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This Web Page is the virtual version of the University Libraries', University of Iowa exhibition, "Keeping our Word: Preserving Information Across the Ages." Most images included are from the exhibition as shown in North Hall of the Main Library on the University of Iowa campus from October 1998 to January 1999. The Internet exhibit will remain at this location for many years to come. The presence of this exhibition on the Internet extends the space and resources available to the North Hall exhibition visitor. The space grows beyond library walls. The resources expand into major preservation research centers as well as into small, specialized collections the world over. The virtual exhibit forms a continuing research page for the study of library preservation.

"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books," said 19th-century British historian Thomas Carlyle. Yet the preservation of our cultural heritage has extended beyond books over the past ten millennia.

This exhibition celebrates the myriad efforts made over time to preserve information. Centering on three major facets--paper, books, and digital (or electronic) technologies-- the exhibition illustrates how inseparable the drive to retain recorded information has been from the basic urge to record.

Besides considering what has been kept over the centuries, we also consider the keepers within this exhibition: librarians and archivists. The evolution of libraries and archives and their role in preserving the cultural record is examined. Wedding traditional display methods with digital technology, a virtual exhibit presents still another means of keeping our word.

Exhibition Committee:

"Keeping Our Word: Preserving Information Across the Ages" was prepared by Robert Joly, Lissa Lord, Kathryn Neal, Regina Sinclair, Karen Zimmerman. Thanks to Rijn Templeton for her advisory support and to Anna Embree for her assistance.

Acknowledgments:

We gratefully acknowledge assistance from: Tim Barrett, Director, Center for the Book; Curriculum Resources Laboratory, School of Education; Pamela Kacena, Library Media Center; Richard Kolbet, Library Special Collections; Kim K. Merker, Founding Director, Center for the Book; Sue K. Otto, Director, Language Media Center; David Schoonover, Library Special Collections; Pete Trotter, Information and Technology Services; David P. Wall, Printing Specialist, Center for the Book; Mark Weber, Libraries' Information Services Support Team.

The exhibit is sponsored by The Friends of the University of Iowa Libraries

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University Libraries, University of Iowa.
Copyright (c) 1998. All rights reserved.
Please send comments to: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
URL: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/exhibits/keeping/
Last updated: May, 1999