VOLUME 12

NO.2

PRESERVATION PRACTICES CONTINUE

to evolve, providing more ways inwhich to preserve. As digital tech-

nologies become more pervasive in everyaspect of our lives, the physical world con-tinues to be ever present—the coexistencefinds a place. As custodians of information,librarians must preserve what is possible,by all measures necessary. The newest chal-lenge for preservation comes in the formatof digitally born materials, which tend tobe more elusive than paper and booksrequiring preservation. It is safe to statethat the technical aspects of preservingpaper are well established. This is not tosay that challenges do not come up fromtime to time, but as a whole, we haveguidelines, standards, policies and docu-mentation of how to preserve paper;procuring the funds to preserve is often theobstacle. This challenge is decades old butall new processes pose new questions andproblems and digital preservation posesthem more complicatedly. Preservation of

digitally born materials is the challenge ofthe 21st century.

The role of the preservation librarianseems to expand at each twist and turn ofthe digital degradation process. In manyinstitutions the preservation of digitalmaterials has lagged behind the acquisition;collecting is easier than preserving. Sincestandards do not yet exist nationally, theneed for each institution to establish its

Archival Products

NEWSA Project Embracing Digital Media Preservation:Tradition Becoming Less Traditional by Kate Contakos and Melitte Buchman

Preservation ofdigitally bornmaterials is thechallenge of the21st century.

Astrid Hadad performing in Amores pelos.

own standards and policies is of graveimportance. This is an added step, onmany levels, but it is a step that thepreservation community mustdemand both technically and politically.

At New York University Libraries(NYU), the preservation departmentcontinues to practice traditionalpreservation in commercial binding,reformatting, mass deacidificationand conservation. However, newdimensions added over the last fewyears now include media preservationand the founding of a masters pro-gram in Moving Image Archivingand Preservation at the Tisch Schoolof the Arts, participation in the digi-tally born journal LOCKSS programand other various digital preservationprojects such as the AfghanistanDigital Library Project and theHemispheric Institute of Performanceand Politics project. The latter is acutting edge project that pushes theboundaries of traditional preservationand gives hope for the future for pre-serving audio and video materials atNew York University Libraries.

The Hemispheric Institute ofPerformance and Politics, NYU’sgraduate program in performancestudies, is creating an archive of per-formances, lectures and symposia.Most of the archive exists on a varietyof audio/video tape formats includingminiDVs, VHS and HI-8. An accesswebsite was built for some of themultimedia assets, but it quicklybecame apparent to Diana Taylor, theChair of the Department ofPerformance Studies, that the materi-al represented an important and coreasset to her department. The DigitalLibrary Team (DLT) at Bobst Library

was asked to develop and build bothaccess and preservation for theseephemeral and at-risk materials.

The DLT takes the same approachto preserving multimedia material asit does to physical objects being digi-tized. Preservation is employed, butnothing invasive is done and the sig-nal is saved un-manipulated and un-restored. This differs significantlyfrom the “restoration” model, butaligns nicely with archiving andlibrary models. Although there aremany ways of creating access to videomaterials, preserving the video signalis quite rare. One of the difficulties inpreserving the standard definitionvideo stream (SD) is that it is verylarge. One hour of miniDV translatesinto roughly 100GB; one hour ofHD signal is nearly twice that.Although server space continues tobecome less expensive, it is still noteconomically feasible to save a greatdeal of video on servers. NYU willdigitize, preserve and create accesscopies for 500 hours of material inthe next two years. This is a signifi-cant task because each hour of videotakes approximately 10 hours of processing.

Developing preservation-worthyworkflow is a consuming process.Due to the storage issues mentionedabove, the SD signal, in essence the“master,” is transferred to digital beta-cam tape. Some assets already havedigital signal, as in the case ofminiDV. In this case, a direct transferof the original signal to the more sta-ble tape is possible. This creation isadvantageous because an exact repli-ca, indistinguishable from the sourcesignal and the master signal, is creat-ed. Another advantage of the digital

A P R O J E C T E M B R A C I N G D I G I T A L M E D I A P R E S E R V A T I O N – c o n t i n u e d

2

Look for theNew ArchivalProducts CatalogComing Soon!

