Scholars in the field range over a wide variety of materials and formats in doing historical research, and materials of interest keep changing. It is very difficult to predict the future course of historical inquiry, and it would be unwise to base a preservation strategy upon topics or themes. There was considerable discussion of the differences between books and journals on the one hand and archives and manuscripts on the other. It was pointed cut that archives serve many users who are not scholars but who need documentation of some point of fact. Archives thus have a kind of public accountability and responsibility that goes beyond scholarly use, and different criteria may be required for selection for preservation.
Books usually exist in multiple copies and are likely to have a broader scholarly audience.
Strategies for the preservation of books are more amenable to interinstitutional sharing, and the idea of a national collection in microfilm format for storage purposes is a very natural one. Furthermore, the bibliographic control that makes books accessible ordinarily does not obtain for archives. The differences between the two types of materials are great enough to suggest that they should be handled separately and the distinction between them be preserved for the purposes of the Committee on History. The Committee tentatively explored a range of approaches to selection criteria, and their deliberations, although inconclusive at the first meeting, established directions for continuing discussions at future meetings. The Commission on Preservation and Access was established in 1986 to foster and support collaboration among libraries and allied organizations in order to ensure the preservation of the published and documentary record in all formats and to provide enhanced access to scholarly information.