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# Citable resources
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/citable-resources/
- Published: 2006-02-13T22:10:38.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T20:58:00.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Research ∕ Learning

Ross Atkinson argues:

> The library also has a responsibility at the citation level – ideally ensuring that all information cited in local publicatons remains accessible. This should be the case especially for electronic information: if Web pages, for example, are cited in publications produced at a library’s institution, then that library should be responsible for ensuring that those Web pages remain accessible idefinitely – preferably in the form they took at the time of the publication. \[Uses and abuses of cooperation in a digital age. In: Community, collaboration and collections: the writings of Ross Atkinson. Chicago: ALCTS, ALA, 2005.\]

How would one do this, I wonder?  
If we had a generally accepted persistent identifier approach it might be easier. Maybe it will become a part of deposit in institutional repositories? Maybe it already has: I am not familiar enough with local practice.  
Of course, there is a similar issue with data sets in scientific research where databases change over time. This is one discussion of the issue:

> Keeping the past states of a database is an important part of the scholarly record. \[What the web has done for scientific data – and what it hasn’t. Peter Buneman. \[[pdf](https://grid.zju.edu.cn/waim2005/download/WAIM05-Keynote%20Peter.pdf?ref=lorcandempsey.net)\]\]

The scholarly record ain’t what it used to be 😉  
Which means that libraries and research libraries have some serious thinking to do. What is the scholarly record in these changing times?