THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A periodic report from

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

SEPTEMBER 1996 • NO. 11

Cartography: Industry Support Moves

Library to State-of-the-Art Digitization

continued on page 2; see Industry

GEOGRAPHY

AND

MAP DIVISION

With the recent donation of nearly $600,000

worth of computer equipment to the Library by Hewlett-Packard (HP), the nascent Center for Geographic Information

and the related Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

facility in the Geography and Map Division (G&M) both

took a giant leap forward.

At a ceremony on May 14 thanking Hewlett-Packard

for its generous donation in support of the

Library’s National Digital Library (NDL)

Program for cartographic materials, Dr.

Billington noted the importance of the gift.

“As more powerful computers and satellite-based technologies revolutionize the

way we can look at, analyze and map the

world, the Geography and Map Division

has expanded its range of collections to include modern digital forms of geographic and cartographic information. The equipment needed to support

these new technologies is complex and expensive, and

the Hewlett-Packard Co. has given the Library the tools

it needs to work in these fields.”

The Librarian also pointed out that this same equipment comprises the core of what is needed to support

the scanning of the Library’s historical maps for the NDL.

“In helping the Geography and Map Division adapt

to the modern world of geography and cartography, the

executives of HP who made this donation possible have

also embellished the vision of their founder, David

Packard.” He added that the National Digital Library

Program was started in October 1994 with $13 million

in seed money, including $5 million provided by the Lucile

and David Packard Foundation.

Ralph Ehrenberg, chief of the Geography and Map

Division, explained the relationship between the HP gift

and the Center for Geographic Information.

“The genesis for this donation began with the Center

for Geographic Information, which was formed last year

as a partnership of private sector firms and the Geography and Map Division to help us develop,

enhance and promote the Library’s geographic and cartographic collections and to

aid in our transition to the era of geographic

information systems.”

The equipment donated by HewlettPackard, said Mr. Ehrenberg, includes a series 9000, K400 server; four workstations;

three x-windows stations; four printers, including one large-format color plotter; six personal computers; and an optical disk jukebox with 165 gigabytes of

storage. It will be used to support the development of

general GIS capability in the division and to assist in the

scanning program for the NDL.

The Geography and Map Reading Room was

reconfigured this spring, with the assistance of staff from

the Library’s Facility Design and Construction Office and

Information Technology Services (ITS) to accommodate

the new equipment. Once installation and testing of the

equipment and training of G&M staff are completed, the

GIS facility will be available to congressional staff and

members of the public who need to work with digital

cartographic data.

Hewlett-Packard gift exemplifies industry support
THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

2 SEPTEMBER 1996

Industry, from page 1

continued on page 3, see Industry

Ten core

historic

Americana

collections

from the G&M

Division have

been earmarked for

scanning for

the NDL

Program.

When that

happens, they

will be

available on

the Internet

like other

digitized

Library

materials.

The Center for Geographic Information.

The Library’s collection of cartographic materials is the largest in the world, with nearly 4.5

million maps, more than 60,000 atlases containing another 8 million to 10 million maps, some

300 globes and other related materials. In the

early 1990s, digital files of geographic data began appearing among cartographic materials

deposited by federal mapping agencies.

The development and evolution of the computer have revolutionized the possibilities for

the manipulation of cartographic data in much

the same way that the computer has changed

the way we handle other kinds of information.

In the last 30 years, according to Gary

Fitzpatrick, the Geography and Map Division’s

GIS specialist, automated mapping and geographic information systems have completely

changed the way that professionals create maps

and analyze geographic data. Different types

of geographic information—such as roads, contour lines, streams, buildings, vegetation, population or other demographic information—are

described in separate digital files, and they can

then be mapped and analyzed within various

computer applications.

When Geography and Map Division staff

began assessing how digital forms of geographic and cartographic information could be

integrated into the collections, they realized that

the technologies required knowledge and skills

that the division did not possess. It was also

clear that a complex and expensive suite of computer equipment was required that would be

difficult to acquire through normal budgetary

channels.

“Only through the help of the industry that

was driving these technologies,” said Mr.

Fitzpatrick, “would the division be able to make

the transition to the digital era.”

In November 1993 the James Madison Council, a private sector advisory group to the Library, provided $30,000 to investigate the establishment of a corporate support group for

the division. That same month, Alan M.