Archival Products is cur-rently working on a new

catalog that will be printed verysoon. The catalog will includeinformation, samples and pricingon all of our current productsincluding preservation enclo-sures and archival boards. Lightgray 10 and 20 point, E-flute andB-flute archival boards,Document Cases, Textile Boxes,Heavy-duty Record StorageBoxes, Drop Front StorageBoxes, Archival Slipcase, CDEnvelope with Flap, Tyvek®Expansion Storage Envelopes,Photo Album, Media BinderAlbum with Slipcase, FamilyHistory Kits such as a GenealogyKit, Family Photo Kit, StoragePreservation Starter Kit andScrapbook Album Starter Kit areall new additions to our productline. The catalog will includemany features that will enableyou to easily make decisionsabout your materials.

Be sure to look for theseproducts and more in the 2005Archival Products Catalog ofInnovative Solutions forPreservation and Conservation.

3

betacam tape is that it can hold up to a 10-bit uncompressed 4:2:2 signal. The 4:2:2means that the information on brightnessis kept in its entirety and that the colorchannels are reduced by half. None of thematerials in the Hemispheric Institute col-lection exceed this size of video signal. Infact, few assets commonly collected inarchives and libraries today are larger than10-bit uncompressed 4:2:2 and are often,like miniDVs, smaller. An easy analogy isto think of the digital betacam tape as agallon container that needs to hold a quartof video signal.

As the SD signal comes off of the origi-nal, it is reviewed in real time by a techni-cian for technical flaws. We create a condi-tion report for each audio-visual signal. Tocontinue documentation of the SD signalwe put 100% bars and tone on the head ofeach tape for further calibration. At thebeginning of each tape the catalog numberserves as a title. This is similar to tradition-al microfilming which includes the target-ing and catalog information at the head ofthe tape.

Once the SD signal is on the digitalbetacam tape, it is pulled into the virtualenvironment on a Mac G5, using FinalCut Pro to capture the signal. The mastertape is then catalogued and sent off-site forappropriate storage. In the proper climate-

controlled environment, these master tapeswill preserve the signal for at least 30 years;within that timeframe, the cost of storagewill fall sufficiently for us to pull the signaloff of physical media entirely. The goal isthat final storage of the signal will be on apermanently dedicated server featuringredundancy and failover systems. Failoversystems, in the event of energy failure, aresufficiently powered to push all of theinformation to another daisy-chained serv-er in a different location. The servers arealso backed up on tape, as matter ofcourse. The tapes are distributed to variouslocations for long-term preservation, emu-lating the Stanford LOCKSS program’smantra “Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe.”1

Many of the original miniDVs andvideos were stored in tropical climates inclosets, attics and under beds. The DigitalLibrary Team is confident that by makingmaster tapes and storing them appropriatelywe are preserving the HemisphericInstitute’s core curriculum for the future,which is a far better solution than retainingthe originals. Also, the original tapes willoften go back to the artists who made themwith no guarantee of their ability to storethe source material properly, so potentiallythe only copy of the signal will be at NYU.

Access copies are made from the dupli-cated signal now residing on the G5. Twodifferent types of access copies are made.Both involve compression and both areseen only as access copies. The first arempeg2s that are made into playable DVDs.Two DVDs are made of each tape. One iscatalogued and sent to the Avery FisherCenter for Music and Media at New YorkUniversity’s Bobst Library where patronscan view the DVD. The other is returnedto the Hemispheric Institute for giftingback to the artist or for the HemisphericInstitute’s own collection. By providing theartist with a DVD, we hope to extend the

A P R O J E C T E M B R A C I N G D I G I T A L M E D I A P R E S E R V A T I O N – c o n t i n u e d

The DigitalLibrary Team is confident that by makingmaster tapesand storingthem appropri-ately we arepreserving theHemisphericInstitute’s corecurriculum forthe future.

Astrid Hadad performing in Amores pelos.

lifetime of their access to their own performances.

The second set of access copies is madeas streamable mpeg4s; one copy is formodem use and the other is less clunky forfast cable use. These assets are attacheddirectly to the catalog record. This decisionwas also made with an eye to sustainability.The DLT is moving away from the idea ofattaching files to project-specific websitesthat may, in the long run, be too expensiveto maintain or may become dead links. Weprovide content for web creators but weattach files directly to the catalog record aswell. We are certain that the catalog willalways be maintained and that access to thestreaming files will therefore be sustained.

