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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the awareness about digital preservation and what must be done towards preserving valuable original digital material. The paper also aims to discuss the use of metadata principles and the implementation of tools for the preservation of documents stored on personal computers.

Data loss prevention starts with the creation of a digital object. However, methods to minimize the loss of digital data are often ignored, the use of metadata structures embedded in digital objects from the outset thereof are recommended as a starting point towards good preservation principles. The need to create awareness on the issue of digital preservation was promoted by the authors at various occasions during 2008, as the number of incidents of data loss and costs involved continue to be of concern to all involved. Whether the loss occurs by a malicious attempt, or an inadvertent mistake, it can be diminishing either personally or to the institute/company where it occurs. Data were collected through a digital questionnaire and literature studies were done on several strategies, policies and best practices. Personal visits to libraries actively working on digital preservation and curation formed a basis for conducting the study. The implementation of tools that can be used to preserve and retrieve digital content by individuals was also investigated.

Digital objects should be archived with metadata about the object and the creation thereof. Metadata need not necessarily be structured and controlled when used by individuals or small groups for preservation of self owned data. The metadata content, however, should describe the object, the method of creation and technologies used in the creation. All changes to the document should be captured in the preservation metadata. Future access to digital content does not only depend on one preservation method but on a sequence of strategies and methods applied to the digital content.

The paper provides a broad overview of certain aspects that must be considered when implementing digital preservation strategies. The value of metadata needs to be widely accepted and implemented and the use thereof promoted to creators of personal digital objects.

Preserving the vast amount of digitally published data is of paramount importance to maintaining the intellectual heritage. In order that resources can be deposited, managed and retrieved, it will be necessary to accurately describe what has been preserved and how it has been preserved. This paper looks at the problems of producing accurate and effective metadata that describe preserved resources without incurring a prohibitive cost overhead. It investigates the extent to which existing metadata standards may be able to address this problem and specifically analyses whether ONIX metadata could be integrated into the preservation process.

The purpose of this case study is to discuss the creation of robust preservation functionality within PURR. The study seeks to discuss the customization of the HUBzero platform, composition of digital preservation policies, and the creation of a novel, machine-actionable metadata model for PURR's unique digital content. Additionally, the study will trace the implementation of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) model and track PURR's progress towards Trustworthy Digital Repository certification.

This case study discusses the use of the Center for Research Libraries Trusted Repository Audit Checklist (TRAC) certification process and ISO 16363 as a rubric to build an OAIS institutional repository for the publication, preservation, and description of unique datasets.

ISO 16363 continues to serve as a rubric, barometer and set of goals for PURR as development continues. To become a trustworthy repository, the PURR project team has consistently worked to build a robust, secure, and long-term home for collaborative research. In order to fulfill its mandate, the project team constructed policies, strategies, and activities designed to guide a systematic digital preservation environment. PURR expects to undertake the full ISO 16363 audit process at a future date in expectation of being certified as a Trustworthy Digital Repository. Through its efforts in digital preservation, the Purdue University Research Repository expects to better serve Purdue researchers, their collaborators, and move scholarly research efforts forward world-wide.

PURR is a customized instance of HUBzero®, an open source software platform that supports scientific discovery, learning, and collaboration. HUBzero was a research project funded by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) and is a product of the Network for Computation Nanotechnology (NCN), a multi-university initiative of eight member institutions. PURR is only one instance of a HUBzero's customization; versions have been implemented in many disciplines nation-wide. PURR maintains the core functionality of HUBzero, but has been modified to publish datasets and to support their preservation. Long-term access to published data are an essential component of PURR services and Purdue University Libraries' mission. Preservation in PURR is not only vital to the Purdue University research community, but to the larger digital preservation issues surrounding dynamic datasets and their long-term usability.

On August 26, 1971, OCLC introduced the online union catalog and shared cataloging system. During the 1970s, OCLC focused its efforts on creating and expanding the online cataloging system and telecommunications network. It added an online interlibrary loan system in 1979. In the 1980s, OCLC began adapting distributed computing and microcomputing technologies as its product and service lines expanded to some 60 offerings. The organization also began looking at ways to move beyond bibliography by furnishing information not only to library staffs, but also to library patrons. In the 1990s, OCLC launched a new core business in reference services. (Smith, 1998, pp. 251–252). Now, in the 21st century, OCLC is introducing tools, services and infrastructure to manage the life cycle of digital content in libraries.