Voorhees, a longtime friend and supporter of

James Earl Jones,

distinguished

actor and active

member of the

James Madison

Council, discusses cartography with Ralph

Ehrenberg, chief

of the Geography

and Map

Division. Mr.

Jones’s son,

Flynn, looks at

historical maps

with Robert

Garber, President

of Tangent

Engineering.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

SEPTEMBER 1996 3

continued on page 4, see Industry

“Only through

the help of the

industry that

was driving

these technologies would the

division be able

to make the

transition to

the digital era.

... I thought it

would take us

five to seven

years to get to

the point where

we are today.”

—Gary Fitzpatrick

Geographic

Information

Systems specialist,

Geography and

Map Division

G&M and the Library, volunteered to lead the

effort in attracting industry support.

The first meeting of that corporate support

group, the Center for Geographic Information,

was held at the Library on Jan. 12, 1995, with

eight firms committed to being charter members: Autometric Inc., Environmental Systems

Research Institute Inc., Harvard Design and

Mapping Company Inc., the H.M. Gousha

Company, Intergraph Inc., Magellan Geographix Inc., MapInfo Corporation and Tangent

Engineering Inc.

Mr. Voorhees, who is also chairman of the

board of Autometric, a firm engaged in many

aspects of the latest geographic technologies,

agreed to be chairman of the Center for Geographic Information. He has also offered to

sponsor a fellow for one year to provide technical assistance to the GIS facility and he continues to provide guidance on map collecting

to the Madison Council as a member of its acquisition committee.

The purpose of the Center for Geographic

Information is to coordinate the contribution

of resources and knowledge from a wide spectrum of the geographic information and cartography industry to:

(1) aid the Geography and Map Division in

its transition to the age of electronic maps and

digital forms of geographic information

through advice and financial support for acquiring hardware, software and data sets;

(2) facilitate sharing the rich cartographic resources of G&M electronically;

(3) promote the use of electronic forms of

geographic information by many sectors of the

nation, including libraries, academia, industry

and commerce, education and the general public; encourage deposits of digital spatial data

sets by American and foreign government, industry and academic producers; and

(4) advance the Library’s publication, education and exhibition programs in geographic

information and cartography.

Members of the center benefit in a number

of ways as well. They have enhanced access

to the vast cartographic collections of the Library, which they are encouraged to use as resource material and to distribute in a variety

of value-added formats for their own use

within GIS applications. The division’s expertise in cataloging practices can be shared with

developers and users of digital forms of geographic information.

Using its unique position within the Library

of Congress, the division can sponsor programs

that address specific needs of the cartographic

and geographic information communities and

provide useful links among these communities, Congress and other institutions. Finally,

through the center, the staff will work with producers and users of geographic information

and digital cartography to ensure that digital

forms of geographic information are systematically collected and preserved for the future

use of the nation.

The first meeting of the center, held in January 1995, resulted in a major development: the

donation of a large-format, flatbed, color scanner by Tangent Engineering, a move spearheaded by its chief operating officer, Robert

Garber. It can scan flat items up to 24 by 34

inches at resolutions of up to 600 dots per inch

and in 24-bit color. (See story, January/February 1996 issue.)

As a result of this donation, the division acquired the technology to scan its existing maps,

and the Library’s overall NDL program

adopted G&M’s proposal to establish a National Digital Library Program for Cartographic Materials, which it has agreed to support through the funding of four positions in

the division to operate the scanning program.

In a ceremony in the division in April 1995,

Dr. Billington and John Kluge, the president of

the James Madison Council, cut the ribbon on

the scanner and participated in the scanning

of the first image from the Library’s collections:

George Washington’s own plan of his farm on

Little Hunting Creek, prepared in 1766. The

Industry, from page 2
THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

4 SEPTEMBER 1996

Industry, continued from page 3

The first map

digitized by the

Geography and

Map Division

was George

Washington’s

own plan of his

farm on Little

Hunting Creek,

prepared in

1766.

In fact, Mr. Fitzpatrick said at the May 1996

meeting of the Center for Geographic Information that the GIS facility was already way ahead

of where he thought it would be by now. “I

thought it would take us five to seven years to

get to the point where we are today.”

Ten core historic Americana collections from

Geography and Map have been designated as

materials that will eventually be scanned for the

National Digital Library Program, including

Civil War maps, county landownership maps

and atlases, panoramic maps of U.S. cities of the

late 19th century, Sanborn fire insurance maps,

and maps and atlases of the District of Columbia. When that happens, they will be available

over the Internet like other digitized Library

materials.

