Digital Preservation and the Sharing of Primary Sources on the Internet

The trend that I researched for the final paper was digital preservation and the sharing of primary sources over the Internet.  This is a topic of which I was only vaguely aware, so it was truly a learning experience for me.  The advances that have taken place during the past decade in the technological fields making possible the digitization of all types of material is matched by the growing collaboration between associations (libraries, museums and special collections) combining their resources to share their treasures with the world at large.  These collaborations can be both for profit or non-profits; I used the World Digital Library and ProQuest as examples of each type.  The sharing of primary sources via digital preservation is not without its problems; images can be manipulated and information misrepresented and format obsolescence is a real challenge but the ability to connect a vast amount of people with cultural and historical items far outweighs the difficulties.