The long‐term preservation of digital resources is one of the most important issues facing the library community. In particular, libraries need a preservation strategy for digital objects, since digitization alone provides access but not preservation. The digital library community is also focusing on the problem of designing and implementing long‐term archives or repositories. Digital repository management includes the development and enforcement of policies for tasks such as managing access to collection contents and preserving items in the collection. Comprehensive standards and best practices are currently starting to emerge, and ongoing work has deepened the understanding of the needs and requirements that must be met to carry out effective digital preservation. One of these requirements is the creation and maintenance of metadata in support of the preservation process. This paper would like to share findings from earlier and ongoing work that serve as “groundwork” for the current directions leading to the idea of making metadata a more useful and powerful tool to contribute to the technical solution of digital preservation.

The UK Office for Library and Information Networking are engaged in a wide range of work in the area of metadata, in cooperation with various partners. Projects on metadata for Internet resource discovery, interoperability and digital preservation all point to the continuing need for something like traditional library services to organise, access and preserve networked information.

This paper aims to automate pre-ingest workflow for preserving digital content, such as records, through middleware that integrates potentially many information systems with potentially several alternative digital preservation services.

This design research approach resulted in a design for model- and component-based software for such workflow. A proof-of-concept prototype was implemented and demonstrated in context of a European research project, ForgetIT.

The study identifies design issues of automated pre-ingest for digital preservation while using middleware as a design choice for this purpose. The resulting model and solution suggest functionalities and interaction patterns based on open interface protocols between the source systems of digital content, middleware and digital preservation services. The resulting workflow automates the tasks of fetching digital objects from the source system with metadata extraction, preservation preparation and transfer to a selected preservation service. The proof-of-concept verified that the suggested model for pre-ingest workflow and the suggested component architecture was technologically implementable. Future research and development needs to include new solutions to support context-aware preservation management with increased support for configuring submission agreements as a basis for dynamic automation of pre-ingest and more automated error handling.

The paper addresses design issues for middleware as a design choice to support automated pre-ingest in digital preservation. The suggested middleware architecture supports many-to-many relationships between the source information systems and digital preservation services through open interface protocols, thus enabling dynamic digital preservation solutions for records management.

Digital preservation poses an increasing cause for concern in UK higher education institutions. This paper provides a general overview of the development of a digital preservation pilot project within a university library, including the future integration of the METS and OAIS standards. It also considers how it is planned to automate these digital preservation practices in Edinburgh University Library's new digital object management system.

The purpose of this case study is to describe and interpret the PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS) implementation process, to gain more insight into why barriers to the adoption of PREMIS exist as well as how to overcome them.

This qualitative case study analysis highlights the Florida Digital Archive as an exemplar of an organization in the throes of deciding just how to implement the PREMIS metadata model in a working repository system.

Findings from this study suggest that use of PREMIS requires adaptation in which an organization must make changes in order to use PREMIS, and vice versa. Findings also suggest that there are clearly defined steps involved in the PREMIS implementation process, and that the nature of this process is iterative.

This study is limited by a short data collection period. It is also limited by investigating only one institution during its implementation process. Future studies could test the validity of the model proposed in this study and include multiple institutions.

By providing context for the implementation process, this paper can help cultural heritage institutions interested in fully adopting PREMIS.

Exploring PREMIS implementation using DOI/MIS literature is novel in the digital preservation community and is proposed as particularly useful to digital preservationists who are considering adopting PREMIS. The paper suggests that seemingly innocuous decisions by developers have real implications for preservation.

Digital preservation is currently a major concern for the information management, technological and scientific communities in all domains. It is also critical at the organisational level, with special pressure for all institutions with a responsibility for preservation, such as libraries and archives. This paper provides a brief overview of the main issues in digital preservation, highlighting current research and standards efforts.