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Managing archives using robots rather than people can considerably enhance efficiency, while need to modify the structure of archive shelves or installation tracks. This paper aims to develop a fully automated archive access robot without modification.

First, a mobile navigation chassis and a motion algorithm based on laser ranging and map matching are created for autonomous movement to any of the archives’ locations. Second, because the existing archives are stacked vertically, the bionic manipulator is made to mimic the movement of manual access to the archives, and it is attached to the robot arm’s end to access different layers of archives. In addition, an industrial camera is used to complete barcode identification of the archives and acquire data on their location and thickness. Finally, the archive bin is created to store archives.

The robot can move, identify and access multiple archival copies placed on floors 1–6 and 2–5 cm thick autonomously without modifying the archival repository or using auxiliary devices.

The robot is currently able to navigate, identify and access files placed on different levels. In the future, the speed of the robot’s navigation and the movement of the robot arm could be even faster, while the level of visualization of the robot could be further improved and made more intelligent.

The archive access robot developed by the authors makes it possible for robots to manage archives instead of human, while being cheaper and easier to deploy than existing robots, and has already been tested in the archive storage room of the State Grid maintenance branch in Jiangsu, China, with better results.

The all-in-one archive access robot can replace existing robotic access solutions, promote intelligent management of the archive industry and the construction of unmanned archive repositories and provide ideas for the development of robots for accessing book-like materials.

This study explores the use of robots to identify and access archives without changing archive shelves or installing auxiliary devices. In this way, the robot can be quickly applied to the storage room to improve the efficiency of archive management.

This study aims to explore how libraries in the United Arab Emirates use technology to preserve and digitize cultural and historical documents. It examined how these institutions use different technology models to facilitate the dissemination of UAE’s cultural traditions, practices, historical experiences and expressions to the local and global populations interested in learning about the country.

This study relied heavily on a review of the relevant literature and case studies covering how UAE libraries use technology to preserve, document and share tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The methodology entailed gathering and synthesizing relevant information from scholarly journal articles, government and reputable institutional resources online and reports. Collectively, it led to a close analysis of the impact of technology on cultural preservation and an assessment of the specific technology models preferred for optimal outcomes in preserving and disseminating cultural heritage information of the UAE.

Multiple UAE libraries rely heavily on technology to collect, record, translate and store cultural heritage information, including releasing it to users when required. The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates, the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive, Mohammed Bin Rashid Library, the UAE National Library and Archives, New York University Abu Dhabi and Khalifa University of Science and Technology and Research libraries have leveraged different technological models and tools to make UAE’s cultural heritage information available and accessible globally. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, three-dimensional imaging and scanning, electronic archiving systems, document management systems and ICT storage systems have helped the UAE libraries to promote and disseminate the nation’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

By relying on scholarly and authoritative sources of information and evidence to draw conclusions, this study contributes to the existing literature by offering insights into the innovative strategies used by UAE libraries to leverage technology for cultural preservation and promotion. In underlining the value of digital approaches to safeguard tangible and intangible cultural heritage, the research highlights the instrumentalism of technology in preserving the UAE’s cultural heritage and identity.

The Open Language Archives Community (OLAC) is an international partnership of institutions and individuals who are creating a worldwide virtual library of language resources. The Dublin Core (DC) Element Set and the OAI Protocol have provided a solid foundation for the OLAC framework. However, we need more precision in community‐specific aspects of resource description than is offered by DC. Furthermore, many of the institutions and individuals who might participate in OLAC do not have the technical resources to support the OAI protocol. This paper presents our solutions to these two problems.

Although two decades have passed since the publication of Walsh and Ungson’s (1991) seminal article on organizational memory, there has been only limited theoretical elaboration and application of this critical aspect of cognition in the strategic management literature. We remedy this gap by advancing the construct of competitive memory, which we define as a firm’s dynamic capability consisting of stored information from its past competitive interaction with a given rival that can be brought to bear on present or future competitive actions. We theorize that competitive memory is composed of both procedural and declarative elements and can be accessed automatically and deliberatively. Additionally, we suggest that competitive memory is relational: As rivals within a competitive set interact in the market, competitive memory drives not only their strategic actions, but also their expectations about their competitors. Last, competitive memory is also dynamic, which can be constructed and reconstructed over time by an organization’s enactment of its internal and external environments and by purposive memory trials with its competitive set.

This paper aims to evidence the perspectives of information professionals in the UK in relation to environmental sustainability and climate action to catalyse collaborative action.

This study takes an interpretivist stance. Research into archive and record management literature was conducted to establish key themes on climate change within the information sector. These themes informed research questions included in a survey cascaded to UK archivists, conservators, records managers and cultural heritage professionals via national mailing lists. The results were then codified and analysed. The study had research ethics and data protection approval from University College London.

Using professional ethics as a framework, this paper argues that climate action can protect records from the impact of climate change, ensuring future access. The information professionals surveyed were motivated by duties to preservation and access to mitigate the impact of the information sector on the environment. However, sector-specific climate action, such as introducing passive storage conditions or decreasing collection sizes, is limited by insufficient resources, organisational hierarchies and cultures, sector support and a perceived conflict with the duty to preservation.

