“Wouldn't Be Prudent”: Digitization as a Preservation Reformatting Method

Sheila A. McAlister; Gregor Trinkaus-Randall

doi:10.1515/MFIR.2004.181

Members of the Society of American Archivists' Preservation Section read with interest the ARL Preservation of Research Library Materials Committee's Recognizing Digitization as a Preservation Reformatting Method. Many are actively involved in preservation reformatting and others participate in projects creating access to archival materials through digitization. While the ARL Preservation of Research Library Materials committee pushes for institutions to make both the financial and institutional commitment to digital preservation, the library and archival community at large is not at a point where large numbers of institutions can commit to such a level of stewardship for digitized objects. Actually, few libraries are able to make such a commitment, be they ARL libraries or otherwise. By encouraging institutions to think of digitization as both an access and a preservation method, the committee could unwittingly be leading smaller institutions down a path to their own digital doom. This “canonization” of digitization as a preservation method may well lead administrators to push for digitization even though their own institutions lack the expertise, infrastructure, and funding to maintain these digital objects over the long term.

“Wouldn't Be Prudent”: Digitization as a Preservation Reformatting Method

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