Books as informational artefacts

The article focuses on the model based on the information levels of books as artefacts and the importance of information levels for preservation strategy. The historical and museological approaches to books as objects will be discussed. Books are artefacts just like any other objects made, modified, or used by human beings. Different authors have presented various approaches for describing the information architecture of artefacts. Th is study is based on a three-level model, according to which three different information levels are identified: structural information or structural properties; functional information or functional properties; context and the object’s relationship to it. Preservation is not a passive activity from the point of view of the information structure of the artefact. While choosing preservation strategies it is essential to consider the information structure of the artefact, especially when using information reformatting technologies, which create a new object with a specific information structure (photocopies, microforms, digitisation, etc.). The preservation of artefacts presumes the prior identification of the set of information to be preserved. Keywords: artefact, information, models, book, preservatio