Backup tapes of Indology archives

[jonathan silk]

>However, maybe only books printed on acid-free paper will be around in 50
>years.  Most of what is published in the 20th century will not survive the
>acid and chlorine in its own fibres.   Talk to librarians about this if
>you feel like getting seriously depressed.

All one has to do is pick up a book printed during the war -- 1944 is a
good year -- or right after. they are already almost dust (Lin Li-Kouang's
L'Aide-Memoire de La Vrai Loi from 1949 is an excellent example -- does one
even dare to try to open it?  Japanese books printed during the war are
wonderful in this respect -- I doubt many of them can even be microfilmed,
so brittle are they...)

Still, at least the *technology* for reading them exists and will continue
to exist into the future ( I *think*!)

:-)

jonathan

Jonathan SILK

jonathan.silk at yale.edu