With technology growing at an exponential rate, the responsibility falls on University officials to see past commercial fads to more lasting developments in the scientific field. Administrators at D.H. Hill Library have recognized this duty and are striving to stay on the cusp of innovation. This foresight should be encouraged if N.C. State wants to be a viable resource for students seeking a globally competitive education.
Last week, Toshiba announced the end to a highly-politicized format war between HD DVD and Blu-ray discs when it declared it would no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This means that the Blu-ray disc is now the medium of choice for movie studios across the nation. The library however, is not allowing themselves to be drawn in by the hype over this product.
Instead of immediately embracing Blu-ray technology, the staff at the library is looking past hardware and striving to expand the University’s digital media options. This is a wise choice, because while hardware technology comes and goes, digital archiving is a way to create lasting resources that can be upgraded with greater ease.
In working toward this effort, library officials have started supplementing the University media archives with extensive selections of online streaming videos. D.H. Hill already offers 385 selections available through its Web site, and this number will most likely continue to grow in the future. Although the library may invest in Blu-ray players if major movie studios decide to stop producing DVDs and switch exclusively to this format, that time is still a long ways away.
The advantages of expanding the digital video selection are clear. This service is superior not only due to its timelessness, but because it will make accessing the videos available through the library much more effortless for students and professors. As the video selection grows, instead of reserving a copy and taking up class time to show a movie clip, professors will the have the option of placing supplementary videos in the Course Reserves for their class, like they currently do with text documents.
The applications for digital media are seemingly limitless, and the library should thus continue to invest in this field. While it seems that Blu-ray discs have won the current format battle, it is plain to see that digital media options will win the war.
