The Library of Congress is fighting to preserve the millions of fragile documents, valued at millions and containing priceless historical or cultural information.
These documents were saved on shellac and acetate discs (most in 78 rpm format) which are prone to scratching and deterioration from debris and extraneous sounds. Some are decades old, and show it. But with the new technology called IRENE (short for imge, Reconstruct, Erase, Noise, Etc.) the Library of Congress hopes to convert the items to digital form. Challenges include making the system user-friendly for non-tekkie employees to be able to use the software, and finding possible exabytes of storage.
