In both living systems of information, biological and mechanical, a
faulty assumption would be that preservation action results in stasis.
In the smaller environment of library conservation it is possible that
the acts of preservation are now about to be distributed downward...from
long term objectives...to short, sudden term objectives. Such
preservation action could transpire in seconds...between the capture,
duplication and delivery of information. These short acts of
preservation...sustaining both the reliability and authenticity of the
conveyed information...could occur continuously and responsibly in the
midst of the life of dynamic information and in the context of
transactions between reading modes.
On a larger scale this distributed, micro term preservation might
approximate the punctuated equilibrium associated with speciation...a
process of maintenance interrupted disturbance that in turn
reestablishes maintenance. In library preservation we have a curious
realization that of all the methods for conserving a book, none of them
seem to work on a book that is lost. But lost books compel the care of
survivors. This may exemplify natural selection at work on information.
Gary Frost
Library Conservator