The Evidence in Hand: Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections November 2001 COUNCIL ON LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES This report is one in a series from CLIR on OPTIMIZING COLLECTIONS AND SERVICES FOR SCHOLARLY USE The Evidence in Hand: Report of the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections Stephen G. Nichols, Chairman Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections Johns Hopkins University Abby Smith Director of Programs Council on Library and Information Resources November 2001 Council on Library and Information Resources Washington, D.C. ii Cover image: “Scene in the Old Congressional Library, Washington, D.C., Showing Present Congested Condition,” by W. Bengough. The illustration appeared in Harper’s Weekly on February 27, 1897. CLIR is grateful to The Making of America Digital Collection, Cornell University Library, for providing the scanned image. ISBN 1-887334-88-2 Published by: Council on Library and Information Resources 1755 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036 Web site at http://www.clir.org Additional copies are available for $20 per copy. Orders must be placed online through CLIR’s Web site. 8 The paper in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials ANSI Z39.48-1984. Copyright 2001 by the Council on Library and Information Resources. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transcribed in any form without permission of the publisher. Requests for reproduction should be submitted to the Director of Communications at the Council on Library and Information Resources. iii Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ v TASK FORCE MEMBERS ........................................................................................................... ix 1. THE PROBLEM ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Charge............................................................................................................. 5 1.2 The Work of the Task Force ................................................................................. 7 2. THE ARTIFACT IN QUESTION ......................................................................................... 8 2.1 Selection for Preservation of the Original ......................................................... 9 2.2 Frameworks for Determining Value ................................................................ 12 3. STATES OF THE ARTIFACT, 1800–2000 .......................................................................... 17 3.1 The Changing Features of the Artifact............................................................. 17 3.2 Print/Paper.......................................................................................................... 19 3.2.1 The Relative Stability of Imprints......................................................... 19 3.2.2 Evaluation of the Artifact and Selection for Preservation ................ 23 3.2.3 Creating Surrogates: Filming versus Scanning .................................. 24 3.2.4 Responsible Retention Policies ............................................................. 28 3.3 Audiovisual ......................................................................................................... 30 3.3.1 Sound and Light as Artifacts................................................................. 30 3.3.2 Still Images .............................................................................................. 33 3.3.3 Moving Images ....................................................................................... 35 3.3.4 Recorded Sound ...................................................................................... 38 3.3.5 Broadcast Media ..................................................................................... 40 3.4 Digital ................................................................................................................... 41 3.4.1 Artifacts and Artifactual Value in the Digital Realm ......................... 42 3.4.2 Digital Surrogates ................................................................................... 43 3.4.3 Access ....................................................................................................... 46 3.4.4 Born-Digital Materials............................................................................ 47 3.4.5 Preservation of Digital Information ..................................................... 50 3.4.6 Copyright: A Barrier to Preservation? ................................................. 53 iv 4. CASE STUDIES .................................................................................................................... 55 4.1 The Five-College Library Depository .............................................................. 55 4.2 The Emperor Jones ................................................................................................. 58 4.3 Preserving Oral Traditions ................................................................................ 61 4.4 JSTOR ................................................................................................................... 64 4.5 The Rossetti Archive........................................................................................... 66 5. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................... 70 5.1 Principles of Good Stewardship ....................................................................... 72 5.2 Best Practices for Preservation of the Artifact ................................................ 72 5.3 Strategies for Specific Formats .......................................................................... 72 5.4 Recommendations .............................................................................................. 73 5.5 Areas for Further Research ................................................................................ 74 6. REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................... 75 7. APPENDIXES ..................................................................................................................... 82 I. Current Library Practices in Collection Development and Preservation ... 83 II. Charge to the Task Force .................................................................................... 91 III. Selection for Preservation Criteria from RLG, Cornell, and Harvard......... 93 IV. Expenditure Trends in ARL Libraries, 1986–2000 .......................................... 99 V. Non-Print Holdings in ARL University Libraries ........................................ 100 VI. Comparative Costs for Book Treatments ...................................................... 101 VII. National Recording Preservation Act of 2000............................................... 104 v Executive Summary The “information explosion” sparked by digital technology has fostered an increasing awareness of the sheer mass of information available today in a variety of media, from traditional formats such as paper to the more recent film, optical, and magnetic formats. Institutions charged with collecting, stor- ing, preserving, and making accessible recorded information are struggling to keep pace with the growth of information production, even though their brief is to collect only a portion of what is published and an even smaller portion of what is produced and disseminated in unpublished form. With so much information produced, how do members of the research community—schol- ars and teachers, librarians and archivists, and academic officers who support their work—distinguish between what is of long-term value, what is ephem- eral, and what of that ephemera is valuable for the preservation of a rich his- torical record? Libraries have struggled with these questions for a long time, but the is- sue of how to understand and protect the value in research collections, in par- ticular in the original, unreformatted materials in physical formats that abound in libraries and archives, is more urgent than ever. The Council on Library and Information Resources convened a task force of scholars, aca- demic officers, librarians, and archivists to investigate the role of artifacts— original, unreformatted materials—in libraries and archives as these institu- tions are creating digital collections and services to serve research and teaching functions. The task force members were asked to articulate a general context or framework for formulating and evaluating institutional policies on how best to preserve and make accessible artifactual collections and how to ensure their continued access for research and teaching needs, however those needs evolve. The task force was charged to answer specifically these questions: •What qualities of an original are useful or necessary to retain in their origi- nal form? Under what circumstances are original materials required for research? •When is it sufficient and appropriate to capture intellectual content through reformatting and not necessarily retain the original? •Which preservation options provide the most appropriate and cost-effec- tive means of preserving the original? •From both custodial and scholarly perspectives, what are the advantages and disadvantages