities on these works.

I will present and discuss these and other lessons from my own experience and draw some parallels (e.g. to the Internet Archive).

Track

Discovery? Exposure? (not sure)

Length of presentation/talk

25 Minutes

Target audience

No experience required. Anyone deploying or interested in digital collections.

Expected outcomes

An appreciation for some largely-unavoidable effects of creating large digital collections; directions for patron education and academic collaboration.

Will you attend GLAM-WIKI 2015 if your submission is not accepted?

yes

Slides or further information (optional)

TBD

Special requests

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