by Library News
Data Through the Decades
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How we store data is constantly changing, causing widely used items to be obsolete quickly, but these items are still critical to educate future generations about the past.
The Special Collections Department is hosting a new exhibit, Data Through the Decades, to showcase some of these items through April 30.
The exhibit features different media formats that include vinyl records, floppy disks, CDs, microfilm, Betamax video tapes, flash drives, and even a laptop computer from 1987. While some of these devices on display are no longer in use, some items are used less frequently today.
Some of the items in the exhibit include vinyl records, floppy disks, CDs, microfilm, Betamax video tapes, flash drives, and even a laptop computer from 1987.
Kathryn Slover, a digital archivist, stated that the exhibit had received some interesting responses from visitors.
“I think that responses vary because we have had some students come in and think that it is cool seeing things like floppy disks,” Kathryn said. “Other folks have said, ‘This is not obsolete. This is not history. This is what I used growing up.’”
Kathryn stated that the interest in the exhibit from the university community has caused it to be extended through the end of the month. Originally Data Through the Decades had a two-week run planned.
People viewing the exhibit can learn about each displayed item through several posters. These posters give a brief history of each item and its purpose.
The Data Through the Decades exhibit features several different media storage items.
Suraj Suresh, a graduate assistant with digital preservation, designed the posters and researched each item’s history. Through this research process, Suraj was surprised at how the life span of these items changes so rapidly.
“Some of the media, like the flash drives on display, are not exactly obsolete; people still use them, but not like they used to. Now everything is going onto the cloud. You buy storage and pay as you go,” Suraj said. “It was surprising to see that as time passes, the life span of these media keeps getting shorter and shorter.”
The Data Through the Decades exhibit runs through Sunday, April 30, in the Special Collections Department on the sixth floor of the UTA Central Library.
For more information about the Special Collections Department, go to https://libraries.uta.edu/spco.
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