LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Archives of Michigan is using a
state-of-the-art and inexpensive option — the Internet — to store and
preserve a growing collection of digital records that includes
everything from 40 years’ worth of election results to an index of
thousands of proposed designs for the state’s quarter released 10 years
ago.
The move to the cloud is expected to bolster a plan to help
the public easily access some historical records without having to trek
to the Archives’ facility in Lansing. A cloud-based service being used
by Michigan saves money and, archivists say, makes sure that important
electronic records — documents, audio and video files — don’t go
obsolete as formats change.
The company Michigan contracted with
in 2012, England-based Tessella, plans to release its first version of a
public access interface on April 30. Within the next year, people will
be able to visit the state website to access historical records stored
with the company’s Preservica technology.
For state officials,
finding a way to store electronic records was crucial because more
government records are being produced electronically — emails, photos,
video and the like.
"When dealing with something in a format that
isn’t permanent and yet the content is permanent, you have a challenge.
It’s an international challenge," said Caryn Wojcik, a government
records archivist for the state.
The solution for Michigan after
years of searching — cloud computing — refers to the practice of renting
computing accessories over the Internet instead of buying more
machines, the applications running on them and servers to store and
backup files. The $13,000 annual cost is a fraction of the Archives’
yearly budget that totals around $850,000, said state Archivist Mark
Harvey.
A key component of the technology used by Michigan supports the conversion of files to newer formats so
they remain usable.
Examples
of Michigan records being stored in the Amazon Web Services cloud
include aggregate historical data on K-12 students, legal briefs filed
with the state Supreme Court, meeting minutes kept by state bodies and
recently digital audio recordings of Michigan House of Representatives
sessions. If asked by a researcher, archivists will also convert old
cassette recordings of legislative sessions to a digital copy.
"As
we convert traditional records to digital formats, we are making
case-by-case decisions about whether to store the digital version in
Preservica," Wojcik said.
Despite the emphasis on preserving
electronic records, less than 1 percent of Michigan’s archival
information is being kept in the cloud. Harvey said he recently logged
40 to 50 boxes of records involving tribal affairs, all but one filled
with paper.
"We’re not at the point of where all of a sudden everything we’re seeing is electronic," he
said.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.