On Books as a Format that Lasts
After reading the Wired article I mentioned earlier today, I’ve been pondering why it is that books and paper materials are considered to be the best preservation format. Does it really have that much to do with the format itself or is it that we as a society, we as information professionals, know how to care for books and paper-based materials better than electronic resources and computer-dependent media? If we really want to preserve information, don’t we do what we can to keep it?
I understand a lot of the arguments that computer technology is too new, too unproven, too risky, too fragile, but it seems to me that if we really want something to stick around, we’ll do whatever action(s) we can to save it. People talk about how computer-dependent information is especially fragile because of how much computer technology changes or how easily damaged diskettes and CDs can be, but is it really that different with books? Paper becomes acidic and disintegrates. Books are susceptible to many things that also damage computers: water, fire, extreme heat, extreme cold, etc. How valid is it to say that paper-based information is the best preservation medium? Is it more valid to say that paper-based materials are the ones that we know more about keeping and preserving?
November 4th, 2003 at 11:53 am
j, have you read Nicholson Baker’s Double Fold?
I think computer-based archiving does have some merits, not only in preservation of access over time but in distribution of access geographically in the Here & Now (if licensing hurdles can be overcome). However, paper continues to be a startlingly *good* preservation medium compared to other things we’ve got. When a dump is moved or excavated, it’s common to find decades-old newspapers that are perfectly readable though they have been buried all that time.
As an example, I have hundreds of pictures of my son Rowan, which initially I archived on my website and on some CDs. But I thought, how likely are we able to be to read that file format when he graduates from college? After having that thought I bought a photo printer and printed them out on acid-free paper and store them in an archival photo album, as well as keeping the electronic versions.
The great thing about paper is that it’s a “universal file format.”
One really interesting example of digital long-term preservation is being done by The Long Now Project. They are making what they call “Rosetta Disks,” which are optical disks that contain a short text of hundreds of the world’s languages. You can see a Rosetta Disk here — they’re startlingly beautiful to look at, too.
November 4th, 2003 at 11:55 am
Oh! And I just noticed their link to the 10,000 Year Library project. What’s that? Dunno, sounds interesting: http://www.longnow.org/10klibrary/libIdeas.htm