Council on Library and Information Resources Warns of Digital "Information Wipeout"

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 -- Information stored on computer disks or CD-ROMs --whether it is as insignificant as Aunt Betty's cookie recipe or as vital as the U.S. Department of Energy's list of plutonium storage sites --could be lost or inaccessible in 20 years.

A lost recipe may be of small consequence to the world, but the loss of data recording critical research, vital demographic or financial information, or the locations of stored toxic materials is another story -- as yet, untold to the American public. The reality is that vast quantities of digitized information chronicling the knowledge and history of our time will not survive in their present form.

"Digital information is at risk of disappearing or becoming inaccessible," warns Deanna Marcum, President of the Council on Library andInformation Resources (CLIR) in Washington, D.C. "Either the media on which it is stored are disintegrating, or the computer hardware and software needed to retrieve information from obsolete digital formats no longer exist." Marcum says the scope of the problem will become increasingly apparent as records are requested for retrieval and cannot be read. There are already documented examples of such problems, and government and industry alike worry behind closed doors about the scale of the coming crisis. But few are willing to admit publicly that the problem exists.

A spokesperson for the National Archives estimates that when President Clinton completes his term, his administration will send eight million electronic files to the National Archives. Those files are only a handful of government-generated information. Given the problems that are surfacing as existing digital files are retrieved, the potential for major losses is great. Military files, including POW and MIA data from the Vietnam War, were nearly lost forever because of errors and omissions contained in the original digital records. Ten to 20 percent of vital data tapes from the Viking Mars mission have significant errors because, as Jet Propulsion Laboratory technicians now realize, magnetic tape is "a disaster for an archival storage medium." In many cases, it is impossible to know the extent of data degradation, because equipment required to read it no longer exists.

Research conducted by the National Media Lab, part of the National Technology Alliance (a consortium of government, industry, and educational institutions to leverage commercial information technology for government users) has shown that magnetic tapes, disks, and optical CD-ROMs have relatively short lives -- and, therefore, questionable value as preservation media. The findings show that, at room temperature, top-quality data VHS tape becomes unreliable after 10 years, and average-quality CD-ROMs are unreliable after only five years. Compared to the 100+ years life span of archival- quality microfilm and paper, current digital media are unacceptable for long-term preservation.

Finding a late-model computer to read a 5.25-inch floppy disk -- a format common only a few years ago -- or the software to translate WordPerfect 4.0 is practically impossible. On a government and industry level, the retrieval problem is magnified: old Dectape and UNIVAC drives, which recorded massive amounts of government data, are long retired, and programs like FORTRAN II are history. The data stored by these machines in now obsolete formats are virtually inaccessible. Hardware and software manufacturers have shown more interest in discovering new technology than in preserving today's data.

"The year 2000 problem is nothing compared to this," says Marcum. "There is no quick fix," she cautions. "We must invest now in research and development to assure the permanent availability of digital records and the preservation of knowledge into the future."