May 12, 2016 Preservation of Information in Digital Age Is Subject of Book Discussion
Author Asks “How Can Technology Keep Pace with the Information Explosion?”
Press Contact: Guy Lamolinara (202) 707-9217
Public Contact: Center for the Book (202) 707-5221
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov
Historian Abby Smith Rumsey, in her new book, "When We Are No More: How Digital Memory Is Shaping Our Future" (Bloomsbury Press, 2016), examines the history of memory from caves to computer chips. She also makes the point that each of us has a role to play in ensuring that we are remembered when we are no more.
Rumsey will discuss and sign her book on Tuesday, May 24, at noon, in the Mumford Room, located on the sixth floor of the Library of Congress James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. This Books & Beyond event, sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, is free and open to the public; no tickets are required.
As Rumsey makes clear, we no longer write history in hard copy. There will be no equivalent to the Gettysburg Address in Lincoln’s hand or our ancestors’ letters. How digital information is stored will determine what is left for others to know about us.
Abby Smith Rumsey is a historian who writes about how ideas and information technologies shape perceptions of history, time and personal and cultural identity. A Russian scholar, she spent a decade at the Library of Congress working in the area of digital curation and preservation. She consults for a variety of universities and the National Science Foundation.
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications and exhibitions.
The Library’s Center for the Book, established by Congress in 1977 to "stimulate public interest in books and reading," is a national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages through its affiliated state centers, collaborations with nonprofit reading-promotion partners and through the Young Readers Center and the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. For more information, visit Read.gov.
###
PR 16-090
2016-05-13
ISSN 0731-3527