Tweet This: Library of Congress to Archive Tweets

Last April the Library of Congress announced plans to digitally archive all public tweets from the Twitter information network. Soon all your carefully crafted 140 character messages will have a permanent home in the world's largest and most prestigious library. Sure this announcement bought the Library of Congress (LOC) some street cred with young people and technophiles but why would the LOC do this?

Time Magazine blogger Graeme McMillan stated the potential importance of creating a  "kind of record [that] demonstrates a much more honest idea of what history was actually like for generations to come, much in the same way that pop culture ephemera like magazines, comic books and pop songs have done so in the past." Researchers could certainly benefit from the data-mining opportunities available within the archive. Soon analyzing Twitter feeds may be the go-to way to gauge real-time responses to current events and breaking news from 2006 to the present.


But there are still some answered questions. As it stands, tweets are automatically archived on all public accounts. What if you don't want your thoughts on the latest episode of Jersey Shore going down in history? Can you opt out of being part of the Twitter archive? Only time will tell how the LOC and Twitter handle privacy concerns. We'll continue to follow this story and keep you posted!

Nicole Tekulve
Instructional Services Librarian

KJV -- 400 Years And Counting

The LTL Blog cannot let 2011 pass without taking note of an important literary milestone—the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible (KJV), sometimes referred to as the Authorized Version (AV).  Work on this English translation of the Bible began in 1604 shortly after James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne as James I.  The work of translation was done by 47 scholars within the Church of England and was completed in 1611.  The KJV was not the first English translation of the Bible, nor was it the first sanctioned by the Church of England.  Nevertheless, its popularity for hundreds of years, particularly among Protestant Christians, as well as its effect on future Bible translations and its influence on the English language in general make it one of the most significant pieces of English literature.

Rice Library has many works on the Bible and Biblical topics in several of its collections.  For those interested in browsing these collections, the BS class is devoted to works related to the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Additionally, Rice library has dozens of works on the topic of the Bible as literature and at least three on the history of the King James Version, including:

Norton, David. King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.  BS186.N66 2011

Nicolson, Adam. God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. New York: HarperCollins, 2003.  BS186 .N53 2003

McGrath, Alister E. In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture. New York: Anchor Books, 2002.  BS186 .M33 2002

For assistance with these or other library resources or services, stop by or contact the Rice Library reference desk (812/464-1907, 800/246-6173, libref@usi.edu).

PO