6. Storage and
preservation
Storage of paper
Although a reduction in the quantity of paper being
circulated and stored is often a motivating factor in the introduction of
document management systems, it is usually impossible to eliminate it
entirely. Many thousands of pages may have been accumulated in archives and
reference is often so infrequent that it would be uneconomic to scan and
incorporate them into an active EDM system. Some sort of retrieval system
will already exist for such files with pages held alphabetically,
numerically or by date and this can be incorporated into the EDM system with
links to the location of the relevant files.
Many service bureaux and some specialised storage
facilities offer low cost secure off-site storage for such documents and
most can provide a retrieval service to scan and transmit any required
document on demand. When documents have a specific life arrangements can be
made for their certified destruction after the expiry date. On this site we
list UK facilities in our services section under
Secure storage facilities
and Secure
destruction of
paper, film and digital media.
Storage on microfilm
In many areas microfilm has been overtaken by electronic
document management techniques but it remains supreme as a long-term storage
medium.
There is a sound case for film being employed as a back-up
to any electronic archive. This reflects growing concern that rapid advances
in computing technology may necessitate the frequent conversion of archives
held in outdated software formats or on magnetic media for which reading
equipment is no longer supported. UK service houses offering
microfilming of office
documents and large formats such a maps and plans are listed in the services
section of this site.
Some companies already have large collections of
information on microforms which they would like to access via an electronic
document management system. Most UK companies offering
film scanning will be found
listed alphabetically and geographically in the Services section of this
website. Careful consideration is essential before deciding to scan the
entire microfilm record content because, if references are likely to be
relatively infrequent, it may be preferable to buy a suitable low-volume
reader-scanner and scan specific images when they are needed rather than pay
for the conversion of the whole archive.
Storage of digital data
Document scanning creates massive demands for digital
storage but modern computer systems can now cope with volumes that would
have been impractical only a few years ago. It is nevertheless often
pointless to hold old digital files on internal on-line storage and service
facilities have been developed to act as digital data warehouses, able to
maintain and store vast quantities of digital data and provide any file
on-line in seconds. The web is also being increasingly used to hold
files and make them accessible to internal and even external users if
confidentiality is not a factor. UK companies offering digital data
storage facilities are listed alphabetically and geographically on this site
under Data hosting
- digital data storage .
Other methods of holding large quantities of digital data
off-line include transcription to optical disk or microfilm.
Many service houses will scan documents and return the scanned data on
optical disks which can be retained as possible evidence in the event of
computer failure. UK companies offering
COLD (computer output on laser disk) and
COM (computer output on
microfilm) facilities are included on this website under Services.
Whatever method of storage is adopted, an agreed policy
must be established to determine how each document type will be handled at
each stage of its life-cycle. Strict compliance with such a written policy
is an important factor in determining whether a scanned or microfilmed
document will be accepted as legal evidence.
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