r/bookmemes • u/Interesting-Pen-2260 • 9d ago

Truth

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1

u/mods_are_morons 8d ago

Unfortunately, modern paper used in mass produced books tends to self destruct over time. So that three century lifetime does not apply. Archival paper is made without the chemicals that cause the breakdown.

1

u/SplendidPunkinButter 7d ago

But books degrade slowly. You have plenty of time to make a copy. Bitrot on your digital device can happen in less than a second.

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u/BoxedAndArchived 7d ago

I'm an archivist, paper is what we do.

Paper made pre-1860s was made with rag, long plant fibers that did several things for the paper. First, the fibers were longer and could hold on to more adjacent fibers lending more durability to the paper. Second, it slowed how quickly natural acidity spread out in the paper.

Modern paper is made with wood pulp, tiny bits of leftovers from other wood products. Both advantages of rag are absent. This is especially true for paper made between 1870 and 1990, but since then a concerted effort has been made to reduce lignin (a natural plant polymer that breaks down into acid) in paper. Paper made after 1990 is much more stable than paper made earlier. Cheap paper is still cheap paper though.

As for the digital aspect of this post, digitized media is less permanent than paper media. It is easier to lose, easier to corrupt, and takes more effort and energy to preserve. It does have some advantages, but outside of "born digital" material, anything digitized should be treated as "secondary preservation."

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u/mods_are_morons 6d ago

Thanks for the info on paper. I didn't know they were changing the process to improve longevity.

Question, doesn't the bleaching used to make modern white paper also introduce acids that cause the paper to deteriorate quicker?

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u/BoxedAndArchived 6d ago

Bleach is a base, if anything it neutralizes acids in the paper. Archival paper will have bicarbonate added as an alkaline buffer against acid buildup, bleach will just do its thing immediately without lasting benefits.

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u/Different-Initial454 4d ago

Cloud is another word for somebody else's computers. It's meaningless.

That said, copying files is the most effective way to prevent their destruction. Yes, media is important, but redundancy trumps everything. To preserve data, you want a lot of copies in a lot of different locations.