To date, there is a growing body of literature from other countries on archival practices and the natural environment. However, the UK in general and the records management sector in particular, have not yet fully engaged in the discussion. This study reviews these knowledge gaps for the UK information sector to appropriately respond to climate change.

Until March 1998 the most “high‐tech” access to a significant Public Record Office (PRO) finding aid was via irregularly produced microfiches. By January 2001 the full catalogue of the PRO’s holdings (conservatively estimated at 7 million records) will be available via the World Wide Web. This article describes the steps taken to achieve this transformation. Use made of various standards such as the International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G)), Encoded Archival Description (EAD) and the Standard Generalised Markup Language (SGML) is described.

This paper reports on the first 20 years of the Open Language Archives Community (OLAC), comprehensive infrastructure for indexing and discovering language resources.

We begin with the original vision, assess progress relative to the original requirements, and identify ongoing challenges.

Based on the overview of OLAC history and recent developments and on the analysis of the situation in the language archives area as a whole, the authors propose an agenda for a more sustainable future for open language archiving.

This paper examines the progress of OLAC and discusses improvements in such areas as participation, access, and sustainability.

This paper aims to focus on a highly significant yet under-recognised concern: the huge growth in the volume of digital archival information and the implications of this shift for information professionals.

Though data loss and format obsolescence are often considered to be the major threats to digital records, the problem of scale remains under-acknowledged. This paper discusses this issue, and the challenges it brings using a case study of a set of Second World War service records.

TNA’s research has shown that it is possible to digitise large volumes of records to replace paper originals using rigorous procedures. Consequent benefits included being able to link across large data sets so that further records could be released.

The authors will discuss whether the technical capability, plus space and cost savings will result in increased pressure to retain, and what this means in creating a feedback-loop of volume.

The work also has implications in terms of new definitions of the “original” archival record. There has been much debate on challenges to the definition of the archival record in the shift from paper to born-digital. The authors will discuss where this leaves the digitised “original” record.

Large volumes of digitised and born-digital records are starting to arrive in records and archive stores, and the implications for retention are far wider than simply digital preservation. By sharing novel research into the practical implications of large-scale data retention, this paper showcases potential issues and some approaches to their management.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the current situation of digital preservation and describe the additional main challenges and issues faced in Latin American countries within the framework of the factors of digital preservation.

This paper reviews the literature on existing digital information preservation around the world, and then focuses on Latin American countries. It proposes a framework in which to analyze the situation in developing countries, particularly in Latin America, and summarizes the issues in six preservation factors and seven principles of preservation.

The amount of digital information has increased geometrically without proper knowledge, theories, strategies, policies and proceedings to preserve it. Developed countries and regions have started to create this knowledge and know‐how, as well as setting the basis to manage their digital collections within libraries, archives, and other organizations with the aim to preserve them in the long‐term. The situation is radically different in Latin America where we found limited research and projects on digital preservation.

The problem of the long‐term authentic preservation of digital document collections is not a simple technology problem; it is a much more complex one. This paper summarizes the approaches to understand it but further study is required in order to develop a practical strategy and/or plan. It also highlights the importance of raising awareness of digital preservation in Latin America in order to ensure availability in the future.

Research, planning, initiatives and proper execution in regard to digital collections preservation is extremely limited in Latin American developing countries, thus endangering vast amounts of digital information. There is a serious risk that valuable digital information will not be preserved adequately for future generations.

This paper reviews the main challenges for libraries and archives to preserve digital information over the long term and summarizes the main issues to understand and to thwart this problem. It also highlights the often overlooked problem of digital preservation in developing countries, in particular Latin America.

Electronic content, today’s principal means for information exchange, is dramatically reshaping how businesses compete and meet their goals and performance objectives. Now that the essential structure of business information technology, the Internet and supporting software tools has been built, the competition for strategic business advantage is shifting to focus on how companies use these tools to enable their people to compete through ready access to relevant and critical knowledge as they need it. E‐Content encompasses the world of electronic office documents, e‐mails, sites on the free web and premium content from subscription and syndicated publishers. It is integrated through a variety of authoring and content sharing tools from search engines and evolving content aggregation systems to newer forms of real time communication and electronic authoring including instant messaging, blogs, and text messaging through cell phones and other portable devices. As the sheer amount of available information and means of use proliferate, the need is growing for companies to include knowledge sharing via electronic content as a key element in their overall strategy. The fundamental strategic issue is empowering the people and decision makers who drive the business with relevant information in real time. E‐content provides the core of the business and competitive advantage lies in the immediacy of access, exchange and providing a meaningful flow of real‐time to the people who make decisions and the people who execute them. This article presents a structured model of the e‐content playing field and demonstrates how the integrated system for creating, delivering, using and sharing e‐content should be factored into strategic considerations for all businesses.