Document Type
Presentation
Presentation Date
4-9-2020
Conference or Event Name
Radio Maria: Marian Studies and Spirituality
Abstract
A 1997 special report in Scientific American claimed that the average lifespan of a website was only 44 days. A study in 2001 put that at 75 days, while a 2003 article indicated 100 days. Everything on the Internet doesn’t last forever. The Marian Library has collected material related to the Blessed Virgin Mary since its founding in 1943. Increasingly, some of the material that would have once been printed, and possibly made their way to the Marian Library archives, is now being shared only electronically. Things like shrine Mass schedules, news articles, or blog posts are available on websites, but are often updated and overwritten. Web archiving is the process of “capturing” a snapshot of a website at a particular time and preserving it for future use and study. With the current coronavirus pandemic across the world, individuals are asked to avoid gathering in large groups, practicing social distancing to curb the spread of the virus. Future scholars will want to one day study the impact that the coronavirus has had on Marian shrines and Marian devotion, and through the Marian Library's web archive collections, they will be able to see these snapshots in time.
Recommended Citation
Harris, Kayla, "Shrines and Pilgrimages: Documenting Mary's Role in the Pandemic" (2020). Marian Library Faculty Presentations. 22.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/imri_faculty_presentations/22
