From Red Rot to Bit Rot – Preserving Family Books and Floppy Disks

Find out about preserving your family collections

Join us to learn about the preservation of your treasured family collections from physical books and papers to digital materials.

Family books, photographs and papers connect us to our ancestors, their lives, and thoughts. They are an invaluable resource for future generations. The family photos and documents we create now will connect our descendants to us — but how should we care for these records?

Presentations about preserving physical and digital treasures

This session will focus on the preservation of your treasured family collections whether they are physical books and papers or in a digital format.

There will be two short presentations by Vicki-Anne Heikell from the National Preservation Office, and Valerie Love, Senior Digital Archivist, followed by an opportunity for one-on-one conservation advice on your treasured family items.

Attendees are welcome to bring in a family book or a 3.5 inch floppy disk or CD-ROM for assessment (time permitting).

Please note: if you are bringing a CD-ROM or computer disk, you may also wish to bring a USB drive to transfer the files on to it (if possible).

About speakers

Vicki-Anne Heikell is Field Conservator at the Alexander Turnbull Library. She provides training and advice in the preservation of documentary heritage items and collections to individuals, groups, iwi/Māori and organisations throughout New Zealand.

Valerie Love and Flora Feltham are Digital Archivists at the Alexander Turnbull Library. They work to assess and preserve incoming born-digital unpublished collections, such as digital photographs, word documents, and oral histories.