SELECTION FOR PRESERVATION - A DIGITAL SOLUTION FOR ILLUSTRATED TEXTS

The point of selection for preservation is to identify endangered libr ary and archival materials that have long-term intellectual value and are therefore worth the effort and cost of long-term preservation. Tec hnical issues cannot be separated from selection for preservation, bec ause the limits of preservation technologies can influence decisions. At least for the present, we need to combine digitization with analog preservation methods. This ''hybrid approach'' operates on an assumpti on that we can in fact make a digital version of the original, and tha t the digital version will be able to serve the needs that justified s electing the item for preservation in the first place. Columbia Univer sity Libraries' Preservation Division has been experimenting with the hybrid digital approach, selecting digitization as the preservation me thod for materials that previously had to be rejected because our refo rmatting technologies could not copy them in a way that made the conte nts accessible to users. In 1994 Columbia undertook a project funded b y the Commission on Preservation and Access to combine film with digit ization and test the hybrid approach on illustrated materials. We have demonstrated that scanning the microfiche can, in fact, produce digit al images with legibility equal to the images made directly from the o riginal printed maps. While legibility was quite successfully achieved during the project, questions remain about the quality of the color t hat can be delivered to the viewer. Capture is one side of the coin, d elivery is the other.