Lecture on preservation science

The Preservation Directorate of the Library of Congress announces
the 37th lecture in its series on Topics in Preservation Science
(TOPS):

"From Decayed Parchment to 'Bit Rot'--Challenges in Digitizing
    Archimedes"
Michael B. Toth and Doug Emery

West Dining Room, Madison Building 6th floor
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC 20540

Thursday, January 22, 2009
1:30-2:30 pm

The Archimedes Palimpsest, written in Constantinople in the tenth
century and over-written in the thirteenth century, contains seven
of the Greek mathematician's treatises. It is the only surviving
copy of 'On Floating Bodies' in the original Greek, and the unique
source for the 'Method of Mechanical Theorems' and 'Stomachion'.
Sustained efforts to recover the original text from under the later
additions began in 1999.

Archimedes Palimpsest Program Manager Michael Toth and Data Manager
Doug Emery will discuss the use of digital multi- and hyperspectral
imaging, metadata, and data encoding and access to provide
standardized data as effective tools for scientists, researchers,
preservation experts and information managers. They will also
discuss how the program sought to address the "bit rot" problem in
ensuring the digital data will be available in useful form for years
to come.  This approach to data management and associated issues
addresses the challenges faced by libraries, archives and museums in
the current IT environment.

This presentation will discuss the full scope of requirements
addressed in applying advanced spectral imaging techniques to this
program.  This includes integration of the imaging system and data
acquisition process to collect high-resolution spectral images for
advanced data processing, research and scientific studies.  It will
include details on the collection and management of the data, and
the encoding of the metadata in a standardized format. The data is
freely available under a Creative Commons license for the
development of GUI's and applications linking the spatially aligned
images and transcriptions.

The Topics in Preservation Science lectures are free and open to the
public. Upcoming presentations include:

    March 19:   Mr. Frank Abagnale, the Art of the Steal
    May 28:     Mr. James Reilly, topic TBD

Some events in this series are available as real-time webcasts. For
further details and updated information about the series, please
visit

    <URL:http://www.loc.gov/preserv/tops/schedule.html>

Eric Hansen
Chief, Preservation Research and Testing Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20540-4560
202-707-1028
Fax: 202-707-1525


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:37
                 Distributed: Friday, December 19, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-37-016
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