Chemistry International
Vol. 24, No. 1
January 2002
Preserving
Records of Modern Science
Scientific organizations
are urged to preserve their historical records
by
R. Joseph Anderson, Fabienne Meyers, and Giovanni Paoloni
Preserving
historical records remains important for scientific organizations. Toward
this end, the Commission on Bibliography and Documentation of the International
Union of History and Philosophy of Science (IUHPS) has discussed with
other scientific unions, including IUPAC, the need to preserve permanently
the historically valuable paper and electronic records of modern science
and make them accessible to researchers. Based on a discussion held
in December 2000, the Commission planned to formulate guidelines to
assist scientific unions and to ensure that their records will be available
to researchers. These guidelines, which are supported by IUHPS, are
now being considered by the International Council for Science for recommendation
to its members.
The recommended
guidelines call for scientific organizations to make an effort to archive
the papers of leading scientists as well as their own historical documentation,
including electronic and inactive records that might be difficult to
track down and organize. Among the details is a recommendation that
budgets of all significant scientific projects include a small margin
to cover the cost of such archiving. As well, the group suggested that
the unpublished papers of scientists who have made significant contributions
to modern science should be preserved at the institution with which
they were most closely associated.
A number
of scientific unions have already signed formal agreements with major
science archives to maintain their records. IUPAC's records are held
by the Beckman Center of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia,
PA, USA. The records of the International Union of Pure and Applied
Physics are held by the Center for History of Science, Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, and those of the International
Union of Geodesy and Geophysics are held by the Center of History of
Physics, at the American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD, USA.
Electronic
records are proving to be a particular challenge to the archival process,
and several national archives and international bodies are currently
working to develop solutions to the preservation problems that these
records present. It seems likely that effective long-term systems will
be available within the next few years. In
the meantime, it is recommended that electronic records along with their
accompanying metadata be preserved on a server or, if storage space
is a problem, downloaded to optical disk or magnetic tape. Saving only
paper printouts of electronic records destroys contextual information
and is not adequate for the historical record.
IUPAC
has been working for some time with the Chemical Heritage Foundation,
and like the Commission, CHF can offer advice. An excellent resource
for those who embark on these efforts is the Othmer Library's web site
<http://www.chemheritage.org/Publications/personal.htm>.
It provides a brief and informative overview of the importance of archiving.
Why save? Who should save? What, when, and where to save? are questions
whose answers will help scientists to lay the groundwork for their own
archival efforts.
The American
Institute of Physics (AIP) has it own Center for History of Physics,
whose goal, in its own words, is "to preserve and make known the history
of modern physics and allied fields." In addition to keeping the records
of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the Center's contributions
to the field include the Emilio Segrè Visual Archive, (a collection
of some 25000 historical photographs, slides, lithographs, engravings,
and other visual materials) and the Niels Bohr Library. Additional information
about the center and its documentation programs and archival efforts
can be found at <http://www.aip.org/history>
Joseph
Anderson is assistant director at the Center for History of Physics,
College Park, Maryland, USA;
Fabienne Meyers is electronic publishing manager at the IUPAC Secretariat;
and
Giovanni Paoloni is from the School for Archivists and Librarians of
the Universita degli Studi de Roma 'La Sapienza', Roma, Italy.
The
Chemical Heritage Foundation
http://www.chemheritage.org