The May 1996 meeting of the Center for Geographic Information approved the draft prospectus for 1996-1998 and discussed membership, scanning and on-line access, general interest programming and outreach. Some of its

specific goals for 1996 and beyond are: to work

with the Congressional Research Service of the

Library to use GIS technologies and the

division’s scanning capability to assist Congress

more directly; to begin laying the groundwork

for the acquisition of foreign geographic data

sets; to design a major training program for division staff in the new geographic technologies;

to form partnerships with universities to provide students and faculty the opportunity to

work with the division’s collections and georesult is so fine that it is difficult to distinguish

the scanned map from the original.

In the year since the scanner was installed,

the division has scanned several hundred maps

in a trial phase and has been working with the

members of the center on technical standards

and work flow design in preparation for a largescale scanning project of its collections.

The Center for Geographic Information has

met three times since its January 1995 organizational meeting—in June 1995 at the Library;

in October 1995 in Santa Barbara, Calif., at

Magellan Geographix; and most recently back

at the Library last May. Five more companies

have joined as full members (Corbis Corp.,

Microsoft Corp., Mindscape Inc., Rand

McNally and Tactician Corp.), and seven firms

are participating as associate members (Comark

Government and Education Sales, Environmental Data Resources Inc., Adrian B. Ettlinger,

MapLink Inc., Macromedia Inc., Spatial Data

Institute and Systems Planning and Analysis

Inc.).

Full corporate membership in the center has

been established at $5,000, with associate memberships at $500. Support from industry members also includes in-kind assistance as necessary in providing the Geography and Map Division with appropriate equipment and software to begin developing expertise in the scanning of maps and the use of cartographic/geographic software and digital forms of geographic data; deposit of data

sets; and participation on task

forces to accomplish the goals

of the center.

Shortly after the donation of

the scanning system, the

Hewlett-Packard Co. made its

offer of equipment to the division. And G&M found itself

with the full infrastructure

needed to accomplish its longrange goals.

continued on page 5, see Industry
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

SEPTEMBER 1996 5

The first collection to be scanned

by Preservation

Resources will be

the papers of

George Washington.

graphic technologies; to use center funds to

bring in specialists to assist the division in

learning to use the new technologies and

equipment that have been donated; to initiate

a corporate fellows program in which participating firms can place employees in the division for short periods; to present special programs and/or symposia on topics related to

geographic information; and finally, to explore

ways in which the division can use the Internet

On Aug. 6, the National Digital Library

Program, working with the Contracts

and Logistics Division, awarded the

first of several major scanning and text-conversion service procurements. This first contract,

for the digital imaging of selected collections

from the Library’s extensive retrospective holdings of 35mm microfilm, was awarded to Preservation Resources, a division of the OCLC

Online Computer Library Center. Preservation

Resources is a not-for-profit organization exclusively devoted to reformatting of library and

archival materials. Originally called MAPS

(Mid-Atlantic Preservation Service), the organization was established in 1985 to serve the

preservation microfilming needs of five research libraries—Columbia University Libraries, Cornell University Library, Princeton University Library, New York State Library and

New York Public Library. Thereafter, it extended its services to libraries and archives

throughout the nation. It has been a division of

OCLC Inc. since 1994 and is based in Bethlehem, Pa.

Since 1985 Preservation Resources has completed preservation microfilming projects for

numerous institutions, filming approximately

200,000 volumes, much of this material for preservation projects supported by the National

Endowment for the Humanities’ Division of

Preservation and Access. It has also completed

several demonstration activities relating to digitizing materials from preservation microfilm for

the University of Texas, New York Public Library and the Association of Research Libraries.

The contract award is for an initial year plus

four option years, during which time approximately 1 million images are to be produced and

made available by the NDL Program over the

Internet. The microfilm of the historical collections that will be scanned within the NDL Program was produced between 1950 and 1994.

The first collection to be scanned under this

contract will be the papers of George Washington from the Library’s Manuscript Division. In

April, Reuters donated $1 million to the Library

for the digitization of the Washington and Thomas Jefferson papers. Other collections to follow will be collections from the Music Division

and the papers Abraham Lincoln. Other, smaller

collections and individual titles will also be

scanned.

NDL Program Awards

Contract for Digitizing

Microfilm Collections

and other electronic data networks to share its

resources with the nation.

