Is there a time bomb in the library?

Rosa Widyawan Jakarta

Transferring printed material into digital form has become a main activity in large libraries here lately. The library of the Indonesia National Armed Forces History Center (Perpustakaan Pusat Sejarah TNI), Parahiyangan University, and the Center for Scientific Documentation and Information -- Indonesian Institute of Sciences), all have been transferring their collections, including books, dissertations and patent documents, into digital form using digital photocopiers or scanners.

It is not clear how many gigabytes of these digital documents are stored in the library servers. They store digital collections including electronic journals, books and images, some of which are unprintable because of the complexity of the multimedia applications involved. Moreover, these libraries also have catalog and index databases, and other information retrieval devices.

This does not mean that everything in the garden is rosy as a digital document is susceptible to corruption so that it cannot be read or accessed. The mass storage of digital documents in libraries may represent a time bomb that threatens the long-term viability of RI digital libraries. It is because the technology of mass storage is developing fast, while the technology and methods for preserving the digital documents is being left behind. The ability to create, a mass and storage digital material far exceeds current capacity to preserve small amount with continuing value.

A digital document is similar to a paper-based document, which can deteriorate on account of internal aspects, such as the physical substance of the document, as well as external reasons, such as insect attack, light, temperature, etc. Librarians have long been combating the deterioration of paper-based documents, and various types of film and other fragile items. Now they are facing magnetic and optical media that have different characteristics. These optical and magnetic media are reusable and deteriorate rapidly in the space of years, not decades.

It is important to pay close attention to the media used, although the technology is consistently improving. Magnetic media can now be used for between 10 and 30 years if stored and handled properly. There is also optical discs being developed that should last for 100 years, but these are still at the laboratory stage, and have not been tested in tropical climates where temperature, light and humidity levels could play havoc with the discs.

The second problem is development of hardware followed by new version software. Unfortunately the old versions cannot read information written in new version format. The Indonesia digital world seems to be standing still. There has been no reaction to this potential threat and digitizing continues apace without any signs of concern.

Digital information managers in the United Stated realize that digital preservation is like time bomb. So, they conduct routine maintenance for byte flow over the long run and accessibility to intellectual content in line with the developments taking place in information technology. In November 2000, the Library of Congress (LoC) took action to archive a web site related to Clinton that turned out to be easy to be hacked into.

Recently the LoC has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to preserve government digital documents.

It is true that digital preservation is a big problem in this archipelago due to financial limitations. Nevertheless, some digital preservation steps can be taken and relatively little cost.

First, using appropriate hardware according to standard specifications, followed by standard operating procedures and routine housekeeping. In other words, ensure that the hardware and software are capable of operating and providing data. If a new version is developed, we must undertake migration, or reformat the data. Carrying out migration without a priority drive is an expensive process as it is time consuming.

Another alternative is to develop hardware or software that can imitate the functions of the new hardware and software in running the program, such as a Mackintosh running Windows. This is called emulation and requires data to be stored in original format, software to be stored with full documentation, and hardware to be built to emulate the original machines.

Probably it is a little premature to start worrying about digital preservation in Indonesia. So, let us hope that the time bomb scenario is merely a product of overanxiety.

The writer is a librarian at PDII-LIPI. She can be reached at rosa@pdii.lipi.go.id.