Today I stray from my theme of podcasts and welcome my readers to the land of archives. This is an incredible and rather terrifying time to be entering the profession. Back in the day, people became archivists to go to a room, be alone and process collections.
Nowadays, there's a demand for online services in the realm of information in the form of digital collections, chat and email reference, online finding aids, etc. The archival profession has a big problem - preserving electronic records. Almost 90% of records produced are electronic nowadays and the problem lies in how to preserve these records. Example, if you save your journal on a disk, will your grandchildren be able to access that disk in 50 years? Will the technology be obsolete? This is just a tiny, tiny example of what concerns us. How do you preserve powerpoint presentation, interactive online displays, various email formats....it's enough to make you crazy!
I'm particularly interested in government archives and how they'll handle these records. They took a first step on Sept. 8, 2005 when the United States Archivist, Allen Weinstein, announced that Lockheed Martin (yes, the same that produces weapons, etc) would build the archives of the future. Weinstein said, "The Electronic Records Archives' goal is clear and simple: a system that accepts, preserves, and makes accessible -- far into the future -- any type of electronic document."
I am thrilled to see what will happen. This is HUUUUUUUUUUGE in archives right now. It's time for my generation to take over and figure out a solution to this problem. Game on!
No comments:
Post a Comment