#KISS: Long live our digital archives!

#KISS: Long live our digital archives!


As it happened to many, since my youth I have been rubbing shoulders with books at home. Grandparents' books that are supposedly still useful, books on subjects that don't even interest you, books with interesting pictures (you know what I'm talking about), books that a salesman came along and imposed them on your parents to get a higher commission, and others that, even though you are studying that area, are obsolete. Then, when you try to find a place for those that do interest you, you use them regularly, and the libraries are missing sections.

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When I got married and left home I had a simple solution to this problem: I left all my college books at my mother's house! You don't have to be a genius to find that light at the end of the tunnel. However, I took with me the books, notebooks and guides that I thought would still be useful to me as I pursued my career. With each passing year I realized that there was a lot of theory that was not applicable in the field. So many of them did not pass the annual cleaning. Little by little I discarded all that.

In addition to that, I have had a specific subject of study since I was a child. We used encyclopedias, dictionaries, study guides, maps, reference works, etc. Since I had that new mind, I was able to familiarize myself with these big books very quickly. After a few years, the publishers of these contents decided to gradually transfer all this information to a CD-ROM that installed a program on the computer with all the written material. Although at first one missed the images and maps, it was evident that it was a great advance for studying and reading, not to mention the button with an image magnifying glass where you could search the images using keywords! To this day, that program is updated every few months, and downloaded from their official website.

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These computer programs and the outdatedness of university material have helped me to discard printed editions. I now prefer digital ones. I have .pdf and .epub editions. I have dictionaries and reference works on a variety of subjects. And you know what? The publishers I told you about in the previous paragraph now include images of their publications for several years. So I don't miss the previous editions that were printed at all. Of course, you have to make sure you have enough space on your devices to store all this information.

Sometimes, the fear of throwing away something important is often very great. My wife always makes jokes about that. But it's just that several times I have decided to do without something, and soon after I need it. Is it mental? It just happens to me frequently. So what I'm doing now to continue to reduce the use of printed material and let the digital predominate, I take pictures of what I think might be relevant tomorrow and save that backup. A cheap, but effective solution.

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Having books in digital format on your phone has several advantages. First, it's the light weight (literally) that they have. No longer will you see us carrying several books hugging each other, walking down the street with our glasses halfway up our noses avoiding bumping into other passersby. Everything is on your phone or tablet, without any extra pounds. Also, one can continue reading or studying while waiting for your turn at a doctor's appointment. And many allow you to underline, highlight in various colors, copy, add bookmarks, make notes and share with others. It's business.

Getting rid of print editions and those extensive libraries will save you time, money and effort to clean up. Less is more, isn't it? Just don't forget to make good backups of all your digital material, because if you ever lose it, you'll feel like all the savings have gone down the drain. See you next time!



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FUENTES / SOURCES

Images: Made by me in GIMP with images captured with my Canon EOS Rebel t3i camera.
Banner: Made by me in GIMP with my own images and free resources from the site pfpmaker.com/
Language: Post written in Spanish and then translated into English through DeepL



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You know, I didn't even consider that e-books have an advantage over physical books in the sense that they allow one to simply "search" and, voila, you quickly find what you're looking for, even with images. You don't that with physical books at all.

I must commend on your photos that they are stellar. I love them! I hope you're having a great day.

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I highly value search options. I am not known for having an elephant's memory. That's why I resort to this resource frequently. Thank you very much for looking at the photos. I make an effort and try to make sure they are of high quality. Regards @olujay

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Mom's house always makes a great basement haha. I stored some of mine over there and only carries important ones. I still love paperbacks but e-book isn't as annoying as it used to and now I find that I quite enjoy reading digitally.

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You are absolutely right. And yes, printed books do have their charms. Those notes we make in the margins, the ease we have to take it out in dangerous places (where it's not a good idea to have an electronic device in sight) and sometimes, the illustrations they have. But hey, we can't have everything in life! Hahahahaha... Regards @macchiata

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