1 Preservation of Information Lecture 1/2 Reformatting 23/30 June, 2007

2 Preservation of artefact or intellectual 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. deacidification won ’ t strengthen the paper Lack of skills and knowledge

3 Preservation of artefact or intellectual 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

4 Preservation of artefact or intellectual content? Preservation of artefact when: The item has special value as a physical object, 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,

5 Preservation of artefact or intellectual 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

6 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

7 Reformatting: e.g. microfilming, photocopying, and digitization (applicable to both paper and non-paper formats), Remember: Take good care in reformatting, use archival quality paper and microforms Use digital cameras or scanners for digitization Use book scanners for rare book photoduplication Some information may be lost in reformatting

8 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

9 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

10 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

11 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

12 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

13 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

14 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

15 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,

16 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.

17 Reformatting - Digitization Advantages: Information is preserved Access to information can be enhanced, especially online access on the WWW, Simultaneous users possible Remote access possible

18 Reformatting - Digitization Questions 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.

19 Reformatting - Digitization Examples of digitization projects Hong Kong Digitization Project Initiatives: bs/hkdpi.html bs/hkdpi.html China-US Million Book Digitization Library Project: Google Print Program: t_library.html t_library.html

20 Reformatting - Digitization Examples of digitization projects Shanghai Public Library 上海音樂數字圖書館 National Library of China 中國國家圖書館 PRDLA:

21 Reformatting - Digitization Examples of digitization projects American Memory, Library of Congress html html Cornell University Library, tal.html tal.html New York Public Libraryhttp://