I've never actually taken the time to find, or even explore many local digital library history sites; In fact, I wasn't even aware there was such a scene. I remember when my daughter was in elementary school several years ago and she was given this little book mark in one of her paperback books that she rented for the summer and when we got home we realized it had information on it for her to access an online, free library of electronic books. I was actually excited! Reading has come along way and this was the first I've heard of children having digital access (censored-age limited reading).
I've now browsed many local digital libraries and found more than just books. I've found collections of archived history documents, photos, genealogical information and the history of the many years all around me. I am absolutely in love with the access I have at my fingertips and could see myself quite easily falling down a rabbit hole of research. I'm one of the many mom's who have many questions about the land I live on, what happened during "this time" in my own hometown who's felt like the resources seem so out of reach that their left undiscovered. I can tell you now, this makes those answers much more reachable especially with digital history not being limited to just a computer, I can utilize these online libraries and resources right from my smartphone.
After reviewing the links and resources I've had at my fingertips, I can better analyze the takeaways from the Rosenzweig's readings that I've done. He has so many great and valid points. He talks about and discuss some of the positives and negatives on the web in regards to preserving digital history and the one I most align with is when he discuss the less structured and less controlled environments that are being created on the internet and the lack of preservation of the digital creations. I noticed on many of the local links, the sites weren't updated and many redirected you to either an archived site or another link to access... what was wrong with the original site to recreate or archive? That goes with his thought about preservation; What could have been lost when the site was shut down?. He also talks about the suggestive interactive benefits of the web based on the digital media enthusiasts but goes on to discuss how it may actually create counterproductivity because one may search for hours and be less productive physically. I appreciate the way he analyzes the many aspects of the gathering, preserving, and presenting of the history on the web and find it a new way to view the many places of I have access to online.
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