ELECTRONIC REFERENCES FOR ELECTRONIC RECORDS

Have you been wondering what the archival community is up to concerning the problems posed by electronic records? Are you trying to find the latest information regarding metadata? Or concerned about the preservation of magnetic tapes, optical disks or other digital media? Why not use on-line resources to find at least some of the answers about electronic records?

If you have been looking for reasons to be convinced about the importance of preserving electronic memory, Terry Cook's article, "It's 10 O'Clock: Do You Know Where Your Data Are?" is available on the Technology Review Homepage. The article gives examples of electronic disasters and outlines possible methods of preserving electronic records, most of which haven't worked, and then explains in brief the work being done by Richard Cox and David Bearman at the University of Pittsburgh. http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena/org/t/techreview/www/articles/dec94/cook.html

David Bearman has been doing extensive work on the concept of metadata, which includes evolving models to provide the context needed for storing and accessing electronic documents. Some of his latest articles, "Metadata Requirements for Evidence" from October 1995 and "Virtual Archives", posted this year, are available at http://www.oclc.org:5046/conferences/metadata/ and http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/documents/libraries/net/bearman.txt Bearman addresses many aspects of electronic records in his publications, Archives and Museum Informatics and Technical Reports, some of which are available at the Glenbow Library.

For an overview of how a major institution is attempting to manage and preserve its electronic records, check both the Australian Government and the Australian Archives Homepage. Extensive information can be found in "Guidelines for Managing Electronic Documents in Australian Government Agencies" and "Keeping Electronic Records: Policy for Electronic Recordkeeping in the Commonwealth Government". http://www.peg.apc.org/~tomw/edg1301.html and http://www.aa.gov.au/AA_WWW/AA_Issues/KER/KeepingER.html The Australian Archives has many connections to other aspects of electronic records, including an order form for Playing for Keeps, the proceedings of the 1993 Conference on Managing Electronic Data.

The best information on preservation of electronic media can be accessed at the National Media Lab, Conservation On-line (COol) or Commission on Preservation and Access Homepages. Dr. John VanBogart's 1995 exhaustive article "Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives" gives information on the physical make-up of magnetic media, what can go wrong with it and the correct methods of handling and storage. http://www.nml.org/resources/misc/commission_report VanBogart also wrote "NML Media Stability Studies Final Report" at http://www.nml.org/publications/NML_TR/task6_final/t6_toc.html An article that explains the various types of digital media is "Image Formats for Preservation and Access" http://www-cpa.stanford.edu/cpa/reports/lesk.html and the National Library of Australia also gives useful information in "From Digital Artefact to Digital Object" http://www.nla.gov.au/3/npo/conf/npo95rh.html

Stanford has published information on media other than magnetic tapes, including "Opto-Electronic Storage: An Alternative to Filming?", "Optical Disk Formats: A Briefing ERIC Digest", "Performance of Kodak CD and Writable CD Media", and "The Proper Care and Feeding of Videotape" among others. The first is available at http://www-cpa.stanford.edu/cpa/reports/weber.html The other articles can be accessed through http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/bytopic/