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Catalogs to computers | part two of three – 1 2 3

Finding space in a digital universe
Electronic archives increase access but costs, risks remain
By Ruthanne Johnson
rjohn180@mscd.edu

Photo illustration by William Blackburn • wblackb2@mscd.edu When discussing new technology in the field of data storage, archivists are often wary of getting burned – most would prefer to stick to time-tested methods.

The world of historic preservation collided with the world of technology when the ability to digitize old photos, records and other historic documents became available for widespread use in the late 20th century. But in a world looking to the future, with technology improving at a furious pace, employees at Auraria’s Archives and Special Collections Department are still preserving the past using time-tested methods.

Although the archive’s reasons for maintaining traditional preservation methods stem mainly from issues of funding, migrating technology and a mild turf war between Metro and UCD, archive employees also cite personal reasons for practicing the techniques.

“Of course, there are benefits to digitizing because the more that people handle things, the more it degrades – even when they wear gloves,” said Mike Gryglewicc, an Auraria Library technician, using a collection of photos from the Amachee Japanese Internment Camp that operated in Colorado during World War II as an example.

“But people like looking and touching old stuff,” Gryglewicc said. “It is like looking at art. There is a sacredness to it. But not everybody picks up on it. Some people don’t care about history.”

Through funding provided by the Colorado Digitizing Project, Auraria archivist Frank Tapp helped digitize the Amachee collection shortly before retiring this semester. The photos are now available to the general public online and kept safe from overuse.

Started by a group of archivists from New Mexico, the CDP was initially awarded a $500,000 federal grant to form a collaborative effort with archive departments throughout the western states. Since its inception, the project has trained archivists to use new technology and has allocated funds for digitizing various collections from the archives at Metro, CU Boulder, UCD and the Colorado Historic Society, among others. The audiotape series “Colorado Reflections,” housed at Auraria and donated by KOA radio, was a collection recently digitized in the project.

“Historical researchers and genealogists have cried for something like this for years,” Auraria archivist Rosemary Evetts said regarding the project. She added that there are as many positives as negatives with going digital.

“The technology out there is both exciting and a little concerning,” said Rebecca Lintz, director of the Stephen H. Hart Library at the Colorado Historic Society. “On the one hand, we have a great resource never before available. We can view photos and other digitized documents online from anywhere in the world. On the other hand, it takes a lot of time, money and expertise to implement and maintain the software, especially with the rate of (technological) migration.”

The Encoded Archival Description software is a digitizing program currently advocated by both critics and supporters of digitizing. It has helped archives across the nation go digital.

“EAD is awesome because at the very least someone can find online most any archive’s digital list of items stored in their facility,” archival student assistant Jennifer Goodland said. “Before, they had to travel to the archives or find a hardcopy of the list somewhere. Now they can just look it up on the Internet.”

Those in support of digitizing agree that it creates easy worldwide online access to data otherwise difficult to view and also creates physical space on storage shelves. However, while originals collections usually remain stored and available for viewing, digitized documents are criticized for not being as stable as paper or microfilm.

“I remember a story years ago about an in-house team at the Colorado Historic Society that microfilmed the Boettcher business papers,” Evetts said. “The historic society disposed of the originals and now has a hard time reading the microfilmed text,” she said, adding that although the microfilm still works, the archives have no originals to fall back on.

“I also remember a new program called CORK that came out about five years ago. It was all the rage but fizzled out, and nobody ever heard about it again,” she said, adding that although she does not believe digitizing will disappear anytime soon, it takes funding and a long-term commitment.

According to archivists, the digitizing process is both time-consuming and expensive, and involves a series of training sessions to get used the software. The software must be maintained and updated, and the process involves a number of tedious steps in addition to the normal archiving process.

“The Amachee project took one year and three training sessions,” Evetts said. One of Auraria’s tasks in the project was to scan the material and upload it to a photo program, she said.

“All of this costs money, and that’s where it gets sticky, because the school that wants something digitized should pay,” Evetts said, explaining that Auraria is a shared library, with shared archives and shared costs. “But you also have to consider the number of students when balancing that cost,” she said.

And funding for digitizing and the politics of a tri-institutional campus sharing turf are tied neatly together, Evetts added.