The role surrogates can play in preserving the printed heritage is briefly discussed. Microform and digital form are compared. Both can be chosen as primary medium for preservation as long as they offer the highest possible archival quality (adhering to agreed standards), are retained without limitation in time, include the true image of the original and are accessible. Which of the two types of surrogates shall be used must be decided in the light of given objectives (e.g. access and/or preservation) and of available resources for production, upkeep and user interface in the broad sense.
What remains true in either case is that considerable investment is needed, if reformatting to surrogate shall be done in archival quality. With limited resources in libraries and - more importantly - in view of the paramount task of securing the usability of the world's printed legacy for future generations, it is understood that we cannot but work in an international setting, cooperating to save at least the greatest part of works which are endangered by brittle paper and many other causes.
One important instrument of coordination as well as of access to surrogate user copies is the establishment of an international register of preservation surrogates. This is the idea that led to EROMM, the European Register Of Microform Masters, which went online in 1994 and now holds records of more than 2.5 million items. In spite of its name EROMM has been open to record digital surrogates since that time and has been building up the number of records relating to digitised works continuously in recent years. EROMM is collecting records from its members in twelve European countries and from exchanges with its partners in North and Latin America. All libraries and other institutions including companies and individuals in member countries enjoy access to the database free of charge. When libraries wish to make use of a facility, which allows sending requests for user copies or additional information directly to the owner of the surrogate, they will make a small annual contribution.
Records in EROMM provide the bibliographic description of the original work as well as the basic physical attributes of the surrogate. They form the basis for preservation programming, i.e. for taking the decision whether or not the same work should be reformatted once more. While the requesting facility opens up the direct contact to the library owning the surrogate, a hyperlink in the record may bring the user to a digital version accessible in the internet. This digital version can be derived from a digital preservation surrogate as well as from scans taken from the microform.
For the future EROMM is seeking to open up cooperation with those countries, that so far have not been able to build an infrastructure for continued delivery of records from their networks or libraries.
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