Search results

The Library of Congress is engaged in an effort to ensure the health and sustainability of its preservation program.

This paper is an expanded version of a presentation Jacob Nadal and Erin Engle gave at the 7th Kuopio Conference. That presentation explained how the preservation management team re-evaluated and re-imagined its work through a series of workshops, cost studies and planning exercises. This led to a new way to respond to immediate operational requirements and adapt to agency focus across strategic planning cycles while still making progress on large-scale preservation needs.

This work led to new plans for the workforce and fiscal resources needed to maintain a rich array of options for use of the collections over the long term. This paper details the philosophy and strategy behind this approach to address financial and organizational sustainability of a large-scale preservation program.

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 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.

This paper aims to clarify a mechanism for determining the robustness of digital preservation options given that the field has matured and contains a number of alternatives.

By examining the component activities of digital preservation, the open archival information system (OAIS) reference model and the trustworthy repository certification process, this paper outlines a possible new model for evaluating the caliber of any particular digital preservation mechanism.

This paper offers a more ordered and prescriptive model for evaluating digital preservation efforts.

As a review of the OAIS reference model is underway, this paper seeks to contribute to that ongoing discussion to address several issues lacking in the current model and its effect on the certification process.

This paper identifies weaknesses in current practices and offers a model for addressing them.

Discusses the results of a questionnaire survey into preservation policies and practice in British libraries, focusing on responsibility for preservation, preservation policies, disaster control planning, staff training and user education, co‐operative initiatives, factors inhibiting preservation activity and spending on preservation. Findings indicate that preservation is considered most applicable to special collections and to rare or valuable items, and that funding is a major problem even in libraries with a strong commitment to preservation. Increased activity in areas such as disaster control planning indicate a greater awareness of preservation issues than in the past. Highlights the advantages of written preservation policies and the success of co‐operative initiatives such as Newsplan, suggesting that a national preservation policy would enable libraries to take a more rational approach to problems such as what to preserve and funding allocation, while helping to clarify their national heritage responsibilities.

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.

The study aims to examine availability, coverage of digital preservation policy and the structures put in place by National Information Centres in Nigeria to preserve digital information.

A qualitative research methodology using a case study approach was adopted. Documentary sources, a semi‐structured questionnaire for the focus group, and interviews were the instruments used to collect data. While a homogeneous sampling of five staff in the digitisation/digital preservation unit was adopted for the focus group interview, only one top management staff member from the rank of Assistant Director of each of the selected three National Information Centres was interviewed.

The National Bureau of Statistics and the National Library of Nigeria have digital preservation policies. However, the area of coverage of the available policies is not adequate enough to ensure the long‐term preservation of digital information. Similarly, the study revealed that the lack of institutional support from the National Information Centres studied is one of the challenges in the implementation of the digital preservation policy.

For any National Information Centre to ensure the accessibility and reuse of its digital information, it must have a digital preservation policy, without which the active management of digital information will be very challenging and can result in the loss of vital digital information of significant importance.

There is currently no research work addressing issues on digital preservation policy with a particular focus on Nigeria. This paper therefore highlights shortcomings of the available digital preservation policy and proposes a national digital preservation policy that will chart a road map for effective digital preservation activities in any National Information Centre.

Reflects on the initiatives being taken by OCLC to educate librarians about preservation of library collections. Describes the techniques whereby libraries can create bibliographic records containing preservation data. Reviews the research being carried out in the field by OCLC. Examines the issues of co‐operation and training.

Preservation activities have existed in libraries since the early days of librarianship, but these efforts were mostly decentralized and buried in the work of many different departments. Not until the 1970s did library organizations begin to add preservation to organizational charts on a departmental or middle management level, along with its new administrative costs. At that time, libraries were struggling with early efforts at automation and the many changes it would bring to their organizations. Preservation department functions, formerly decentralized from an administrative and budgetary standpoint under the headings of commercial binding, book repair, special collections, or circulation, were now identified as a budget line forced to compete for funds with newly formed library systems departments as well as other traditional library functions. This was particularly difficult given that a large portion of the costs of a comprehensive preservation department were new and additive (Fasana and Baker, 1992, p. 132), yet provided few immediately evident benefits. A burgeoning library systems unit could place libraries on the cutting edge of technology; automated card catalogs could improve productivity and efficiency for staff, and also provide for better patron access to collections. Needless to say, systems departments were much better funded than preservation units at this time.

Moving images represent a category of material which has historically received short shrift in most libraries and archives. Film, video, and now digital images form a significant part of many library and archival collections, however, and can be found in many formats and genres. Despite the ubiquity of such media in cultural institutions, the majority of libraries and archives owning collections of moving images have neglected these holdings—with the specific exception of those few archives devoted primarily to the care and preservation of moving images.