From lpsmail@access.digex.netThu Nov 9 15:50:06 1995 Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 11:12:22 CST From: Shipment Reply to: Discussion of Government Document Issues To: Multiple recipients of list GOVDOC-L Subject: ADNOTES: COUNCIL: PRESERVING DIGITAL INFORMATION ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- THE MESSAGE BELOW IS FROM ADMINISTRATIVE NOTES, VOL. 16, #15 (Nov. 15, 1995) PRESERVING DIGITAL INFORMATION FOR FUTURE USERS by Dan Clemmer [Distributed at the Depository Library Council meeting, October 1995.] We have no assurance that today's information in digital formats will be available and accessible 20, 50, or 100 years from now. Although librarians and preservationists are concerned with the issue, it is generally true that producers of digital information are not. The problems involved in preserving information in paper formats are well-known. With enough resources--money, expertise, and personnel--the deterioration of paper-based information can be arrested and preserved indefinitely. Books and periodicals reside on shelves and are indexed in card, electronic or book catalogs; and, in most instances, copies of the same book title or periodical issue can be found in many libraries. There is every reason to feel confident that books and periodicals will be around for a long time and that people will be able to find a copy of what they want. Furthermore, information in paper format are readable without the aid of technological devices. Finding usable digital information, however, is another story. Today's electronic media--diskettes, tapes, CD-ROMS, etc.-- may not be viable tomorrow if today's hardware and software are not also available. In the 1960's, for instance, the type and format of computer tapes used for census returns became obsolete a few years later. Consequently, there were only two machines in the world that could read the data tapes from the 1960 census: one in the Smithsonian and the other in Japan. Fortunately, the 1960 census records were converted to a more standard format that could be read by other machines. If public electronic information is to be saved for future users, regular conversion of electronic information to formats that can be read by successive migrations of hardware and software will be necessary. Regular conversion will also ensure the preservation of the electronic information itself. Who will do this? Depository libraries? None but the largest are likely to have the resources to attempt the job. GPO? It neither has the mission nor the resources to preserve all public electronic information indefinitely. Fortunately, the Center for Electronic Records at the National Archives has this capability. At this point, however, it is clear that all electronic data will not find its way to the Archives. And even if it does, can Archives both preserve electronic public information and provide adequate access to it for future generations? Questions for Today The above, with minor changes, was written six months ago and distributed at the Council meeting in Washington. Solutions seem as far away today as they were then. More and more attention, however, is being directed to the issue. The Commission on Preservation and Access and the Research Libraries Group, for instance, have recently released a 48-page white paper entitled Preserving Digital Information which deals with all digital information, not just governmental. The following questions and speculations may be useful in addressing these issues in Memphis. 1. How can we assure that all agencies will send their electronic data to GPO or Archives? If new legislation is needed, Council might be able to help in drawing it up. GPO can serve as a service bureau to agencies who don't wish to mount their own data, but agencies may not wish to pay for this service and look for other no- or low-cost arrangements. GPO will send all data that it receives to Archives, but GPO does not get all data. 2. Council might also work on preservation language to be included in agreements between agencies and libraries when the libraries agree to be a distributor for the agency. If one of the parties dissolves the agreement, the long-term preservation of the data must be assured. 3. GPO plans to expand its role in providing access to electronic data for an as yet unspecified period of time and then turn the data over to Archives for preservation. GPO does not see that it has a long-term preservation role, but it may become necessary for GPO to take a short-term role if it has to refresh the data and perhaps migrate it to other platforms and software before it is scheduled to go to Archives. 4. How can Archives assure access to enhanced data formats? Archives now asks agencies for electronic data in ASCII format, but some data in spreadsheet format, for example, will not be very useful if reduced to ASCII. Archives has, however, begun to accept CD-ROMs from GPO. 5. Archives plans to have an electronic reading room for government data, but can it provide access to all government data in perpetuity? 6. GPO is rethinking its concept of a one-site storage facility and is looking to several official storage facilities, some of which might offer the same data at more than one site. If GPO stores more data at more sites, it will by default play a larger role in preserving data in the short term. 7. How will continually updated databases be preserved? When will GPO turn over the US Code, for example, to Archives? How will Archives handle electronic supplements?