Letter: Library of the future

From David Holdsworth, Leeds University

Bob Holmes explored what clues the archaeologists of AD 100,000 would unearth in the absence of a written record (3 March, p 48). But that record will not be absent in 100,000 years, so long as technological civilisation endures.

I am among those looking at the survival of today’s written record, the vast majority electronic. We have worked out how to preserve it indefinitely, with perfect digital copies. As we copy onto newer forms of storage, the volume shrinks spectacularly, so physical storage is not a significant problem. There remains the question of understanding the formats in which material is recorded. This is being addressed by registries of how different formats store data.

The editor writes:

• We covered these issues in the feature “Now we know it…” (30 January 2010, p 36)

Settle, North Yorkshire, UK