Future of conservation/preservation funding

We share the concern of Karen Motylewski on the flight to replace
traditional forms of information access and transfer. We have tried to
outline the pattern of change at the recent New Horizons conference in
Oxford. The needed shift for conservation is from a focus on
preservation of objects to a focus on preservation of content. This is
just a wider circle of concern that fully encompasses those interested
in the informational content of physical media.

Here is an excerpt from the Oxford item to give a flavor of this
approach.

   "Copies increase and perpetuate content. Each reader sees the text
    differently each time. With a focus on the preservation of content,
    not objects, the real conservation treatment will be in production
    of copies. Virtual access also creates the possibility of electronic
    conservation treatment applied to the copy. Such "restoration" can
    occur without any risk of distorting the original source. Does this
    suggest a different approach to a old conflict within the field of
    conservation?

    Perhaps not, yet many circumstances suggest a more central role for
    the copy will develop anyway. Tendencies in this direction include
    the remote storage of paper originals and the changing status of
    these original collections as accessories to copier technologies.

    Rationales for the remote storage of paper books include economics,
    security, climate control of degradation and an active integration
    of an electronic inventory of the physical books with the now
    comprehensive on-line catalogs. A change in status for the paper
    book is signaled by its role as a "leaf master". The leaf master is
    a paper original retained primarily for production of copies. Such a
    change of use for paper collections, in which machine reading
    precedes, or even supersedes, eye reading, is already occurring in
    research libraries. The use of self-service photocopiers in
    libraries demonstrates this."

We are very interested to learn of the experience of others in defining the
conservation products which will answer the emerging need for preservation of
content. (full text of "BookLab: Verging on the Future of the Paper Book" is
available from Gary Frost, BookLab, 1606 Headway Circle, Austin, TX, 78754)

    **** Moderator's comments:   The text is also available in
    Conservation OnLine
      Browse by Subject/
        Objects and Materials

Gary Frost

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 8:19
               Distributed: Wednesday, September 14, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-19-005
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