One of the most important things you can do to get the most out any collection, whether it is for personal or public use, is to employ efforts of preservation, conservation, and restoration to your collection. These three concepts, which are often broadly grouped into the more general label 'preservation', refer to an individual or institutions willingness and ability to invest time and resources into the care and maintenance of their items. Often times, items that are defective end up in that condition because simple conservation steps are skipped. This guide will go over the details of how an institution of any size can implement strategic preservation practices to ensure the longevity of their collection materials.
Some of the most proactive actions that an aspiring preservationist can employ end up being the most beneficial in terms of preventing harm to your collection. Through the act of conservation, or anticipating and mitigating problems before they arise, you can save yourself a lot of time and money.
One of the first preservation steps you can take is to remove the batteries from any battery operated devices. Often times, electronics are damaged through corrosion or deterioration from a battery being left in a device for too long, which can be challenging to bring back to life after the damage has already occurred. In some cases, it can even be a fire hazard, so it is a good idea to remove and check your batteries occasionally.
Another simple step to preserving your collection is to enclose your items. Enclosures can be anything from storing physical media in its original case, to purchasing an appropriate housing for physical media or ephemera. Degradation can often occur just from exposure, and adding an extra protective layer can help mitigate issues like oxidation, corrosion, fading, yellowing, or embrittlement.
Speaking of exposure, one of the easiest ways to protect your collection from these same issues is by storing items in a climate controlled, smoke free environment. It is also important that this environment is indoors and has been treated for pests, which is one of the more common culprits of hardware failure and physical damage.
When storing your collection, it can be particularly useful to label and sort items like cables and adaptors which are often misplaced or mistaken for similar looking items. When labeling and sorting your collection, avoid adhering anything directly to your items, especially if it obscures any information about the item. Additionally, wrapping and securing cables properly can prevent them from deteriorating from stress or use.
Whenever you purchase something new, hold on to the packaging materials! If you have the space, it can be worth it to hang on to the boxes, manuals, and other materials that accompany items in your collection. If history is any indicator, items retain a lot more of their value if you keep the extra ephemera that comes them.
One of the most useful things an individual can do is invest in a set of simple repair and cleaning tools. Tools like this can include, but are not limited to an electronics specific screwdriver set, isopropyl alcohol (90%), cotton swabs, a microfiber cloth, electronic contact cleaner, and a spudger. These items are relatively inexpensive and can be extremely useful for diagnosing and repairing simple issues. Often times, hardware failure can be a result of a component needing to be cleaned, which is usually a minimally invasive restoration project.
To be on the safe side, it is not a bad idea to create an inventory list of items in your collection, especially anything that is rare and/or valuable. An inventory list may include basic information such as the name and description of the item, identifying information like model numbers, serial numbers or SKU's, and a photo. Additionally, it could be useful to create a contact list of repair technicians, vendors, or websites/online communities that can help with any troubleshooting.
And finally, since we are already on the topic of documenting your collection, it is not a bad idea to have access to a camera, printer, and scanner to capture any unique media or ephemera that may be in your collection. Often times, people forget to document the photos, inserts, posters, guides, advertisement, and packaging that accompanies the hardware which is sometimes the most interesting part!
When it comes to the preservation of a collection at the institutional level, the baseline should include all the previously mentioned points. It is important to address any gaps in your preservation plan before moving on to bigger and more complex preservation actions because skipping those steps can lead to the most dire consequences. Additionally, if you have an institutional budget at your disposal, its worth it to opt for the higher quality versions of the consumer grade products mentioned in the previous section. This can include enclosures that are acid free, a higher quality printer/scanner and camera, a more thorough labeling and sorting convention, a more comprehensive repair kit, etc.
Regarding repair kits, one of the best way to improve your current tool kit is to purchase a soldering station. Soldering is often the next step to addressing hardware failure after thoroughly cleaning your components. A complete soldering kit should include the following: A soldering station that has a digital temperature gauge and comes with multiple tips, leaded solder, a flux syringe, a copper desoldering braid, a solder platform, and a multimeter. Here is a list of recommended products, a description of their use, and their price.
Sometimes, hardware fails and there is nothing you can do about it. This is especially the case for items in your collection that circulate. For that reason, it is recommended that your institution purchases multiple copies of hardware and media so that a decommissioned item can be quickly replaced. In this case, building in redundancy can keep your collection current should anything unexpected occur.
Adding a dumping kit to your collection can be a useful way to capture the contents of your media and create a digital backup in case hardware failure occurs on an item that is rare or valuable. Capturing this information can tell you valuable information about your media, especially if it a rare copy of a beta or demo product. Dumping kits could be as fancy as a device that reads and transfer physical media into a digital file, or as simple as a device plugged into a capture card. What is important is that the contents of your media have a way of being backed up and useable later on.
Documenting your collection at the institutional level calls for more advanced inventory, which means it is worth considering creating metadata for items in your collection. The important elements can be as simple or detailed as you like, but the extra information can be useful for making your collection easier to navigate as people use it.
Finally, institutions should seek to develop a collection policy and training documents that establish the state of your collection and communicate the proper procedures and instructions for pursuing any kind preservative, conservative, or restorative actions. The suggestions in this guide include everything from minimal to highly invasive procedures, and a detailed institutional policy will help guide users to making sound and informed choices when considering any kind of intervention of the collection.
Despite the recommendations contained in this guide, there are many aspects of collection preservation that remain challenging despite a person or institutions best efforts. One of the primary things that can diminish a person or institutions preservation efforts are budget and space. Unfortunately, this is an all too common challenge for many collections and it is accompanied with the understanding that you have to do the best that you can with the resources you are provided. When it comes to budgeting and space, sometimes compromises are necessary until you have the means to improve the state of your collection.
When creating documentation and backups of your collection, it is useful to be aware of copyright and how it can effect you or your institution of violated. Institutions that receive funding have to be particularly wary of this, as the costs associated with litigation are not worth the risk, even if it is an accident. It is recommended that any digital backups are sourced from items that are physically owned by the institution.
One of the main reasons why it is recommended to purchase multiples for a collection is because obsolescence is a primary contributor to the lack of accessibility within a collection. As technology continually improves and evolves, older formats become incompatible and their contents are at risk of becoming within themselves. The costs associated with producing specific components or adaptors can become scarce or expensive, and it can often get in the way of a person or institutions preservation efforts.
There is a huge market for reselling vintage video games, consoles, peripherals, and ephemera and because of that, it is a good idea to beware of reproductions. There are items on the market that contain very convincing looking fakes, so it is worth it to try to take the extra time to verify that the items you are considering purchasing for your collection are authentic and in working condition unless stated otherwise, especially if it is valuable. Online communities like r/gameverifying on reddit are very useful for determining if a product is a reproduction or not. Additionally, pricecharting.com is useful for determining the current value of video games and ephemera.
Digital games and single use user licensing can cause trouble for larger institutions, particularly if their collection is circulating. Digital games are often tied to the account and platform that they were purchased which could cause an individual to consider the risk of sharing aspects of their personal information, or prevent the digital item from being lent out entirely. Unfortunately for circulating institutions, the trend seems to be leaning towards digital games and single use licensing, and it is worth considering how an institution or individual might work around this issue if it affects them.
Despite the challenges, there is a ton of amazing information by institutions who are dedicated towards creating and improving the current landscape of video game preservation. For more information on the topic of video game preservation practices, please consult these excellent resources:
