TCI Library Contributions

[G-Man]

Paul, Do they have or plan a CD will the library on it for home computers ?
Dan

It is doubtful that anyone would be willing to pay the cost of transferring such an enormous amount of data to a very large number of cd's; especially when the content, other than that in the Members Only portion, is currently free. 

As Paul has pointed out there are a number of eBay sellers are already profiting by pirating scans donated to the library; even on this forum, material is frequently "lifted" from the Library without attribution or markings obliterated. 

It is also disheartening that some members possess catalogs and other documentation and are not willing to make arrangements to have it scanned for inclusion into the Library.  However these are the same members who frequently download material that has been shared free of charge by their fellow collectors.

Awhile back I suggested to one such member that he make arrangements to have his 1930's Western Electric catalog scanned and uploaded to the TCI Library, but apparently he is not interested sharing with other collectors. Of course that is his privilege but still, it's rather disappointing.

[paul-f]

NEW! - in the TCI Library

Check out two new items noted on the home page:
   https://www.telephonecollectors.info

1. Updates Wanted for "Dials and Pushbuttons"
by Stanley Swihart

2. 29 new issues of "AT&T Radio Notes"

The 50 latest additions list is here:
   https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/browse/50-latest-additions

[paul-f]

I'm glad to see new additions in the library. one thing that worries my through is the other sites and their contense.  with a lot of us "Aging Out" what is going to happen with these privately owned websites. (thinking about Frank Harrels site) even though most of the posting are duplicates, the stuff that the Library doesn't have, i.e. Excel spreadsheets, etc. that are important need to be copied and saved. when these people pass on, these sites go down and the information lost... unless preplanned... are we working to preserve others work?

TCI already hosts Mike Neale's three sites to preserve the content Mike collected, and has offered to take over other sites -- when the time is right. That will allow us to eventually combine and organize the files saved and to preserve unique content.

Several site managers who also collect pdfs have offered to let TCI upload files or mirror their entire sites. The obvious challenge is keeping the content up to date. We are gradually adding files as volunteer time and other priorities permit.

The effort may be redundant, however, as many sites are already "saved" on archive.org. Several collectors also download the entire contents of the sites, so multiple copies exist. The files can be mined at leisure, as needed.

A bigger concern to me is the content that's in the listservs, forums, Facebook groups, etc. Much of the past content is difficult to search and use. Who will find the needles in the haystacks? The challenge is to make all the info that's out there easy to find and use.

[paul-f]

 Thanks to Greg Goebel's contribution, two more sections of Kempster Miller's three-volume set from the 1930s have been added to the Vol III in TCI Library, giving us access to the following:

Telephone Theory and Practice

Vol I - Theory and Elements, Part I - Introductory
Vol II - Manual Switching and Substation Equipment
Vol III - Automatic Equipment and Auxiliary Equipment

They may be found with this search:
https://www.telephonecollectors.info/index.php/search?q=kempster+miller

Parts II and III of Vol I will be added in the future, as time permits.

Happy reading,
Paul Fassbender

[Babybearjs]

I started to read this, and its alot to take in.... even in 1930, the subject was considered Hot...