[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

CD longevity



One of our current struggles at John Deere is acquiring company images for
the collection. Hard copies simply don't exist anymore as the images are
taken digitally from the beginning. As is the case, the creation of prints,
already one generation removed, now comes out of our budget. Needless to
say, this is not cheap and not an expense were prepared to handle.

The biggest difficulty, however, is to convince anyone outside of the
Archives that the creation of a hard copy of anything is relevant. We're as
interested in digital copies as much as anyone else, but everything comes
down to cost, and when we look at the fact that we'll have to incur that
cost again in 5 or 10 years to migrate data, digital options are usually
eliminated. Just to prove a point, we show people a 200 year old document
that's as well preserved as the day it was written, then show them a manual
that's five years old and difficult to read. They still don't usually get
it, but it makes us feel good at least!
(This doesn't cover, of course, the managers that call us and say, "Why
don't you just scan everything?')

Neil

Neil Dahlstrom
Reference Archivist
Deere & Company Archives
One John Deere Place
Moline, IL 61265
(309) 765-2752 Voice
(309) 765-2751 Fax
DahlstromNeil@johndeere.com

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>