The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital Content. By Heather Ryan and Walker Sampson. [Review]

Abstract

Archivists and librarians are at a unique point in history, as the record of current human existence is exponentially born digital. But what is “born-digital content,” exactly? In The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital Content, Heather Ryan and Walker Sampson define it as “content that is being created, distributed and used solely in digital form” (p. 2). Ryan and Sampson both work at the University of Colorado Boulder where Ryan was teaching on the subject when she identified a need for a comprehensive resource covering the essential aspects of preserving born-digital content. Together with Sampson, she penned this timely and useful guide for ensuring proper stewardship of born-digital content.