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D-Lib Magazine
July/August 2017
Volume 23, Number 7/8
Table of Contents
Editorial
The End of an Era
Laurence Lannom
Corporation for National Research Initiatives
llannom@cnri.reston.va.us
https://doi.org/10.1045/july2017-editorial
D-Lib Magazine will cease routine publication with this, our 265th issue. This was not an easy decision to reach and it has been made with some sadness but also a fair amount of pride. The first issue, under the guidance of Bill Arms and Amy Friedlander, was made available on the Internet in July 1995, over 20 years ago. It was online-only, a somewhat radical move at the time. Over the intervening years more than 1,000 articles and a large number of shorter pieces, calls, and notices have graced its virtual pages, each and every issue always coming out on schedule.
Financial support for the magazine has waned over recent years, the number of unsolicited high quality articles thrown over our transom has declined, and the very phrase 'Digital Libraries' has gone from sounding innovative to sounding a bit redundant. In short, it seemed like time to make a graceful exit.
We are not, however, completely closing the door. First, CNRI will maintain the entire D-Lib archive online for the foreseeable future, although we welcome suggestions for its long-term archiving. Second, we also welcome thoughts from the community on any alternate usage of the D-Lib brand that would benefit the community it has served over all of these years. While we believe that the time for a non-peer-reviewed magazine covering digital library developments at the article level has indeed passed, the world reflected in D-Lib's virtual pages over the last two decades continues to exist and evolve and if we can find a way to be useful to that community we are certainly willing to try to do so. Suggestions on either topic can be sent to dlib@dlib.org and any future developments resulting from this will be posted on the home page and announced on the subscribers list.
Thinking back on the long run of D-Lib, there are too many people to thank for me to list them here but I need to single out our financial supporters, including CNRI along with DARPA and NSF, our main supporters from the start, the many authors who have contributed over the years, the current and past staff members who have put out issue after issue of a reliable and high quality magazine including Catherine Rey, Bonita Wilson, and Allison Powell, and of course you our readers.
With Gratitude,
Larry Lannom
About the Editor
Laurence Lannom is Director of Information Services and Vice President at Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), where he works with organizations in both the public and private sectors to develop experimental and pilot applications of advanced networking and information management technologies.
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