It’s a very disconcerting experience to be reading a work of science fiction, and then to read a nonfiction book that confirms one of the more outlandish plot points of the novel. In Rainbows End, Vinge writes that the company that digitized the contents of the UCSD Library will have a monopoly on the information for a certain amount of time simply because they changed the format and control the access to the reformatted information.
In Double Fold, Nicholson Baker reveals that something similar happened to American newspapers. Libraries often preserve newspaper by having it filmed. But then, if a library wants a copy of an older newspaper, they have to pay a company like Heritage Microfilm to send them a copy. Very few libraries have the wherewithal to preserve their own newspapers in their original format. Plus, a lot of libraries that did have copies got rid of the paper in favor of the film because it’s thought that the film will last longer. For a lot of titles, I’m sure that the microfilm companies have a monopoly on the information.
I’ve had to read Double Fold for a preservation class I’m taking this summer and, I have to say, it’s probably the most vehement work I’ve ever read about libraries. Baker gets really hot under the collar about certain things, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen name calling in a book about libraries either.