NATIONAL IMPACT
ProQuest’s Alt-Press Watch currently boasts access to full-text articles for over 170 small-press titles. The Independent Press Association, a trade organization for small-press magazines, claims over 600 member publications. Using these two benchmark projects, it is clear that not only are there hundreds of grassroots small-press publications that are not being digitally archived for full-text access, there are almost no small-press periodicals with an institutionalized digital archive of the publications’ work. Of course, there are a number of titles that publish text versions of their work on the internet as well as in print (Clamor does this for some articles), but those exceptions should not be the basis for ignoring an entire aspects of small-press history in print.
CAP will use Clamor Magazine as a pilot publication for building a model for the comprehensive digital preservation of small-press titles. Not simply a full-text archive with corresponding metadata, but a resource-rich collection featuring peripheral materials that paints a more comprehensive picture of the independent publishing landscape. As a magazine that enjoys a rich digital presence (through email updates and an active website), widespread print distribution, and a diverse collection of related ephemeral material, Clamor provides a useful test subject for creating an inclusive model that may be applied to other small-press titles that include one or all of the main elements being archived in this collection.
The importance of digitally archiving this aspect of American media history cannot be overstated. We have seen the difficulty of attempting to digitize resources long after they have become fragile objects subject to deterioration from excessive handling. CAP attempts to circumvent this problem and forge a new model for digitization by working with small-press publishers to access digital files near the time of conception, rather than attempting to work with print versions that are already one generation removed from digital files from which the print product is born. Utilizing digital technology used to create print materials is an efficient way to digitize these resources before they become more problematic to archive in the future.