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This article reviews recent preservation activity in Britain, considers the place of preservation in library management and looks to its future development. The many and broad aspects of preservation which impinge on library management are indicated. Much progress has been made in recent years, but there remain those who need persuading to reassess their attitude towards it. If the current preservation impetus is to be maintained and extended, then the question of funding, in particular, must be successfully addressed. Co‐operative programmes and integration of preservation into overall library management and policy will be significant in achieving this.

The purpose of this paper is to identify challenges related to the management and preservation of audio-visual (AV) records and/or archives in archival institutions in Sub Saharan Africa and suggests strategies for resolving them.

This study is qualitative in nature and used content analysis from desk top review of literature to identify the challenges and suggested solutions.

Among others, the study revealed that budgetary constraints, poor environmental controls, ill-equipped staff and technological obsolescence are the major challenges hampering the efforts of archival institutions in Sub Saharan Africa to manage and preserve AV archives.

The contextual differences due to existing political set ups in archival agencies in Sub Saharan Africa may or may not be receptive to some of the strategies suggested for the improvement of managing and preserving audio visual archives.

The paper provides practical solutions which can inform policy and practice; thus, if adopted by archival agencies, the findings can add to improvements in the management and preservation of AV records.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge on the preservation and management of AV archives in the context of Sub Saharan Africa.

Polytechnics in Nigeria are conventional institutions where academic board records are being managed in paper form. It has been observed that accessing these academic board records is difficult due to factors associated with the absence of preservation techniques and lack of clear-cut conservation practices. This study, therefore, aims to examine the preservation techniques and conservation practices adopted for the management of academic board records in polytechnics in South-West Nigeria.

This study adopted a qualitative method with the population comprising 54 records management personnel enumerated in the four selected polytechnics in South-West Nigeria. Triangulation method (questionnaire, interview and observation checklist) was used for data collection. The responses were analysed with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Findings revealed that photocopying, binding and use of insecticides were the most rated preservation techniques adopted. The security and shelving of academic board records to allow for free flow of air were the most available conservation practices, whereas staff training was not adequately available. The topmost rated constraints were non-challant attitude of personnel in-charge, insufficient funds and inadequate infrastructure.

This study concluded that preservation and conservation practices are vital in the management of academic board records in polytechnics in South-West Nigeria. For efficient and effective management of academic board records, modern-day preservation and conservation practices need to be adopted.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how preservation and conservation practices adopted for the management of academic board records in Nigerian polytechnics.

This paper aims to explore a theoretical and methodological approach to preservation management in libraries, relying on the basic presumption that preservation is a complex and comprehensive process that involves many different and seemingly diverse aspects whose efficiency lies in preservation management.

Using a case study of Croatia, the paper describes a methodology for exploring the general preservation management context and presents a preservation management model that comprises five key components.

The paper offers insight into preservation management issues in a specific national context.

Although this paper focuses primarily on written heritage in libraries, it is applicable to other types of heritage and to other types of information institutions.

The theoretical and methodological approach presented in this paper and described in the example of Croatia can be useful for exploring similar issues in other countries. It can be expanded to other types and forms of heritage and heritage institutions.

The paper describes a model of organising preservation activities into an efficient and successful preservation system, and establishes a methodology for exploring diverse preservation issues on national and institutional levels.

The aim of legal deposit is to ensure the preservation of and access to a nation’s intellectual and cultural heritage over time. There is a global trend towards extending legal deposit to cover digital publications in order to maintain comprehensive national archives. However, including digital publications in legal deposit regulations is not enough to ensure the long‐term preservation of these publications. Indeed, there are many practical difficulties associated with the entire deposit process. Conceptsm, principles and practices that are accepted and understood in the print environment, such as publication, publisher, place of publication and edition, may have new meanings or no longer be appropriate in a networked environment. Mechanisms for identifying, selecting and depositing digital material either do not exist or are inappropriate for some kinds of digital publication. There is a great deal of work on developing digital preservation strategies; this is at an early stage. National and other deposit libraries are at the forefront of research and development in this area, often in partnership with other libraries, publishers and technology vendors. Most of this activity is of a technical nature. There is some work on developing policies and strategies for managing digital resources. However, not all management issues or users’ needs are being addressed.

This study aims to assess the status of the digital records preservation practices in the South African public sector at the national department level. It set out to establish to what extent digital preservation policies have been implemented in South Africa’s public sector, to determine the related skills and competency of public sector staff, and to make any necessary recommendations of the basis of the results.

A content review of Southern Africa literature dealing with the preservation of digital records, its importance and related factors over the past 20 years was conducted.

The current state of preservation of South African digital records suggests serious consequences of existing knowledge and training gaps. Addressing those gaps may provide the knowledge needed to support new ways of working. Records management professionals in the South African public sector at the national department level are currently ill-equipped to adequately preserve digital records. This complicates the application of tools offered by the information and communication technologies that have resulted in increased creation of digital records.

