“On the Record”
A Forum on
Electronic Media and the Preservation of News
New York Public Library
Humanities and Social Sciences Library
October 23-24, 2008
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Conference Summary and Outcomes now available in CRL's Winter 2008-2009 FOCUS on Global Resources newsletter |
Related story: "Open Society Institute Forum: The Future of News" led by former Wall Street Journal editor Paul Steiger. Steiger runs the nonprofit ProPublica, which produces and publishes investigative reporting and distributes it free of charge to news outlets.
The pages of the world’s newspapers have traditionally provided a detailed record of the notable events and interests of the communities for which they were produced. Much of this “first rough draft of history” has been preserved intact for decades and even centuries in research libraries and archives. Today news is produced and delivered in digital media that are inherently dynamic and fugitive, challenging society’s ability to ensure the survival of yesterday’s reporting for future study.
“On the Record” will bring individuals from journalism and the news media, academia, business, policy research, together with those who map library strategies for collecting and preservation to explore these challenges. Participants will explore the myriad new ways in which news content is created, distributed and consumed, and engage in focused discussions to formulate innovative strategies for preservation and access to these materials.
Speaker PresentationsSpeakers' PowerPoint presentations are available as PDF files below. |
Speaker Profiles |
Agenda
9:00 Welcome
-David Ferriero, Andrew W. Mellon Director of The New York Public Libraries
-Bernard Reilly, President, Center for Research Libraries
9:15 Keynote -- The Future of Newspapers
A Conversation with Alex Jones, Laurence M. Lombard Lecturer in the Press and Public Policy Director Shorenstein Center, Harvard University and John Carroll, Former Editor Los Angeles Times.
10:00 Break
10:15 Session 1 -- Archiving and Access to News
What approaches, new and traditional, have libraries and other organizations taken to maintaining and providing public access to news back files? Access models to be discussed range from collecting and storing newspapers in research libraries to Google’s News Archive Search.
- Challenges in Preserving and Making the World’s Newspapers Accessible: A Status Report on the Digitization of News Back Files
-Denise Hibay, Interim Director for Collections Strategy, New York Public Library - If You Build It Will They Come? One Library's Experience With Converging News Content
-Debora Cheney, Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian, and Head, News and Microforms Library, The University Libraries, Penn State University - Google: Search Discovery and Web Access to the World's News
-Andrew Madden, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Google - Commentary and Observations
-James Simon, Director of International Resources, CRL Global Resources Network
12:00-1:15 Lunch Break
1:15 Session 2 -- Getting the News Out
What forms is news reporting taking and what tools and technologies are used in gathering, publishing, and distributing news today?
- How "News" is Changing in the Newsroom: Creating, Managing and Preserving Text and Images in the Digital Environment
-Victoria McCargar, New Media Preservation Consultant - How News is Distributed: Repurposing News at the AP for Different Audiences.
-Valerie Komor, Director of the Corporate Archives of The Associated Press - How Citizen Journalism and Blogging are Decentralizing News Gathering and Reporting.
-Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs and New Media Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. - Commentary and Observations
-Bernard Reilly, CRL
2:40 - 3:00 Break
3:00 Session 3 -- New Uses for Yesterday's News
How do today's academic, public policy and financial communities make use of the news reporting of the past? What role does the record of local and world events play in analysis and decision-making by scholars, policymakers and business leaders?
- Text Mining of Electronic News Content for Economic Research
-Panagiotis G. Ipeirotis, Assistant Professor, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University.
- On Becoming a Librarian (Inadvertently): Mining News Sources for the Policy Research Community
-Gary Sick, Senior Research Scholar at the Middle East Institute and Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, the School for International and Public Affairs, Columbia University - What Old News Tells Us That Data Does Not: The Uses of News Reports in Monetary Policy Research
- Katrina L Stierholz, Research Information Officer and Director of Library and Research Information, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis -
Commentary and Observations
-Debora Cheney, Larry and Ellen Foster Communications Librarian, and Head, News and Microforms Library, The University Libraries, Penn State University
4:45 Adjourn
Participants will identify the most pressing threats to the integrity of the journalistic record as the basis for future historical and policy research, and identify measures that news publishers, libraries, archives and aggregators can take to ensure the survival of that record. Attendance is limited to the previous day’s presenters and to invited attendees.
8:30 Opening Remarks
-David Ferriero, Andrew W. Mellon Director of The New York Public Libraries
9:00 Discussion 1 -- Judging the Status Quo
How well are today's publishers, aggregators and libraries preserving the journalistic record or "first rough draft" of contemporary history? What factors and conditions threaten the survival and integrity of that record?
-Facilitators: Denise Hibay, James Simon
10:15 Break
10:30 Discussion 2 -- Toward an Action Agenda
What actions can publishers, aggregators and libraries take to better ensure the survival and integrity of the news record? What new models, partnerships, and investment strategies will best address these challenges?
-Facilitators: Denise Hibay, James Simon
11:30 Conclusions
-Bernard Reilly, President, Center for Research Libraries