Metadata, or data about data, is a finaland critical key to digital preservation. AtNYU, data is kept about the technicalnature of the tape, the creation environ-ment (including all hardware and software)and any additional information that pro-vides the assets with a digital provenanceand history. Digital provenance is not sig-nificantly different than the provenance ofan object, such as a painting. The impor-tance of understanding both the history ofthe file and the environment in which itwas created is the same for a digital objectas any other. The Library of Congress, inpartnership with the NISO is developingan XML schema for a set of technical dataelements required to manage digital imagecollections.2

As a collaborative preservation and digi-tal preservation effort, the HemisphericInstitute of Performance and Politics project shows much potential for futuredigitally born materials to be preserved.Preservation awareness permeates every-where and touches all aspects of the infor-mation that libraries must provide access to and preserve. This project of preservinginformation digitally is a step closer toknowing that preservation is an integral

part of all formats of information and thatthe future holds ever more challenges forthe stewards of information.

Kate Contakos is Preservation Librarian at New YorkUniversity Libraries. She can be contacted at 212-998-2518 or contakos@nyu.edu.

Melitte Buchman is Digital Conversion Specialist at New York University Libraries. She can be contacted at 212-998-2668 or melitte@nyu.edu.

1 http://lockss.stanford.edu/2 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mix/

4

A P R O J E C T E M B R A C I N G D I G I T A L M E D I A P R E S E R V A T I O N – c o n t i n u e d

Metadata, ordata aboutdata, is a finaland critical key to digitalpreservation. AtNYU, data iskept about thetechnical natureof the tape, thecreation envi-ronment andany additionalinformationthat providesthe assets with a digital prove-nance and history.

Processing interview with Astrid Hadad.

De-interlacing test for video.

Bitrate test for fast cable streaming.

5

Mold thrives onthe warm moistair that is pre-dominant inNew Orleansand the GulfCoast yearround. Moldspores are every-where, so theycan strike any-where at anytime with nowarning at all.

My Battles with Moldby Andrew Damico

Introduction

WHEN PEOPLE THINK OF

New Orleans, they think ofMardi Gras, Jazz Fest,

Commanders Palace and Emeril’s. Foodand celebration—that’s New Orleans! Noother place in this country is quite like it.However, there is one other thing that NewOrleans may not be famous for, but surelyhas an abundance of, and that’s mold!

Mold thrives on the warm moist air thatis predominant in New Orleans and theGulf Coast year round. Mold spores areeverywhere, so they can strike anywhere atany time with no warning at all. It canstrike when you feel you have optimal con-ditions, and of course, when you have poorconditions. Curiously, it also may notstrike when conditions are poor. Althoughthis may not be considered a mold bloomor outbreak, it still is a level of mold thatmust be dealt with.

Outlined below are three specific exam-ples of how I have dealt with mold, whichtake into account the above three scenarios.In addition to these examples, I receivenumerous e-mails and phone calls on analmost daily basis concerning mold.

Meade LibraryApproximately 14 miles south of New

Orleans in Belle Chase, Louisiana, MeadeLibrary is located in building A-29. It isone of many former bunkers on this for-mer Army depot, now called the F. EdwardHebert Research Center. Two-thirds of thebuilding has been renovated, with only thelibrary portion having a heating, ventila-tion, air conditioning (HVAC) systeminstalled. Also in this area are restrooms, aconference room used as storage for booksand an exhibit of Japanese artifacts. These

areas do not have air conditioning. Theother one-third of the building is a storagearea of natural sciences containing speci-mens, old refrigerators and fishing tackleamong other things. The windows are con-stantly open, as testified by the hundreds ofmud dauber nests that line the ceiling.

The Meade library contains more than700 journals in the aquatic and natural sci-ences. The journals in the collection comefrom more than 50 countries. Only a fewof the items in the Meade collection arelisted in the library’s online catalog. Thelibrary mainly has one person using thecollection—a professor emeritus, but thereare some inter-library loan requests formaterials. For the most part, the library iswell lit and clean. However, when youwalk into the building, the smell of mildewliterally almost knocks you over.

Building A-29. The Meade Library is located in this former bunker.

The interior of Meade is well lit and clean. However, thesmell of mildew strongly permeates the area.

