Volume 31, Issue 1

Libraries have been digitizing collections for a decade or more. Their collective experience has produced a depth of technical expertise and a set of tested practices. That information is widely shared among library staffs and has been well reported at meetings and in publications. This ongoing experiment with representing research collections online has resulted in the codification of technical practices and the emergence of clear trends in selection policies. This paper reviews existing selection practices in libraries, identifies selection policies and best practices where they exist, and discusses the long-term implications of the opportunities and constraints that shape digital-conversion programs. This is not a systematic review of what all research libraries are doing, but an analysis of significant achievements that will make it possible to identify good practices and benchmarks for success. Every library, regardless of size or mission, will need to determine for itself how and when digitization will move from being an experiment to becoming a collection-development strategy that is well integrated into its daily practice.

The seventeenth and eighteenth century Catholic reform movement known as Jansenism is best recognized by historians of the period as a primarily French phenomenon. Indeed, it was in France where the neo-Augustinism teaching of the University of Louvain theologian and Bishop of Ypres Cornelius Jansen made its most widespread and dramatic impact. Hated equally in France by supporters of absolutism, papal infallibility, and the philosophes of the French Enlightenment, Jansenism nevertheless formed a religious justification for important political challenges to the French crown, while simultaneously challenging the materialism of the French Enlightenment. Recent monographs from historians on both sides of the Atlantic, such as Dale Van Kley in the United States, and Catherine Maire in France have admirably demonstrated the impact of Jansenism upon the religious path from French absolutism to the French Revolution.

Digital Imaging: A Practical Handbook is an excellent companion to the many publications on imaging recently published by and for the library, archives and museum communities. Managers and administrators who may be relatively unfamiliar with digital imaging but who may nevertheless be responsible for project oversight will benefit most from this book. Readers looking for a more technical guide are advised to consult Anne R. Kenney and Oya Rieger's Moving Theory into Practice (Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries Group, 2000).