Digital Collections: Preservation or Access

This message came across the archives listserv and is worth reading again and again and again . . .

From: Jim Lindner
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 15:32:32 -0400

Digital Preservation has been successfully going on for decades -
quietly and successfully, every second, every day, for decades. This
is nothing new. What is "new" is that it has not been practiced in
this particular field - but there is no reason why we can and should
not learn from others that do it on a regular basis. Unfortunately the
more frequent mantra is the "can not do" one, usually with the same
old NASA example of the lost data - - - SEE, even NASA loses data -
another good excuse to do nothing.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) even the time for that argument has run
out. The reality is that there is no other choice - so either you
start to learn the tools and the technology or hope that your
retirement can be early enough that you will not have to (and sadly
the later is the route that it seems that many hope for in this
field). This is not meant to be an overall indictment of the field -
rather stating what appears to be obvious - - that there are oh so
many reasons why something can not work, so of course let's not try or
certainly not learn how others do things. It does not have to be this
way. It should not be this way - there IS a choice.

Digital Preservation not possible? I say - nonsense. Close your eyes
as tight as they can be closed and maybe it will all go away. I don't
think so. If you want to learn how to preserve data - get a book on
the subject - there is no shortage... just go to the Computer Science
section of your local book store - or do I dare say - the library. You
don't even need to read an entire book - most basic Computer Science
books discuss backup and archiving strategies in a chapter or two and
in depth.

Can you imagine the reaction in a major corporation if the CEO asks
the head of IT for the annual report from five years ago the the
manager replied that it can not be retrieved because they switched to
a new version of Word Perfect and no longer can retrieve the record?
Is this really the excuse that we are using to not start using Digital
Preservation? That operating systems change and we can't play back
those 8" floppy disks any more? This just plain silly. Industry has
been 'preserving" its data for decades. Stock Exchanges can find a
single transaction among billions every week - for decades - every
one. Manufacturers can find part numbers for cars out of production
for decades - and tell you the new replacement part number, we ASSUME
these things. It is part of the way things "work". How does it work?
It is very simple - you don't wait 20 years to migrate a file - you do
NOT put it on a shelf like it is a library book for 20 years and hope
you can read it - because you will NOT be able to read that. We know
that - it is OK. You don't try strategies that work for books on
data.... why? Well because data are not books - and data requires a
different paradigm and strategy - but the really good news is that
that strategy has been defined and used, reliably - for decades - and
we all use it in our lives every single day - we depend on it -there
is no turning back this clock.

Why is it that we do not hear these worries when it comes time to use
an ATM - are you worried that the bank has not preserved your bank
balance and will erroneously give you an extra million or two - or
have banks somehow figured out how to keep track of transactions for
decades and so have a current balance? Are mistakes made - yes - we
all reconcile our bank accounts and know they do - but is that a
reason to go back to ledger books? Could we go back to ledger books
even if we wanted to? Do you hear of many banks that have lost all
their files the way NASA did - no? Why - simple - because they migrate
each and every day - they know that it is not enough to just "back up"
their files - one must keep the data current by changing as the
applications change. The idea is NOT to keep a file in the same format
for 20 years and then complain that it can not be opened. Have
operating systems changed for the banks - yes. Applications - sure.
Floppy Drives? What are those? Somehow they got over it and figured it
out. Dare I say - very quietly - shhh - - - why not just copy what
they do - - - it seems to work!!!!!

One can not think in one paradigm and operate in another. The world
HAS changed and continues to - that is a good thing. Change brings
challenges AND opportunity. While we are all sworn to preserve and
protect - have we also sworn to close our eyes to change and to not
try to learn and look around ourselves to perhaps learn better ways?
I did not take that oath. We know what does not work - and now what
can not work. When it comes time to look at this time and place - will
people wonder what took us so long to make a change that was so
obvious - - - did we have to lose so much. As we now look back to
other times and their losses - and shake our heads - so too shall
others in the future shake their heads about us - BUT in our case we
had much less of an excuse - we KNEW what did not work, and still we
persisted. The losses during our watch ARE preventable - the others
did not have those opportunities.

We are not an island. What we do is in many ways not that different
then what others do in other fields. It is time to embrace change, to
look with unfettered vision and see - and ask - and try - and yes take
the risk to fail because sometimes in innovation you will. Failure as
part of a process of innovation is an acceptable strategy, failure
with no process nor innovation is in my view - unforgivable.
Jim Lindner