ブックタイトルConservation and Restoration of Western Paper

概要

Conservation and Restoration of Western Paper

In Japan, it was introduced after the SecondWorld War, where the first objects to bemicrofilmed were newspapers.The microfilming technique becamewidespread then after and has beenreestablished as a preservation mean indealing with the issue of acidic paper. Thosewho watched the documentary film SlowFires: On the Preservation of the HumanRecord might remember that this techniquewas recognized as a relief measure fordocuments which had deteriorated dueto acidity in paper. At the same time, therequirements and process for microfilmingfor preservation was established. Thusmicrofilming technique was establishedas the means for long-term documentpreservation for the first time.Simultaneously, reproduction conductedin this way was referred to as preservationof contents, and it was again confirmed thatreproduction played an important role inpreservation measures.To expand upon this point, users oflibraries and archives in general need thecontents of documents, not the actual objectitself. There are some users who require thedocuments as object for their bibliographicalresearch, research for book histories, studyon book binding structures etc. However,general users of libraries and archives don’tneed the object itself but the contents inobjects. The contents do not lose theirvalue when they are reproduced by beingmicrofilmed, for instance. A new concept,content preservation, stemmed from thisfact.Naturally enough, with such understanding,reproduction techniques came to berecognized as devices for documentpreservation. There is also the aspect thatoriginal documents can be conserved ingood condition if they are not provided forreference, but only their reproductions areavailable for users.Reproduction techniques came to beacknowledged as the method to accelerateboth conservation and practical useof documents, and then almost at thesame time, digitalization technique wasdeveloped and the Internet was improved,so that document reproduction techniquesunderwent a great change.Compared to microfilming, digitalizationhas a strong advantage. As well as providinginformation through the Internet, users’satisfaction with digitalization is extremelyhigh. On the other hand, digital media isvulnerable from the viewpoint of longtermpreservation, as can be seen in the socalled“digital dilemma”10 . On this point,future technological development, furtheraccumulation of experience and variousevaluations of digital media are needed. Thelong-term preservation of digital documentsis the important recent challenge in librariesand archives preservation.3-5. Paradigm of PreservationThe fifth point is that a new frameworkwas created for library preservation andconservation.IFLA Principles of Conservation andRestoration was revised in 1986, where theterm preservation was clearly defined for thefirst time. The definitions are as follows. 1117