PHONOGRAMMARCHIV − AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Intergovernmental Council for the Information for...

PHONOGRAMMARCHIV − AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Intergovernmental Council for the

Information for All ProgrammeTwelfth Meeting of the Bureau

Open thematic debate on

Information Preservation

Paris, 3 April 2007

Dietrich Schüller

Presenting the Context

PHONOGRAMMARCHIV − AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Dietrich Schüller

Preservation of information

Two basic tasks• bring documents into repositories• preserve documents


Bringing documents into repositories

Selection vs keeping everything – (administration) archives vs libraries (depot legal)

Sub-issue: the case of audio-, video, and electronic documents hitherto outside professional custody


Preserving documents

The paradox inverse relation between age of document technology and longevity: clay tablets vs digital files

Additional threat for machine readable documents: availability of specific hard and software

Shift from passive to active preservation


The role of digitisation

All kinds of documents• Opening new dimensions of democratic access • Secondary preservation by lifting stress from originals

by use

Audio and video documents• Indispensable measure for long-term preservation by

subsequent migration


Digitisation ≠ (yet) preservation

Generally, text and photographic materials are preserved in their original forms, digital copies are surrogates for access only

Audio and video: digitisation is not the final solution for preservation, but only a first step

Digital files are the most endangered species amongst documents, vulnerable and volatile

Long-term preservation of digital information is a considerable technical, strategic, and financial challenge


Costs of preservation

Classical documents • optimising and maintaining storage conditions• restoration• disaster preparedness


Audio, video and electronic documents

Conversion (“ingest”) to digital repositories (NB: digital documents generally also need some conversion)

Maintaining digital files alive• data integrity checking• migration: automated systems vs manual approaches• hardware and storage media prices plunging• software


Present digital preservation costs:

5-8 $ or € /GB/year

Aim to be reached within short (?) term:

1 $ or € /GB/year


Memory of the World Sub-Committee on Technology:

Kevin Bradley: Risks Associated with the Use of Recordable CDs and DVDs as Reliable Storage Media in Archival Collections - Strategies and Alternatives, Paris, UNESCO 2006 www.unesco.org/webworld/risk

Kevin Bradley et al: Open Source Archival Repository Software (to be published 2007)


Worldwide overview (sketch)

Situation of archives dependent from • organisational• financial• climatic

frame work


Organisation and financing

Strongly dependant from governmental input – private sponsorship upcoming

Central vs decentralised institutions

Problems of continuity of funding in GIS countries

EU commission supported access, but left preservation to member states

Worldwide: 80% of materials related to cultural and linguistic diversity outside (proper) archival custody


UNESCO Memory of the World Programme

Member states should use its potential for awareness raising – beyond the register!


Climatic conditions in southern countries

Permanent struggle against• humidity• temperature • insects and pest• fungus

Low-cost improvement of storage conditions possible

Digitisation potential factor in reducing permanent storage costs


Acetate cellulose tape suffering from extreme deformation due to hydrolysis


Fungus growth through permanent storage at RH-levels above 65 %


Thank you !

[email protected]

www.pha.oeaw.ac.at

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