Randy Cabell asked about whether the Library of Virginia could put its
late, lamented Virginia Cavalcade magazine on line for free viewing.

 

There are, alas, several reasons, some related to cost and some to
copyright questions, why we cannot do that now.

 

Virtually every article contains one or more illustrations for which the
library paid a one-time reproduction fee to another library, museum,
archive, or private owner, and that means that we cannot reproduce those
images in any format without identifying current owners (if we could
find them) and obtaining new permissions (if owners would be willing to
grant them for online publication) and paying a new (and no doubt
larger) reproduction fee. Removing those images would degrade the
quality of the articles.

 

Moreover, there is some question about reproduction rights to the text
under the current very complex and contested copyright laws, which might
be more complicated by the sad fact that a great many authors are now
dead and cannot give permission and all of whose heirs (if they could be
identified and found) might have to be agreeable.

 

We also in these very tough times do not have staff enough to scan,
check, index, and mount the approximately 6,000 illustrated pages. It is
not so easy as it appears or as compiling a private online resource that
is not integrated into the several million images and even more records
of other kinds that are already part of the Library of Virginia's Web
site.

 

Making digital resources available in a way that allows ease of
searching and reproduction is a surprisingly expensive proposition.
Unlike a magazine published on paper, an online publisher incurs a
long-term commitment of money and staff to maintain the electronic
files, to guard against what somebody aptly described as "click rot,"
and to reformat or monitor the transmission of all of the electronic
material from server to server as the computers require replacement
every few years. Our staff has learned that that process almost never
goes as smoothly as promised.

 

As a sometime contributor to the magazine and a longtime reader, I
regret this circumstance as much as anybody.

 

On the other hand, money from the Library of Virginia Foundation has
enabled the Library of Virginia to create a new and different quarterly
magazine entitled Broadside that features short articles about the
resources and programs of the Library and about the history of Virginia
that the Library exists to preserve and present to the people. For more
details and how to subscribe to this free publication, please visit the
Broadside's electronic home at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwedo/pubs/broadside/index.htm

 

Brent Tarter

The Library of Virginia

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Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov


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