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Preservation of Information

Lecture 1/2 Reformatting

23/30 June , 2007

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Preservation of artefact orintellectual content?

Preservation of intellectual content which apply to both paper and non-paper format when: Time, labour, and cost to repair and conserve

the item is high Technical solutions is not effective, e.g. deaci

dification won’t strengthen the paper Lack of skills and knowledge

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Preservation of artefact orintellectual content?

In most cases, most libraries choose to preserve intellectual content because of:

Limited budgets and resources (time and skilled labour),

Some libraries rather preserve the items in another, more durable physical format that is economically feasible, i.e. reformatting

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Preservation of artefact orintellectual content?

Preservation of artefact when: The item has special value as a physical o

bject, e.g. of economic, historical, aesthetic, legislative value

Conservation treatments to be applied to the items may be:

minor repairs to bindings and tears in paper,

commercial rebinding,

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Preservation of artefact orintellectual content?

Conservation treatments to be applied: a full conservation treatment consisting of

deacidification, encapsulation conservation binding, adding a protective enclosure, or polyester

encapsulation for single sheets

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Reformatting as Preservation of intellectual content

When books are too brittle to remain in use, some actions to take include:

Withdrawal if the book no longer serves any use

Replacement if a commercial reprint or later edition is available

Enclosure or encapsulation: if it will be used infrequently, then put it in protective enclosure

Reformatting

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Reformatting Reformatting: e.g. microfilming, photocop

ying, and digitization (applicable to both paper and non-paper formats),

Remember: Take good care in reformatting, use archival q

uality paper and microforms Use digital cameras or scanners for digitizatio

n Use book scanners for rare book photoduplic

ation Some information may be lost in reformatting

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Reformatting - Photocopying

Photocopy replacement is chosen if commercial reprint is unavailable,

This is costly Use right-angled copiers and

preservation-quality copiers if possible Use alkaline or archival quality paper Single- or double-side printing which

can be bound if required Ensure enough margins for binding

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Reformatting - Photocopy

Books too long, e.g. >100 pages, will probably cost less to microfilm

Books heavily used is better to be photocopied for the convenience of reading

Books with coloured or high quality black-and-white illustrations not appropriate

It does not produce a master copy

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Reformatting - Microfilming

Microfilming is recording the text and illustrations of materials on photographic film (microfilm and microfiche)

Reading equipment e.g. reader and scanner, storage and maintenance also cost money.

Check if any other institution has already microfilmed the same collection, don’t duplicate effort

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Reformatting - Microfilming

Buying copies of microfilms from commercial vendor is more economical

Is costly if master negatives and use positives are to be made, Some libraries have preservation master, a print master, and a service copy, totally 3 copies

Master copy of a high quality facilitates scanning of microfilm into digital format and duplication

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Reformatting - Microfilming

Duplicates can be made with master negatives

Usually use silver gelatin microfilm on polyester which is more stable and stronger

Acetate film base is easily torn and subject to “vinegar syndrome”

Standard widths of microform: 16 mm, 35 mm of microfilm, 105 x 148 mm of microfiche

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Reformatting - Microfilming

Has long-term stability if processing standards, storage conditions and handling procedures are appropriate, can be used for over 500 years

Storage condition: below 21 C, non-fluctuating 20% - 40 % RH, dust-free environment, archival quality containers

Paper copies and digital copies can be made from microforms for easy reading

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Reformatting - Microfilming

Materials suitable for microfilming are: paper of poor quality and heavily used, brittle books and pamphlets, newspapers, serials, statistical materials, vertical file materials, government reports, manuscripts

Materials not suitable for microfilming are: illustrated, especially those in colour, materials with poor contrast between image and background, materials have been microfilmed by commercial publishers

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Reformatting - Digitization Digitization for preservation In the past, people use microfilm and

photocopy technology to reformat books and manuscripts,

Duplicate audio and visual materials to preserve sound and images

More and more institutions use digital technology to preserve both paper and non-paper information,

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Reformatting - Digitization Is costly in labor, time and money Must ensure high preservation

quality in these surrogate copies and adhere to standards,

Otherwise, the physical stability and longevity will be in doubt.

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Reformatting - DigitizationAdvantages: Information is preserved Access to information can be

enhanced, especially online access on the WWW,

Simultaneous users possible Remote access possible

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Reformatting - DigitizationQuestions arise: Should we discard the originals? How do we preserve these digital copies? What are the standards and guidelines, e.g.

in metadata?A dual process: Preserve the originals by preservation

reformatting, e.g. microfilming and conservation.

Enhance access by reproduction of a digital surrogate.

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Reformatting - DigitizationExamples of digitization projects Hong Kong Digitization Project Initiatives:

http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/lib/electronic/libdbs/hkdpi.html

China-US Million Book Digitization Library Project: http://www.ulib.org.cn/

Google Print Program: http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/print_library.html

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Reformatting - DigitizationExamples of digitization projects Shanghai Public Library 上海音樂數字圖書館

http://www.libnet.sh.cn/music/ National Library of China 中國國家圖書館

http://www.nlc.gov.cn/ PRDLA: http://www.prdla.org/

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Reformatting - DigitizationExamples of digitization projects American Memory, Library of Congress

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html

Cornell University Library, http://campusgw.library.cornell.edu/about/digital.html

New York Public Libraryhttp://www.nypl.org/digital/index.htm