New publishing technologies have historically allowed more people to write and read more texts. As a result, the development of new publishing technologies has often been accompanied by a large-scale format transition. But these format transitions spawn vexing challenges for the preservation of the new format and the superceded format alike. In recent decades, the replacement of newsprint with microfilm as an archival medium is an important example of such a format transition; as was previously the transition from manuscript to print. Technological change disrupts existing stewardship structures, and the present transition away from print to electronic formats is no different.

This paper will examine several historical format migrations, focusing principally on the United States but with comparative perspective on, especially, the United Kingdom. How have academic libraries and national libraries managed format transitions? How have they exercised leadership to ensure the long-term stewardship both of the superceded artifact format and of the new format? What role is played by the academic community’s incentive mechanisms and organizational structure? There is a mixed legacy, including some well-known challenges, that deserves attention from the organizational perspective that this paper will take.

After providing an overview of the preservation features of past format transitions, this paper will close with an examination of the present transition to electronic formats and the preservation aspects associated with it. How are the structures and incentives of the past adapting to this new environment? In sum, how has the digital transformation begun to affect the survivability of texts?