The Geography and Map Division has made

great strides in moving into the new world of

digital geographic information in the last three

years, largely because of the efforts of its staff

and its success in convincing private sector

companies that they have a lot to gain by becoming involved in this enterprise. Direct cash

contributions to the center in 1995 totaled

$41,500, and the value of hardware and software contributed to date is more than $715,000.

Industry, continued from page 4

concludes on page 8, see Industry

 —Tamara Swora

National Digital Library Program
THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

6 SEPTEMBER 1996

The Librarian of

Congress told

ALA Conference

attendees

“The Information Superhighway is not a

passive couchpotato culture,

as is TV. It has

the capacity to

engage the mind

the way reading

does.”

Despite dire predictions of poor attendance, the Annual Conference of theAmerican Library Association (ALA)

at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City drew

nearly as many attendees as the record-breaking conference last summer in Chicago.

The overall attendance in New York was

23,747, or about 900 fewer than in Chicago. Paid

registration was down by 2,500, and exhibitor

downsizing left the association short of projected revenues. Many vendors cut the size of

their exhibit booths or stayed home altogether

because they were angry over the association’s

rejection of Orlando in favor of New York, the

high cost of doing business in the city and the

fact that the conference was held during the

Independence Day weekend, July 6–9.

For the Library of Congress, however, the

news was all good. Traffic in the booth was

heavy, with attendees anxious to learn more

about the National Digital Library (NDL) Program, the Copyright Office, the Center for the

Book, the Cataloging Distribution Service and

the Federal Library and Information Center

Committee. Copies of a special LC Information

Bulletin on the NDL Program as well as of the

latest issue of Civilization magazine, which recently won a National Magazine Award, were

quickly snapped up. Library-related merchandise, available for sale, was also popular.

Dr. Billington delivered an address during

the President’s Program, July 7. The overall

theme of the program was “A Nation Connected: Defining the Public Interest in the Information Superhighway.”

Betty Turock, ALA president, began by

pledging the association’s dedication to ensuring “equity on the Information Superhighway.”

“The emerging technology of the Information

Superhighway,” she said, “is changing the way

we live, work and connect with one another.”

But she warned that “the evolving infrastructure threatens to widen the chasm that

already exists between the information rich

and the information poor. ... Unless we take

steps to protect the public interest, the Information Superhighway could become a road

open only to those who can afford it. ... And

that’s where libraries enter the picture.

“Libraries have historically served as the

nation’s great equalizers, providing people of

all ages and backgrounds with the information

they need regardless of their ability to pay,”

Ms. Turock continued.

Gwendolyn Baker of the U.S. Committee for

UNICEF next told how “I cannot begin to describe how important my own public library

was to me. I wanted to be the member of the

club who had read the most books.”

Although Ms. Baker realized the potential

of electronic information, she exhorted the attendees to “ensure that people not profits have

the right of way” on the Information Superhighway.

Dr. Billington echoed her words when he

said that “providing free access to knowledge

is what libraries are all about.” The Librarian

has championed the benefits of electronic information while at the same time noting that

“questions of [information] equity are part of

the question of whether the Information Superhighway will support the best values of

American tradition. The Information Superhighway is not a passive couch-potato culture,

as is TV. It has the capacity to engage the mind

the way reading does. Theoretically it should

have this effect. The answer, however, is less

clear when you look on the network.”

The Librarian also said he was heartened by

the Internet’s capacity to give the Library a new

constituency. “The Internet is a logical extension of our 21 reading rooms on Capitol Hill.

We have now assumed the burden of helping

with the educational process,” he said, referring to the K-12 community that is now served

by the Library through its American Memory

historical collections as well as other on-line

initiatives. (See “School’s In!” p. 7.)

ALA Conference

Stresses Information

Superhighway Issues

continued on page 7, see ALA
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

SEPTEMBER 1996 7

School’s In!

Students and

teachers alike

have rich

source

material in the

Learning Page.

The National Digital Library welcomes

students to a new school year with a

Back to School Special on the Learning

Page, a site for for teachers and students available via the Library of Congress World Wide

Web homepage (http://www.loc.gov/).

The Back to School Special includes a new

area called Learn More About It! in which teachers and students will find pages full of helpful

hints for using on-line historical documents,

photographs, motion pictures and sound recordings available from the American Memory

historical collections on the Library’s website.

For example, users can access illustrated guides

to the U.S. history content covered by each online collection. Teachers will find ideas on classroom uses for electronic materials.

