PDF in 2109?
| Pages | 639-644 |
| Date | 20 November 2009 |
| Published date | 20 November 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/07378830911007772 |
| Author | Michael Seadle |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
COLUMN: ARCHIVING IN THE
NETWORKED WORLD
PDF in 2109?
Michael Seadle
Humboldt Universita
¨t zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider whether PDF formats are appropriate for
long-term digital archiving.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of examining how well PDF’s
capabilities fit eReader devices that future scholars may use in addition to or instead of paper
print-outs.
Findings – Fixity is the advantage that PDF offers for archiving, while its alternatives generally
offer greater flexibility for eReader devices. The question for long-term digital archiving is whether
fixity or flexibility best suits the interests of future readers?
Originality/value – PDF is widely accepted as a digital archiving format and PDF documents are
found in virtually every repository. There has, however, been little discussion as to whether the fixed
format is not in fact a long-term disadvantage.
Keywords Archiving, Portabledocument format, Digital libraries
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
In 2008 Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 became an international
standard “ISO 32000-1, document management – portable document format – part 1:
PDF 1.7”:
ISO 32000-1:2008 specifies a digital form for representing electronic documents to enable
users to exchange and view electronic documents independent of the environment in which
they were created or the environment in which they are viewed or printed. It is intended for
the developer of software that creates PDF files (conforming writers), software that reads
existing PDF files and interprets their contents for display and interaction (conforming
readers) and PDF products that read and/or write PDF files for a variety of other purposes
(conforming products) (ISO, 2009b).
PDF/A, which embeds all fonts that were used in a document, had become an
international standard (ISO 19005-1) three years earlier:
ISO 19005-1:2005 specifies how to use the Portable Document Format(PDF) 1.4 for long-term
preservation of electronic documents. It isapplicable to documents containing combinations
of character, raster and vector data (ISO, 2009a).
These steps have made PDF and PDF/A broadly acceptable for long term digital
archiving. The advantages of PDF are manifold. Essentially all word processing
programs from LaTex to Google Docs, and from Open Office to Microsoft Word can
create reliable, interchangeable PDF files. PDF also accurately reproduces the
formatting of documents. Open Office will read Microsoft Word files, but it can also
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0737-8831.htm
PDF in 2109?
639
Received 26 June 2009
Revised 2 July 2009
Accepted 24 July 2009
Library Hi Tech
Vol. 27 No. 4, 2009
pp. 639-644
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0737-8831
DOI 10.1108/07378830911007772
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