Laminating and Delaminating

I’ve been wanting to do more reading on the Barrow method after this jumped out at me from the Northeast Document Conservation Center’s  Introduction to Preservation: “Archivists adopted many of the techniques for conservation of individual documents set forth by William J. Barrow, among them deacidification and lamination, a process later found to be damaging.” (Foley) (emphasis mine)  I found this alarming since my library has, for decades, saved archival newspaper clippings by pasting them onto construction paper and then laminating the pages.  Probably doubly damaging as I suspect the construction paper was not acid free.

My fears were allayed quickly by a little more reading on the Barrow lamination method.  This process used cellulose acetate, the same material which was used, among other things, for motion picture film during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.  When it was developed in the 1930s, cellulose lamination was considered a state of the art method for preserving fragile paper and was used on many collections of historic documents, among them gubernatorial papers of Thomas Jefferson (Dulaney) and documents relating to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (Page).  Cellulose acetate film turned out to be less permanent than had been hoped as the film will deteriorate when exposed to heat or moisture.  The chemical breakdown can cause even more damage to the documents it was designed to protect.   The film that my library is currently using is labeled “homopolymer.”  That is a fairly generic term so further research will need to be done to determine whether this particular film is appropriate for archival use.  However, I don’t believe we need to worry about it breaking down in the same manner as the cellulose acetate film does. Whether it could be removed is another question.  Cellulose acetate films (there are various brands) can be dissolved by various solutions of acetone.  Two articles (referenced below) from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC) describe this process as it was applied to several documents relating to the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory by Thomas Jefferson.  Page gives a history of the documents and an overview of the delamination process, enhanced by several photographs.  Ormsby goes into great detail on the chemical processes of delaminating cellulose acetate film.

 While perusing the FAIC website I also found a dissertation written by Sally Roggia in 1999 about Barrow and his work.   Roggia gives an extensive background on Barrow, his family, education, research, and work, as well as history and exploration of library and archives conservation, and research into paper deterioration and preservation.  Barrow did much of his work right here in Virginia, and for several years has a workshop at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, which is within walking distance of my house.  All the more reason to learn about his life and work!

1. Foley, L. (Project director). What is preservation? Definitions. In Preservation 101. Andover, Massachusetts: Northeast Document Conservation Center. (2006)  Retrieved from http://unfacilitated.preservation101.org/

 
2. Dulaney, D. (2011, February 23). Grant Allows Jefferson’s Papers to be Preserved.  Retrieved July 17, 2014, from http://www.virginiamemory.com/blogs/out_of_the_box/2011/02/23/grant-allows-jeffersons-papers-to-be-preserved/

3. Page, S. (2003). Cellulose Acetate Lamination at the National Archives Part 1: The Louisiana Purchase Documents, a Case Study. The Book and Paper Group Annual, 22. Retrieved July 18, 2014, from http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v22/bp22-11.pdf

4. Ormsby, M. (2003). Cellulose Acetate Lamination at the National Archives Part 2: Analysis of Laminated Documents Using Solid-Phase Microextraction. The Book and Paper Group Annual, 22. Retrieved July 18, 2014, from http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v22/bp22-12.pdf

5. Roggia, S. (1999). William James Barrow: A Biographical Study of His Formative Years and His Role in the History of Library and Archives Conservation From 1931 to 1941 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY. Retrieved July 18, 2014, from http://cool.conservation-us.org/byauth/roggia/barrow/

Learning Digital Preservation the Hard Way

I used to hear an adage of computer use that “there are two kinds of computer users - those who have experienced a hard drive failure and those who WILL experience a hard drive failure”  Meaning of course, that everyone is going to experience a hard drive failure eventually.  In my memory that adage comes from a time before there were IT departments and off-the-shelf virus protection and back-up packages.  It should be easier now to protect one’s data, but that doesn’t mean that it gets done.  I’m one of those who experienced a hard drive failure early on and so I’m probably a little better than most at making regular backups.  However, that didn’t save me from a recent little digital archive crisis of my own.

