The founder of the Internet Archive—the non-profit organisation created in 1996 to build an internet library—recently announced the official launch of "the Physical Archive of the Internet Archive." The IA original dispersed the books it collected for digitization through donation, but is now shifting to storing and preserving them in state-of-the-art facilities, soliciting new donations in an effort to obtain “one copy of everything ever published”, with current storage at 450,000 items. This Physical Archive reflects some of the effects of digitization projects in its response to the increasing number of library books moved to repositories to make space for meeting and working spaces, and the throwing out of original library texts in the wake of digitized Google versions. Founder Brewster Kahle explains that the Physical Archive seeks to preserve original copies for future researchers and readers, underscoring the importance of maintaining physical archiving in a digital era.
For a report from Libraryjournal.com, click here; for an article by Kahle explaining the impetus behind the Physical Archive in full, click here.
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