As people begin to rely more heavily on audio–visual materials, preservation of historical materials may become increasingly difficult. The Preservation Working Group on campus held an informational session at the YMCA on Tuesday to speak about preserving University culture.

As technology develops, information is increasingly saved onto databases, which presents several problems, said Preservation Working Group Chair Jennifer Hain Teper.

Many people do not think about printing hard copies or backing up data onto an external hard drive, so when a computer crashes, information can be lost, she added.

Even if people do save information externally, at the rate technology is changing current storage devices like CDs may become obsolete, she said.

“The beauty of film or microfilm is if you have a flashlight, you can hold it up and shine a light through it and see the content,” Hain Teper said. “You can hold a CD up to the light all you want but that’s never going to tell you the content of what’s on there unless you have something to play that particular piece of media. So, that’s what makes audio–visual material and visual media so challenging.”

However, she said critical information is still available in print.

The Preservation Working Group formed in 2005 and puts on several programs a year, such as the preservation emporium.

This event helps educate the community about how to preserve their personal collections correctly, whether they are books, artwork, film or archeological material like arrow heads, said Christa Deacy–Quinn, Spurlock Museum collections manager.

“What people thought many years ago was good preservation technique may not work now,” Deacy–Quinn said. “A lot of the time people mean well, but in meaning well, they sometimes do things they aren’t supposed to do to their collection.”

She said people will try to laminate pictures or store objects in the wrong kind of environment, which can damage the artifact.

Savoy resident Bob Blissard said he came to the discussion because he is interested in preservation.

“I didn’t realize they had a working group among different organizations on campus,” he said.

Although the Preservation Working Group reaches out to the public, their primary concern is with the preservation of University culture, Hain Teper said.

The group has created an online survey to assess what kinds of collections are scattered across University departments to see if preservation needs are being met, she said. Ultimately, the group wants to put together a portfolio to show to campus administration, because there is a need for more storage space.

It is also developing an online assessment tool for audio–visual materials; people can enter their collection and determine an artifact’s condition to learn its preservation needs, Hain Teper added. The group said it wants to create a Web site that will extend to other types of collections.

The Preservation Working Group will hold a preservation emporium on Feb. 20, 2010 at the Spurlock Museum. The event will be open to the public to bring in collections and learn about preservation.