Principles for Reformatting Library and Archival Collections

The following principles guide the evaluation of options for reformatting materials in library and archives collections to meet preservation requirements. Critical decisions must be made regarding staffing, technical specifications, equipment, procedures, and implementation strategies. In practice, each reformatting project demands its own specifications and procedures based on the desired outcome for original source materials, the desired functionality of the reproduction, and short- and long-term budget considerations. In all cases, however, these overarching principles apply:

Ensure use

Preservation of library and archives resources shall not come at the expense of usability. The goal of preservation reformatting is to permit ongoing access to that portion of the information embodied in source materials that has been identified as essential to their continued usefulness for articulated purposes. This goal may be facilitated by:

collaborating with primary user communities to define the goals of preservation reformatting projects and programs;
open standards: selection of formats that lend themselves to ready distribution and widespread use;
intellectual control and other publicity: creation of quality catalog records in order to render materials easy to find; participation in union listings; distribution of reports and announcements that introduce target audiences to preserved collections;
specifications for handling source materials, which can range from "no change tolerated" to "alter as needed" (e.g., clean, repair, disbind) based on the level of access mandated for the original material following reformatting.

Copy once

Fiscal realities and/or the deteriorated condition of collections often preclude returning to source materials a second time for reformatting. The goal is to reformat as many worthy collections as possible in order to preserve information at risk and to improve access. This goal may be facilitated by:

intellectual control: the creation of quality catalog records and other mechanisms that publicize the availability of preservation copies and thus minimize the incidence of inadvertent duplication of effort by another institution;
quality standards: use of proven metrics to ensure that essential information—contextual, pictorial, and structural—is captured in the copy.

Create an enduring copy

While technically speaking, no copy is permanent, it is desirable to sustain copies of library and archives materials for as long as possible with as little intervention for maintenance as possible. This goal may be facilitated by:

use of open standards;
copying to media with known or estimated life spans in a controlled environment;
creation of technical and administrative metadata to document the physical and format attributes of copies so that they can be managed effectively over time;
institutional commitment to maintain copies in a preservation repository.

Certify the quality of copies

The goal of preservation reformatting is not necessarily to create an exact replacement copy with the look, feel, and functionality of the original. Surrogates are created to meet functions that range from "capturing essential information" (e.g., reproducing images, but not their color) to "creating facsimiles" (e.g., making paper copies of brittle books—but printed on alkaline paper, with wider margins for better openability, and no reference to the original binding), to "enhancing the original" (e.g., creating machine-readable texts from printed books). The goal of preservation reformatting is to make copies that have the features that are required to meet anticipated needs. This goal may be facilitated by:

instituting a quality control program using relevant standards and systems to ensure that copies are complete, legible, and free from artifacts;
confirming that systems are operating consistently at optimal levels;
inspecting systematically an appropriate number of samples (in some cases 100%;
documenting processes.

Facilitate the creation of additional copies at low cost without loss of quality

Creating multiple copies that are distributed widely is sometimes the best means to preserve cultural resources. In addition to lowering the risk of loss, there is an economic advantage to using formats that can be easily duplicated, that lend themselves to mass reproduction, and that therefore make it more likely that copies will survive. This goal may be facilitated by:

following standards and guidelines that mandate producing a "master copy" for long-term storage and preservation, and producing "use copies" derived from the master copy as needed and in the format that best satisfies users' needs.