Preserving Our Digital Collections
This post was written by Anne Marie Lyons
Perhaps like many libraries and cultural heritage organizations, you have been digitizing your resources, as well as acquiring objects that are already “born digital.”
Where do we go from here? How can we ensure that access to our valuable digital assets survives technological changes, obsolescence, and varying levels of funding?
It’s time to begin thinking about digital preservation. I highly recommend starting with this tutorial, Digital Preservation Management: Implementing Short-term Strategies for Long-term Problems, which was created by Cornell University, and is currently maintained by the University of Michigan’s Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research department. The tutorial provides a comprehensive overview of digital preservation terminology, guidelines and models, preservation metadata, and bibliographic resources.
Another resource for learning about digital preservation is offered by DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE). This organization is currently developing animated YouTube videos that “encapsulate complex digital preservation issues and problems and explain them in a funny and easy to follow plot.*”
The first video, “Digital Preservation and Nuclear Disaster: An Animation” can be found here. Future animations will be available at this YouTube Channel.
Keep in mind that BCR is also offering an “Introduction to Digital Preservation” seminar on October 23, 2009. You can find more information here. We hope to see you there!
* May 11, 2009, DIGLIB listserv announcement from Emily Nimmo, Preservation Resources Officer with the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (Glasgow, Scotland).
Tags: Digital preservation, Digitization
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