Even though safe storage buys time and so can be considered necessary for preservation, it does not by itself resolve the problems of technological change so it is almost certainly not sufficient. Sound archives try to ensure that they use high quality materials and spread their risk by using different types of carrier for preservation and back-up copies. Even where collection managers are not able to provide this level of archiving many still look to some kind of copying to reduce the risk of loss associated with use. Transcription Converting the information content of a sound recording to a written form is widely used to provide a level of access and to document the recording in case of loss. However, where the sound recording is unlikely to survive a verbatim transcript may be the only feasible preservation path.
Transcription is an expensive process, unless it can be done by volunteers.
For larger institutions able to access this technology, the days of the verbatim transcript as a standard oral history tool may be numbered. On the other hand, digitised transcriptions themselves can provide a level of networked access that we may not be able to achieve with sound recordings for some time. Publication Sixty of the smaller collections in the Directory indicate that their recorded material has been or will be used in publications or in unpublished university theses. Of course, many of the collections in larger institutions are also drawn on for published research. Just how widely and how well these and other preservation approaches are being used is hard to determine.