• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.1
• /
• pp.23-76
• /
• 2000

In this paper, I examined what have been researched and determined about preservation strategy and selection of preservation media in the western archival community. Archivists have primarily been concerned with 'preservation' and 'use' of archival materials worth of being preserved permanently. In the new information era, preservation and use of archival materials were faced with new challenge. Life expectancy of paper records was shortened due to acidification and brittleness of the modem papers. Also emergence of information technology affects the traditional way of preservation and use of archival materials. User expectations are becoming so high technology-oriented and so complicated as to make archivists act like information managers using computer technology rather than traditional archival handicraft. Preservation strategy plays an important role in archival management as well as information management. For a cost-effective management of archives and archival institutions, preservation strategy is a must. The preservation strategy encompasses all aspects of archival preservation process and practices, from selection of archives, appraisal, inventorying, arrangement, description, conservation, microfilming or digitization, archival buildings, and access service. Those archival functions should be considered in their relations to each other to ensure proper preservation of archival materials. In the integrated preservation strategy, 'preservation' and 'use' should be combined and fulfilled without sacrificing the other. Preservation strategy planning is essential to determine the policies of archives to preserve their holdings safe and provide people with a maximum access in most effective ways. Preservation microfilming is to ensure permanent preservation of information held in important archival materials. To do this, a detailed standardization has been developed to guarantee the permanence of microfilm as well as its product quality. Silver gelatin film can last up to 500 years in the optimum storage environment and the most viable option for permanent preservation media. ISO and ANIS developed such standards for the quality of microfilms and microfilming technology. Preservation microfilming guidelines was also developed to ensure effective archival management and picture quality of microfilms. It is essential to assess the need of preservation microfilming. Limit in resources always put a restraint on preservation management. Appraisal (and selection) of what to be preserved was the most important part of preservation microfilming. In addition, microfilms with standard quality can be scanned to produce quality digital images for instant use through internet. As information technology develops, archivists began to utilize information technology to make preservation easier and more economical, and to promote use of archival materials through computer communication network. Digitization was introduced to provide easy and universal access to unique archives, and its large capacity of preserving archival data seems very promising. However, digitization, i.e., transferring images of records to electronic codes, still, needs to be standardized. Digitized data are electronic records, and st present electronic records are very unstable and not to be preserved permanently. Digital media including optical disks materials have not been proved as reliable media for permanent preservation. Due to their chemical coating and physical character using light, they are not stable and can be preserved at best 100 years in the optimum storage environment. Most CD-R can last only 20 years. Furthermore, obsolescence of hardware and software makes hard to reproduce digital images made from earlier versions. Even if when reformatting is possible, the cost of refreshing or upgrading of digital images is very expensive and the very process has to be done at least every five to ten years. No standard for this obsolescence of hardware and software has come into being yet. In short, digital permanence is not a fact, but remains to be uncertain possibility. Archivists must consider in their preservation planning both risk of introducing new technology and promising possibility of new technology at the same time. In planning digitization of historical materials, archivists should incorporate planning for maintaining digitized images and reformatting them in the coming generations of new applications. Without the comprehensive planning, future use of the expensive digital images will become unavailable. And that is a loss of information, and a final failure of both 'preservation' and 'use' of archival materials. As peter Adelstein said, it is wise to be conservative when considerations of conservations are involved.