I have a sideline career as a musician, playing and recording with a group that specializes in 18th century music.  We have recorded four albums to date and recently realized that we needed to reprint the earliest of those, first recorded in 2001.  As we went to place a reorder we were faced with a series of data failures which have been made all the more poignant in light of the reading I have been doing on preservation in general and digital preservation in particular.

Lessons learned and how they apply to the world of preservation.

Failure no. 1 - at the time of the original production the graphic artist gave us a disk (a zip disk, we’ll get to that later) with the backup files for the cover and liner notes.  We did not verify that the files were complete, and they weren’t.  Preservation lesson -  do a complete inventory of any materials that you receive as soon as possible so you’ll know if there are any missing pieces while they might still be acquired.  In our case going back to the source now is impossible as the artist passed away a couple years ago.

Failure no. 2 - the production company experienced a catastrophic server loss during Super Storm Sandy lost all their archived design files from prior to 2012. Technically this wasn’t our fault, the but preservation lesson is this: If you are preserving any “too important to lose” digital information (whether born digital or transferred) budget for off-site storage and create a backup. Then build updates for that backup into your maintenance schedules (see item #3)

Failure no. 3 - We did not migrate our own data as formats and carriers changed.  Preservation lesson - digital information must be constantly maintained.  Files need to  transferred to new carriers as storage formats evolve.  Files also must be transferred into new versions of software as those formats change.  And if you are going to keep original materials on original carriers, be they zip disks or 8-track tapes, then you also need to keep compatible playback equipment, along with whatever drivers are necessary to make them function.  In our case we were hit with a double whammy here, zip drives are no longer common, and the program that the artist had used is now obsolete. So when we did finally locate a zip drive and extract the files we discovered that half were missing (see point no.1) the production company was unable to use them.

The only thing that’s going to save us here is that we happen to have most of the photos and text built into our website.  So now we’re in the process of copying and converting all the components and trying to rebuild the cover, case, and liner notes from scratch.

Brittle Digital

I’ve been thinking about the parallels and differences between the brittle books crisis that came to light in the 1980s and the still emerging problems with digital information storage.  There are a lot of similarities, and some significant differences.  I’ve made a chart comparing the two:

Brittle Books	Digital Objects and Media
All the endangered items were basically the same - printed paper, whether in the form of books, newspapers, maps or other printed material.	Digital information is stored in dozens of different carriers, each with their own preservation issues.  Furthermore, digital objects are dependent on multiple layers of technology: file formats, software, hardware, drivers for the hardware, playback equipment, packaging, etc.  A failure at any point can render in information inaccessible.
Even as the carrier is crumbling, the information is still at least partially retrievable, even if only temporarily, since it can still be seen and read (until the pages completely disintegrate).	The information contained in files is often completely irretrievable (all or nothing).
The production of acid paper was partly in response to growth in writing and publishing that outpaced the older forms of paper manufacture - there was a need for faster, bigger, cheaper production.	Development of new technologies is partially in response to the growth in information creation, there is a need for greater storage capacity and more flexible, easier to use forms of data creation and storage.
Creation of the “inherent vice” in acid paper was unintentional.  While commercially driven, no one was trying to force users to abandon one format in favor of another.	The inherent vice and weaknesses in digital storage are at least partially due to the practice of planned obsolescence in software and hardware design and manufacturing.
The damage is visible - as soon as you pick up the books you can see the level of damage (though in books sitting unused in the stacks, the interior damage may not be evident).	Damage or obsolescence is invisible until you try to retrieve the file.

A silver lining, if you will, of the brittle book crisis was that the need to address the problem motivated substantial growth in library cooperation.  In her article “The Future of the Past” Abby Smith quoted Patricia Battin, first president of the Commission on Preservation and Access,  “we had to move from the cottage industries in our individual library back rooms to a coordinated nationwide mass-production effort." (1)  While library cooperation was nothing new, this crisis spurred the development of several organizations, commissions, and other group efforts to research and combat the problem.  This interagency cooperation has continued to address the issues surrounding digital information storage, retrieval, and security.

