(no subject)

[skygiants]

I have been betaing last-minute Yuletide fics all night, and I still have not yet packed for my 9 AM bus back to Philly tomorrow, so I'm very glad kate_nepveu gave me a short and easy to answer topic for the 24th: a piece of trivia from my profession I would like everyone to know!

Okay, here's what you all should know: Properly stored, film will last for a hundred years or more. Videotape will usually last maybe forty, if you're lucky, depending on the kind of tape and, again, how you store it. Nobody really knows what the heck is the lifespan of a CD or DVD but everyone's really dubious about them and their high failure rate. And digital files are THE WORST OF ALL, but we still preserve to them anyway nowadays because they're the only thing anybody can access.

~*~now you know!~*~

Oh, another thing you should know that is generally useful -- if you're buying a portable hard drive and a backup to store stuff that's important, you should try and buy different brands! That way they won't fail both at the same time.

Comments

[intothespin]

if you're buying a portable hard drive and a backup to store stuff that's important, you should try and buy different brands! That way they won't fail both at the same time.

SO TRUE.

[kate_nepveu]

I do! Thank you!

[skygiants]

I mean I don't actually do this myself, because I'm way lazier with my own stuff than any kind of archivist should be. >.> BUT IT'S GOOD ADVICE.

[skygiants]

My digital preservation professors would be proud!

[cinaed]

Haha, so FUNNY STORY.

I have been reading a lot of 19th century French history books because I've fallen into literary rpf fandom and Les Mis and cannot get out, and I saw that the main branch of my library system has the memoir of a guy who lived through the Napoleonic period and went on to become one of the people in charge of the government during the time Les Mis was happening.

"Awesome!" I said, and placed it on hold.

And lo, the library sent it to my branch and I went to read a little bit of it. "Huh," I said, puzzled. "This paper is rather yellow and fragile, I wonder how old this book is-- ....uh. Does that say 1858? ....uh, is there a stamp on the first page that says, 'Public library received on February 20, 1903'??? ....oh dear."

I think you mostly work with media in your job, but, uh, any hints on how I can read the book without destroying it?

I know gloves versus no gloves is debated since gloves means you're more likely to tear the pages, but I was unsure if just washing my hands with water and soap would work, especially since I only have soap that's scented and I figured that soap would have stuff that might even be worse than finger oils....

[skygiants]

HAHAHAHA OKAY THAT'S KIND OF AN AMAZING THING TO HAVE HAPPEN. So this is pretty well out of my area of expertise, but I'm going to put up a bat-signal for the rare books repairwoman on my flist to come help you out! bcgphoenix, AWAY!