6

The first time I walked into the build-ing, I immediately checked to see whattemperature the thermostat was set. As itwas the middle of summer and about 96°Foutside, it felt nice and cool inside. I foundthe temperature set at 80°F and thehumidity could be felt in the air, althoughit did not seem too high. I set the thermo-stat to 72°F and called the facilities person-nel to tell them what temperature thebuilding needs to stay at. Inspecting thelibrary area, I noticed there were a lot ofbug carcasses on the floor, on the unusedshelving and in the windows. I also noticedthat one window had a one-inch hole thathad not been fixed. Many of the boundjournals had discolored bindings and patchstains of where mold once was. I did not see any active mold, however themildew smell was particularly strong. Oneof the more disturbing things was that theonly door separating the library from therest of the non-air conditioned buildingwas one of the hollow wooden doors thatare found in older residential homes.

Another room in the renovated areawas being used as a storeroom for newbooks. Piles of boxed books filled theroom—many, if not all of them, showingsigns of pest damage and littered with bugcarcasses. This room also had a windowopen every time I visited. One of theunique highlights of this building was an

exhibit of Japanese cultural artifacts—a teaset, a Kimona, vases and some other cloth-ing. Again, this room was relatively cleanand free of the mildew smell. However, ittoo was separated from the rest of thebuilding by a hollow wooden door.

The next trip back I took along an aspi-rating psychrometer to get a good readingon the temperature and humidity. The tem-perature reading was 75°F and the humidi-ty reading was around 65%. I thought thehumidity reading might be low enough totry something new. I had been readingabout chlorine dioxide and its use in somelibraries. I thought since this was an isolatedlibrary, I might be able to try the Oxine(AD) Sanitizer that I had also heard about.I used the chlorine dioxide first, hangingapproximately 15 of the sachets. I returnedthree weeks later to notice the mildew smellhad somewhat diminished. I then sprayedthe Oxine (AD) on the floors and walls andleft the building, notifying the one patronwho used the collection that he would have

M Y B A T T L E S W I T H M O L D – c o n t i n u e d

I found thetemperature setat 80°F andthe humiditycould be felt in the air,although it didnot seem toohigh. I set thethermostat to72°F andcalled the facili-ties personnel totell them whattemperature thebuilding needsto stay at.

This is the back area of building A-29. A nat-ural history warehouse including specimens,old refrigerators, fishing tackle, etc.

Japanese exhibit in building A-29.

Several windows were always keptopen in other parts of the building.

One of the many results of win-dows being left open. TheseLadybugs are grouping togetherfor warmth.

to stay out of the building for a day. Twoweeks later, there was no change. Afterabout six weeks, I noticed the sachets hadstarted taking on a lot of water. The humid-ity was again around 65% and I thoughtthen that it was probably too high to beeffective. I gave up the battle at that point,trying instead to have them cleaned andmoved. But more important projects need-ed to take priority.

Recently, Tulane University removed allof the boxed books and cleaned up manyof the areas in this building. Unfortunately,some of the windows remain open, so it isstill treated as somewhat of a warehouse.The library materials still remain at build-ing A-29 and no cleaning or move is onthe horizon. However, neither I nor any-one else has yet to see a mold outbreak inthe Meade library.

Math LibraryLocated in Gibson Hall, the original mainadministration building on the Tulane cam-pus, the Math Library is situated on thefourth floor in the very front corner of thebuilding. The problem is not that it islocated in an old building built in 1894.The problem is that it is in a building reno-vated to 20th century standards. Buildingsof the early 20th century and before werebuilt to breathe in hot and humid NewOrleans. The big doors and windows wouldlet in the “cooler” air so that the hotter airwould rise and leave the building throughthe ceilings and then the roof. Most renova-tions of this nature take into account thistrend. When this building was renovated,these escape paths for the air were sealed offcreating a moisture trap in the ceiling.

Recently when walking into the room, ablack streak could be seen on the ceilingwhere a crack was leading to one of thevents. The smell of mold/mildew permeatedthe air and the books on one side of theroom had started forming small black dots

on the spines. The books in this library havebeen cleaned three times over the past six toseven years. They have not had problemswith the temperature, just the humidity.Dehumidifiers have been tried, since it reallyis just a large room, but they overflowedbecause custodial personnel felt that it wasnot their job to empty the overflow tanks. Itried using chlorine dioxide, but, again, thehumidity was too high. Finally, just beforethe third cleaning, common sense set in. Itwas decided that dehumidifiers that drain tothe outside of the building would be pur-chased. This, along with a last cleaning,seemed to alleviate the reoccurring moldoutbreaks in the Math Library.

