11/10/2009 COMMUNITY PRESERVATION ACT COMMITTEE Minutes

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PRESERVATION • 7* � QUESTIONS QUESTIONS YOU MAY HEA QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE As the custodian of valuable and irreplaceable public records, you may be called upon to make important decisions regarding the ongoing physical condition of the records in your care. These decisions can involve other public officials such as legislative bodies and finance boards, as well as the general public,who may have questions about the procedures and cost related to the care of public records. Following are just a few of the most common questions we are asked by records managers. Hopefully, the replies given will answer a few of your own questions as well as helping you to answer the questions • you are sure to get from others. 1. Q. WHY HAVE RESTORATION WORK DONE? A. It is as important to maintain permanent records as it is to maintain any of the other property of a town, city, county or state with this important difference: PERMANENT RECORDS ARE IRREPLACEABLE! 2. Q. WHY NOT JUST MICROFILM RECORDS? A. Microfilm can be a useful tool to store permanent records, especially as insurance against catastrophic event; but there are important disadvantages to be considered when using microfilm as the primary source of permanent records preservation: • Microfilm can be very difficult to work with. • Microfilm is often illegible, especially films of early records which may be written in hard to read script or written on paper that has deteriorated, or offers poor contrast between paper and ink. • Microfilm is subject to deterioration even with proper storage. • Microfilm is often difficult to access for the general public; providing enough reader and printers for public demand can be costly. • Microfilming large-scale projects is very costly. • • Microfilming does not address the important question of still decaying original records, nor does it address the intrinsic historical value of the original artifact.