T.G. McFadden

Archives and the Digital Library: edited by William E. Landis and Robin L. Chandler. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Information Press, 2006. 270 p.

This book is a copublished Haworth Press title, simultaneously issued as Journal of Archival Organization (vol. 4, no. 1/2, 2006). If you have ready access to the original journal format, you do not need to purchase this version. In either case, it is also important to understand that this book is largely (although not entirely) about California. And California, in the matter of library and information resources, is as different from the rest of the world as it is in so many other ways. This will make the book of limited interest to many archivists and librarians outside the kind of environment inhabited by the California Digital Library (CDL), the Research Libraries Group (RLG), and the immense University of California library system (“One University, One Library”). Nearly two-thirds of the content of the book is derived from, or based on, the experiences and staff at CDL, RLG, and/or other libraries of the University of California system. This does not make the content any less valuable, but it does suggest that these projects and initiatives may not be within the reach of many librarians in less resource-rich environments. Both editors are experienced digital archivists. Chandler is currently employed by the California Digital Library and Landis, although now at Yale, is also a veteran of the CDL. The California Digital Library was created in 1997 as the University of California’s eleventh library. It was established, according to the CDLWeb site, “to build the University’s digital library, assist campus libraries with sharing their resources and holdings more effectively, and provide leadership in applying technology to the development of library collections and services.” In the following decade, CDL has rapidly become a national and international force in digital publishing, distribution, and archiving. Success begets success, and CDL has leveraged its achievements and talent into a widening galaxy of partnerships, funding agencies, and multilibrary cooperation. Partly as a result, CDL and related institutions have also become leaders not only in digital archiving technology, but also in setting standards for digital object creation, description, and preservation. In many of the articles in this volume, however, this pioneering and largescale role gives birth to sentences like this:

85.00. ISBN 0789-03437-9.

Abstract