Howard-Tilton Memorial LibraryHoward-Tilton Memorial Library is themain library of Tulane University. TheLibrary houses nearly 2 million print vol-umes, more than 7,750 current serials,nearly a million government documents,more than three linear miles of manu-scripts, hundreds of thousands of micro-forms, as well as collections of photographsand recordings. Environmental controls arevery important and for the most part, areadequate in the building. The only prob-lem I have monitored is the indoor humid-ity rising from around 50-55% during thefall through spring months to 70% duringthe summer months. Facilities personnelhave been able to lower the temperaturewhen needed in the building. The dehu-midifiers in the HVAC systems are work-ing at the max and have been tweaked asmuch as possible. Nothing further can bedone until a renovation of the building iscomplete which will supposedly happenwithin the next three to five years.

The small mold outbreak that happenedin this library curiously happened the weekbefore Christmas when the environment inthe building was at its best. The temperaturewas below 70°F, and the humidity hovered

M Y B A T T L E S W I T H M O L D – c o n t i n u e d

Recently whenwalking intothe room, ablack streakcould be seen onthe ceilingwhere a crackwas leading toone of the vents.The smell ofmold/mildewpermeated theair and thebooks on oneside of the roomhad startedforming smallblack dots onthe spines.

7

around 50%. This outbreak, of course, hap-pened over a weekend and was strange inthe way it spread. Covering three ranges,there were approximately 130 affected bookswith at least some mold covering the spines.It was the same pattern throughout thesethree ranges. There would be one book on ashelf, then another three shelves down andone across the aisle two shelves higher. Westill do not know the exact cause.

Our plan of attack was simple—cleanall affected books, all books adjacent to theaffected books and all shelving within thethree ranges affected. Cleaning consisted offirst setting up a well-ventilated area. Therewere two fans on low that were not directlyblowing on the books. Preservation person-nel wore facemasks and gloves. We thenvacuumed the books to remove as much ofthe mold as possible from the cover of thebooks. After the mold was removed, bookcovers were wiped with a solution of ethylalcohol making sure that the book coverswere not too wet. After the books were dry,we inspected the inside of the bindings andluckily found no indication of mold on theinside. The books were then returned tothe shelves once they were cleaned with theethyl alcohol solution. No sign of mold hasbeen seen in this area or adjacent areas

since the outbreak. If this were a larger out-break, a professional company would havebeen called in to clean the books. I usuallyuse as a guideline, anything smaller than500 volumes can be cleaned in-house and aprofessional company will be brought infor anything larger than 500 volumes. Theactual book cleaning took about one day,while cleaning the stacks took approxi-mately one week.

ConclusionAs one can see, mold is a constant threat inNew Orleans. Unfortunately, not everyonewho lives or works in the area thinks it canhappen to him or her. There are still aca-demic institutions in the state of Louisianathat turn off the air conditioner at nightand on the weekends so that they may“save money.” The problem lies not withthe dedicated people and administratorswho man these buildings but the moneywatchers and major administrators of theinstitutions who turn a blind eye to theseriousness of this problem. I have alwaystold people who ask me for advice thatthey need to push the health risks of mold,not just the damage to the collection it iscausing. Unfortunately, it is not until theproblem is out of hand that administratorsof these institutions finally take notice.Education at the higher levels is what isneeded most of all. We have to teach insti-tutions that they really are saving moneyby spending a little now. It is not just thecultural heritage that we are saving but theday-to-day information and possibly livesof the people who work and visit theseinstitutions every day.

Andrew Damico was head of the preservation department atTulane University from January 2000 to January 2005. He isnow Preservation Librarian at Rice University in Houston, TX.He can be contacted at adamico@rice.edu.

LBS/Archival Products1801 Thompson Ave.P.O. Box 1413Des Moines, Iowa 50305-14131-800-526-5640515-262-3191Fax 888-220-2397custserv@archival.com

archival.com

Our plan ofattack was sim-ple–clean allaffected books,all books adja-cent to theaffected booksand all shelvingwithin the threeranges affected.

M Y B A T T L E S W I T H M O L D – c o n t i n u e d