The study was limited to only the public sector of South Africa.

The study makes practical implications concerning the policy framework for improving the state of digital preservation in South Africa so as to ensure long-term preservation of digital records. For instance, government departments are recommended to formulate and implement in-house policy frameworks, guidelines and plans that address digital preservation of records.

Sufficient funding and resource allocation ought to be provided to advance electronic records management programmes. In addition, the formulation of proper strategies needed to preserve digital records should incorporate technological tools and media software in the existing operations for the creation, capturing, appraising and preserving of digital records.

This study offers informed recommendations to address the challenges of preserving digital records in South Africa so that future losses may be avoided and allow readers to see changes over the 20-year period.

The purpose of this study is to examine the standards, strategies, support and challenges of digital preservation in institutional repositories in academic libraries in Ghana.

The research was qualitative. Data used for analysis were drawn from interviews with respondents selected purposively from eight Ghanaian academic libraries.

A key finding of the study was that although the academic libraries had operational directions for digital preservation activities in the institutional repositories, available standards and practices for ensuring long-term preservation seem to be unsuitable.

Recommendations based on findings included development of comprehensive digital preservation policies to provide mandate and direction to preservation of the libraries digital collections, development of disaster plans, adequate funding, staff development and support from management.

The study has demonstrated the need for academic libraries in Ghana to have and develop good digital preservation standards for sustaining the institutional repositories to help in realizing its benefits.

Losing indigenous knowledge is to lose the future and impoverish the societies because indigenous knowledge is considered one of the cornerstones and survival of communities, societies and economies. This study, thus, aims to explore and assess the contextual enablers of indigenous knowledge and their role in developing and sustaining the Ewe communities in Ghana.

The qualitative research design, which enabled the researcher to engage the participants in an interview process and observation, was used in this study. It was augmented with a quantitative design using structured questions. Data analysis was guided by the basic principles of grounded theory. The coding system was aided by NVivo to analyze the qualitative data, while the quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS. Descriptive analysis and graphs were deployed in the presentation of the findings.

The study discovered that the communities are in possession of several types of indigenous knowledge, ranging from tacit to explicit knowledge, which are embedded in their cultural and traditional systems and unique to every community; the culture of trust among the citizens and motivation to create and share knowledge in communities was high. Same time, family heads, farmer groups, libraries and museums played key roles in the preservation and management of indigenous knowledge in the communities. On the other hand, information officers and institutions like churches and police posts played insignificant roles in the management and preservation of knowledge in the communities just as the absence of a culture of willingness by the community members to create and share knowledge. Additionally, there was an absence of technological infrastructure, platforms, databases and policies to aid the management and preservation of knowledge in the communities. The study concludes that indigenous knowledge plays a vital role in the development and sustainability of communities in Ghana.

Community leaders and political leaders need to invest in systems and structures that will promote the management and preservation of indigenous knowledge for the development of the communities and the state as a whole.

The study demonstrates its originality in terms of scope, setting, population and empirical evidence by focusing on the role of indigenous knowledge in the sustainability and development of Ewe communities in Ghana.

The long‐term access to and preservation of research collections in digital form is an issue of increasing concern to research libraries around the world. This article provides an overview of selected issues, projects and initiatives in digital preservation in the UK. These include the Joint Information Systems Committee/National Preservation Office research studies, the CEDARS project, the National Electronic Site Licensing Initiative (NESLI), legal deposit of electronic publications, the preservation management of digital materials handbook, and the Arts and Humanities Data Service. It concludes with details of the proposed Digital Preservation Coalition, which aims to develop a UK digital preservation agenda within an international context.

Recently, increasing importance has been given to electronic records in China, despite the lack of understanding that institutions and organizations have regarding the security status of electronic records preservation. Wuhan, the largest city in central China, serves as a case to investigate the preservation security of electronic records. Challenges to security are summarized, and solutions are proposed to support policy-developing and operational guidance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The Delphi method is applied to analyze the advice of nine experts, select survey items and design questionnaires. Data are collected from 34 archives in Wuhan through field surveys, oral interviews and e-mails, which are analyzed and illustrated with three representative cases.

Main achievements of electronic records preservation are concluded in the electronic records management system, carrier types and storage formats, and data backup. Problems are summarized as a lack of awareness and capability of defending against security risks, disaster recovery capability, and understanding of electronic record characteristics. Solutions are proposed as follows: carrying out regular security risk evaluation, adopting new technologies, implementing application-level backup, strengthening technology-related education and attracting more IT talent to join the archive discipline. In addition, it is critical to promote an understanding of the characteristics of electronic records.

This paper investigates the security status of electronic records in central China by surveys and case studies. Critical problems and corresponding solutions are raised to support policy-developing and operational guidance for the research and practice of all kinds of institutions that implement electronic records preservation.