Working in partnership with the Center for

the Book of the Library of Congress, the Learning Page also features book lists under the familiar banner “Read More About It,” a hallmark

of the center’s literacy program. For each historical collection, Read More About It will offer general-interest and younger-reader lists.

The Learning Page’s subject search guides,

called Pathfinders, have also been upgraded for

the Back to School Special. Pathfinders for

Events, People, Places, Time and Topics have

been expanded to include new search assistance

specific to education. A new Pathfinder based

on historical eras has been added to the Time

Pathfinder. Three new primary source collections that came on-line in July have been

mapped into the Pathfinders: The Evolution of

the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920; the

Gottscho-Schleisner Photograph Collection,

1935-1955; and the Theodor Horydczak Photograph Collection, 1923-1959. (See illustrated

story, July/August issue.)

The Learning Page is featured in the latest

issue of School Library Journal (Sept. 1996) in

“History Repeats Itself: Primary Documents Go

Online at the Library of Congress,” by Martha

Dexter, in the educational services area of LC’s

National Digital Library (NDL) Program.

In other education-related activities this summer, the NDL Program co-sponsored a World

Wide Web institute with the University of

Maryland’s Center for Renaissance and Baroque

Studies and Computer Science Center. The institute, “Teaching the Humanities through Technology,” was held in July and was attended by

41 Maryland secondary school teachers representing 11 schools in three districts. (Story next

issue.)

The five-day program promoted the use of

new technologies in teaching the humanities

and social studies. Teachers attended workshops on how to access education resources online, how to use on-line communication and

how to search the Web for teaching resources.

They also learned how to tap into the Library

of Congress primary source materials.

Journalist Richard Rodriguez, an editor for

the Pacific News Service and author of Days of

Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father, called the computer “the great democratizer” because of its ability to provide access

to information. “We know this is true,” he said,

“but is the computer an American citizen?”

“What is a library?” he asked. “There is a

whole library of America that is disappearing.

I looked in Books in Print and there were many

books I could no longer find. I challenge the

Library of Congress or the ALA to be a watchdog of those books that are going out of print.

Dr. Billington suggested there will never be a

substitute for a book.

“Beware when you hear the word ‘information.’ Information is not insight. Information is

not wisdom. ... Bring in the computers to extend literacy. But also think about pre-literacy.

Many cannot read.”

—Guy Lamolinara

ALA, continued from page 6

—Martha Dexter

National Digital Library Program
THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

8 SEPTEMBER 1996

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

A PERIODIC REPORT FROM

THE NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY PROGRAM

Reports will be published about 12 times a

year, using gift funds. Comments and

suggestions are welcome.

Editorial Direction

Laura Campbell, Director

National Digital Library Program

202/707-3300; LCAM@LOC.GOV

Editor-in-Chief

Guy Lamolinara

202/707-9217; GLAM@LOC.GOV

Managing Editor

Caroline Krewson

202/707-5220; CKRE@LOC.GOV

* World Wide Web Access

URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/ndl/per.html

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ALA ATTENDEES

LEARN MUCH ABOUT

THE INFORMATION

SUPERHIGHWAY

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 6

SCHOOL’S IN!

LEARNING PAGE

FEATURES BACK TO

SCHOOL SPECIAL

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 7

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Calif.), chairman of the

Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, spoke of the significance of the Library’s

digitizing efforts at the ceremony on May 14.

“This whole program of digitizing key portions of our collections here at the Library of

Congress—I can’t tell you how significant that

effort and that activity is. It is moving us truly

into the 21st century in terms of information

availability to the American public. ... I will take

great pride in ... being a part of that program

because I see such a remarkable future for the

items that are here at the Library of Congress

that are being digitized.”

—Helen Dalrymple

Public Affairs Office

Industry, continued from page 5

Dr. James Billington,

Librarian of Congress,

cuts the ribbon on the

scanner given to the

Geography and Map

Division by Tangent

Engineering. John Kluge,

chairman of the Madison

Council, looks on. In the

background is Ralph

Ehrenberg, chief of the

Division.

HEWLETTPACKARD JOINS

TANGENT AND

OTHER INDUSTRY

LEADERS IN GIVING

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 1

STORY BEGINS ON PAGE 1.

INS IDE

PRESERVATION

RESOURCES WILL

DIGITIZE MICROFILM

COLLECTIONS

. . . . . . . . .PAGE 5