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This paper aims to describe the Florida Digital Archive (FDA), a long‐term preservation repository for the use of the public university system of Florida, and the DAITSS preservation repository application used by the FDA. It seeks to explain requirements that shaped DAITSS design, outline functions of the current software, and describe how DAITSS is being rearchitected as a series of Web Services (DAITSS 2). It also endeavours to place the FDA and DAITSS in the context of various models for implementing digital preservation functions.

This is a case study of one model of digital preservation implementation that includes some comparison with examples of other models. The preservation protocol implemented by DAITSS combines bit‐level preservation, format normalization, and forward format migration; extensive preservation and format‐specific metadata are supported, and authenticity of content is maintained through application design and a complete record of digital provenance.

The formal OAIS model has much to offer, and DAITSS could be part of a preservation solution for large academic/research libraries and for consortia who can share central computing facilities and staff.

When DAITSS 2 is completed and implemented by the Florida Digital Archive, the code will be released for use under an open source license. Institutions, consortia and third party service providers looking for a more complete preservation solution than simple replication can consider using DAITSS 2 as their digital preservation repository application.

There are very few preservation repository applications that do nothing but digital preservation, do it well, and formally implement the OAIS model. The Florida Digital Archive's DAITSS was the first of its kind in the USA. DAITSS 2 will conform to the same requirements as DAITSS and will retain the same functionality, but it will be easier to implement and manage in production, and easier to maintain and enhance.

This article describes the evolution of the design of the FCLA digital archive, a preservation repository under development for the libraries of the public universities of Florida. The starting assumptions of the designers were challenged as they moved from theory towards implementation. The logic leading to changes in policy and in preservation strategies is described.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on progress over the last ten years in the field of digital preservation for cultural heritage institutions.

This is an opinion piece, based on the experience of a practitioner in digital preservation.

Digital preservation has become a mainstream activity. There are differences in the American and European approaches to supporting and organizing preservation initiatives. US institutions would benefit from wider outreach and education efforts.

The implications are left to the reader, but may suggest that more reflection on the goals and strategies of the preservation community is in order.

This paper identifies a need to develop and support distributed centers of excellence to promote digital preservation, provide expertise to other institutions, and to organize sharing and training opportunities for their constituencies.

As a federally‐funded independent granting agency, The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) became involved in digitization in the late 1990s when Congress gave it statutory authority to fund digitization of library and museum collections. Since that time, IMLS has funded more than 100 exemplary digitization projects through its National Leadership Grant program. Collectively, these projects have helped to identify best practices for the creation, management, preservation and use of digital content. Most importantly, they demonstrate the important role that museums and libraries can play in supporting both formal education and lifelong learning. Ultimately, this work will help libraries and museums to fulfill their roles as educational institutions. IMLS grants support the spectrum of learning from independent inquiry through formal education to the development of “learning communities.”

This paper aims to select a few terms in common use today in the library and information science domain, and looks into their usage over time.

The use of terms is traced historically, if somewhat informally, through writings such as websites, press releases and articles.

“Discovery tool” suddenly acquired a specific meaning in 2009. “Digital preservation” and “digital curation” may never sort themselves out. “OPAC” and “ILS” are terms in disfavor as the products they refer to lose luster.

The value of the paper is to make readers more aware of the way they use words by reflecting on some commonly used terms in the library and information science domain.

Linking Florida's Natural History uses species information as the nexus for pulling together scientific data from museum specimen databases and library catalogs of scientific literature. The goals of the IMLS funded project were to integrate specimen records and bibliographic records about the same species; to create an interface equally easy for scientists, students and laymen to use; and to enhance bibliographic description to make it more usable in a taxonomic and environmental context. Although some development was required to enable Z39.50‐based broadcast search across bibliographic and specimen collections, the bulk of the work was devoted to identifying and overcoming inconsistencies between the resource description practices of libraries and museums. Enriching records with taxonomic and geographic information was also a challenge.

Reference‐linking has added a new dimension of value to works containing citations. It drastically reduces the labor involved in accessing referenced material by capitalizing on the ability of electronic items to point to each other. With the promise come a variety of issues that must be addressed before the full benefit can be realized. At the forefront of these are determining what to link to, determining appropriate copy, managing access and copyrights, and persistence of object identifiers. A number of initiatives are tackling these issues to various extents, and a number of publishers and vendors are enabling these technologies. Background, benefits, issues, projects, and employment of reference‐linking are examined to provide an overview of the current state of reference‐linking. A sampling of industry players is queried to obtain a variety of perspectives.

With the increase in the use of electronic information services in libraries, and in particular with the dramatic increase in the use of electronic journals, there is an urgent need by libraries for solutions that link the disparate information resources in a meaningful way for the end user and that optimize the use of these resources. Such linking solutions are now available for libraries, supported and assisted by the emergence of new standards such as the OpenURL and the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Linking solutions built around these standards include SFX and CrossRef. Demonstrates how these different solutions, and the underlying standards, interact to meet library needs.