Non-Digital Preservation: Lessons Learned A related story by National Public Radio: Shellac, the Sound of the Future Thom Lutkenhouse January 29, 2004

Papers Covered Michael Lesk, "Preserving Digital Objects: Recurrent Needs and Challenges", 2nd NPO conference on Multimedia Preservation, Brisbane, Australia, 1995. http://lesk.com/mlesk/auspres/aus.html Deanna Marcum and Amy Friedlander, "Keepers of the Crumbling Culture: What Digital Preservation Can Learn from Library History", D- Lib Magazine, 9(5), 2003. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may03/friedlander/05frie dlander.html

Pre-Digital: Preservation of Artifact

Digital: Preservation of Content

Preservation: Forethought or Afterthought? “If [librarians] had given those moments to proper care of the books under their charge, their shelves would not have been found filled with neglected volumes, many of which had been plainly badly treated and injured, but not beyond reclamation by timely and provident care .” -Ainsworth Rand Spofford, Librarian of Congress, 1900

Today’s Echo “Digital collections are growing at a rate that outpaces our ability to manage and preserve them.” - “It’s About Time,” August 2003 report on Digital Preservation by National Science Foundation and Library of Congress Preservation remains an ancillary concern in the production and distribution of published materials

Complicating Factors Lack of Ownership: If libraries lease access rights to proprietary information rather than purchasing resources, who is reponsible for preservation? What incentives exist for a for-profit information provider to preserve data that no longer brings revenue?

Acid Paper: A Wake-up Call for Preservation Issues “Technological innovations in the mid-nineteenth century had produced a less expensive kind of paper made from wood pulp, which made possible an explosion in printed materials that contributed to public literacy and to the organization of public libraries with print collections. The unintended consequence of the new paper technology was the later ‘brittle book.’ ” -Marcum & Friedlander

Today’s Echo: Technological innovations in the late twentieth century produce a less expensive form of publishing, which makes possible an explosion in published materials that contributes to public literacy and to the organization of public libraries. . . The unintended consequence of the new technology is the decaying digital object. Economic motives of information producers and consumers Comparatively little advocacy for the beneficiaries of a well-preserved cultural history, as with Russel Young’s ignored proposal in 1897

The Digital Difference Instead of a single artifact to preserve for any given work, we have content embedded in a hierarchy of devices, removable media and file formats. Each level of the hierarchy may present its own preservation challenges.

Hardware Devices Quickly obsolete Difficult to maintain May be impossible to replace parts

Removable Media Constantly replaced by higher-density alternatives Condition of data cannot be determined by inspection Varying expected lifetimes Damage may be proportional to use

File Formats The sheer terrible variety May be multiple formats per logical work Standard formats: at what cost the one true format? Must : -Be descriptive at content level -Allow for comments/metadata -Be openly available -Exist in interpretable form

Formats 3,181 File Formats Listed on whatis.com

Selection The publishing process has traditionally provided a measure of quality control and addition of metadata. If we bypass traditional publishers, who will provide these services?

Economic Issues Traditional library economic model with high administrative costs. Digital publishing offers an opportunity to trim the administrative fat. Stolen without permission from Lesk

Cost of Storage Stolen from Lesk

Cooperation Libraries have a history of cooperative efforts with inter-library loans, shared catalogs and collaborative microfilming efforts. These organizational strengths should continue to help us avoid redundant efforts.

Legal Issues “Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes” -The Onion, March 26, 1998

Legal Issues Does concept of “first sale” apply? Copyrights: last longer, easier to maintain Patents - GIF and LZW compression Increasing use of contract law

Lessons Learned: Preservation is key to a library’s mission, and must be supported with proper funding, facilities, staff and training There is no technological panacea, organizational efforts must support the preservation function Value judgments remain: every bit does not need to be preserved

Other sources M. Hedstrom Et Al: “It’s About Time: Research Challenges in Digital Archiving and Long-term Preservation (2003 - http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/repor/NSF_LC_Final_Report.pdf) Whatis.Com: “Every File Format in the World” (2000 - http://whatis.techtarget.com/fileFormatA/0,289933,sid9,00.html)