New data storage media advances in the 1990s brought changes to publishing practices. Storage media had gone through a series of progressions, and with falling costs of digital media, publishers now had new and affordable options for supplementing or publishing new works. Some print books included supplementary information on computer disks, and in other cases publishers made complete works available on computer disk instead of in print format. These changes in publishing are apparent in this library’s engineering collection, which now includes a large collection of resources acquired in CD-ROM format. Today, the library faces concerns about the long-term viability of these resources. Computer storage media have already evolved from 5.25” floppy disks to 3.5” floppy disks to CD-ROMs to DVD-ROMs to USB drives. Since computer manufacturers are phasing out optical drives, users now have few options for using library materials that are formatted on disks of any kind. This “technological obsolescence” has prompted the engineering librarians at this institution to investigate how to continue providing access to materials that are published on computer disk in a future age where computer users will have no resources available for reading the disks. Working with the library’s Digital Preservation Librarian, the engineering librarians will determine which of the engineering resources that are published in disk format must be preserved, and they will plan for best practices for preservation of, and access to, the selected resources. Only the complete works published on CD-ROM are reviewed in this project. This paper will report on methods used to evaluate and decisions about long-term retention and preservation of these resources, as well as strategies for avoiding this problem in the future.
Engineering Librarian
Computer Science & Engineering, Nuclear Energy & Radiological Sciences, Climate & Space Sciences & Engineering
University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
Lance is Head of the Digital Preservation Unit at the University of Michigan Library. In this role he oversees policy and workflow development aimed at preserving the Library’s digital assets. Lance received his undergraduate degree in History from Northwestern University and an MSI with a concentration in Archives and Records Management from the School of Information at the University of Michigan.
Leena Lalwani is an Associate Director, HS-STEM/Engineering Librarian and Coordinator for Collections for Science and Engineering at the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library (AAEL) at the University of Michigan. She is also the liaison Librarian for Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and Entrepreneurship. Leena has been a librarian at University of Michigan since 1995 in various ranks. Leena has a M.L.S. degree from Catholic University of America and M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Mumbai.
Paul Grochowski is an engineering librarian at the University of Michigan. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and a MLIS degree from Wayne State University.
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