Conserving for the Future by Archiving Our Past; A Story about Technology and Digitization Informed by a Vintage Paperback Book Collection.

Abstract

The books, photographs, letters and other ephemera of our past are for the first time becoming completely transformed into the digital bits and bytes of our computer-generated present. What happens to these products as they shift from the corporeal to the technological world? What essence might be lost when a book is scanned into a computer or is part of the Google Book Library Project, and what might be gained? Or is it all energy simply transferred to another medium like when wood is burned in a fireplace turns into to heat energy? This extended article explores these questions using a collection of vintage magazines and paperback books, which provide a lighthearted timbre to a somewhat esoteric subject. Navigating this Information The goal of this article is to look at what occurs in the process of transforming products from an analog format (actual items like books) to a digital one (scanned graphics). This is not a how-to guide to scanning or developing databases, however, it is a discussion of the considerations around archiving and digitization as they are utilized today. It is important to know what is gained and lost as products change from one form to another, and how to make the best of that process. To illustrate these concepts, the article includes graphics from a collection of vintage magazines and paperbacks, which provides a sense of what happens to an actual group of historical items going through this process, and what choices conservators have along the way. This includes some of the issues around scanning, digital cameras, and airbrushing and how these relate to authenticating documents on the internet. This collection will be used to specifically discuss conservation and what happens to collections that are online in one format versus another. A little background and history on vintage materials is