1. Smith, A. (1999, April). The Future of the Past: Preservation in American Research Libraries. Retrieved from the Council on Library and Information Resources website: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub82/pub82text.html

 

Expanding the Definition of Restoration

The Northeast Document Conservation Center’s Introduction to Preservation defines restoration as “treatment procedures intended to return cultural property to a known or assumed state, often through the addition of non-original material.” (1)  In the context of preservation I’ve generally thought of the term as it would apply to art objects, paintings for instance, or to the rebinding of books.  In both these cases while the finished object may contain new materials the data that the object presents (whether visually or through text)  will hopefully remain unchanged.  

However, when talking about digital objects restoration takes on a whole new meaning, and presents new issues and problems for preservationists.  “Restoring a file” in simple terms means retrieving it from the recycle bin or from a backup, but in the case of damaged or corrupted files often the best one can hope for is to salvage some of the data.  While there are algorithms available for restoring digital images (2), corrupted text files are another matter.  Missing text cannot be filled in without the danger of changing the meaning of the work.  As more and more of our records are either created or preserved digitally, I suspect this second context of restoration will take on increasing significance.

 1. Foley,Lori (Project director). What is preservation? Definitions. In Preservation 101. Andover, Massachusetts: Northeast Document Conservation Center. (2006)  Retrieved from http://unfacilitated.preservation101.org/

2. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inpainting

I'm ba-ack.....

Picking up again after a couple years. I sent myself back to graduate school this year and am being presented with new and varied opportunities to create blog entries. Writing has been my biggest challenge as I've been getting back into student mode and that's all the more reason to make myself practice.

Why did I send myself back to graduate school?  Well, having survived thirty years as a state employee I became eligible for "full" (as in not drastically reduced) retirement this year. That got me thinking about whether I wanted to retire. I don't. I like my job and I can easily imagine staying at it for another five to ten years. However, if I'm going to do that I need to upgrade myself a bit. A lot of things have been changing very quickly in the library world during the past decade and reading journals and partaking of webinars isn't really enough to keep up.

Secondly, the same past decade has seen the creation of viable and useful continuing education for librarians. Several schools have started programs for post-MLS students, and a couple of these are offered online. I chose the University of South Carolina, mostly because of its flexibility. SC doesn't restrict students to a predetermined curriculum, I am pretty much free to take whatever courses suit me. Here is a link http://www.libsci.sc.edu/about/index.htm. I am pursuing the Certificate of Advanced Study in Library and Information Science (that's a mouthful for what is basically a half a Master's Degree).

And as I said, it's all online. I did drive down to Columbia for an orientation and I'm almost sorry that there isn't a residency requirement, it's a beautiful campus and town.

Thing Twenty-Two: Podcasts

I already subscribe to a few podcasts, mostly of NPR shows. I get email alerts and them when I'm working in my office at home. If I ever decide I can afford to upgrade to a smartphone, podcasts are an option that I expect I would make frequent use of for listening to while driving.

I'm not feeling ambitious enough to pursue creating any at the moment. But here are TNCC we have made use of iTunes U (other 23 Things participants may have noticed theFeed@TNCC in the list of education podcast sites). In addition to the news feed, several faculty have created podcasts of lectures and presentations and made them available throuh iTunes U.

Thing 21: Mashups

After looking at these sites it's clear that I've been taking advantage of Mashups for quite a while without knowing it. Since I have never entirely embraced flickr and twitter I wasn't all that excited about the Mashups between them. But I did get more interested when I started looking through the Google Mashups and the ones created for the Apps for Democracy contest.

One Mashup that I found particularly intriguing is #Ask4Stuff a trial service whereby you use Twitter to find results within Worldcat. The reports from people using it were positive, however when I tried it I never received any results. Perhaps I'm just not using it correctly?