one day seminar on “CONVERGENCE OF ICTs In LIBRARIES” organized by Kapila Khandvala College of Education on 24th April 2008

1. Digital Preservation
Dr. Sarika Sawant
SHPT School Of Library Science
SNDT Women’s University

2. SHPT School of Library Science
What is Digital document
preservation
Digital document preservation is a
process by which digital data is
preserved in digital form in order to
ensure the
 usability,
 durability and
 intellectual integrity of the information
contained therein

3. SHPT School of Library Science
Need for digital preservation
 Vast amount of ‘born-digital’ data,
especially in science and engineering
 Physical deterioration: medium is vulnerable
to deterioration and catastrophic loss.
 Digital obsolescence: Digital technology is on
a fast track

4. SHPT School of Library Science
Digital preservation: issues
 data is maintained in the repository without
being damaged, lost or maliciously altered;
 data can be found, extracted and served to a
user;
 data can be interpreted and understood by
the user; and
 the above can be achieved in the long term.

5. SHPT School of Library Science
Digital preservation process
 Organisational
 Managerial and
 Technical

6. SHPT School of Library Science
Organisational issues:
digital preservation policy
 Justification for preservation
 Organisational and financial
commitment
 Preservation of authentic resources and
quality control
 Metadata creation
 High-level identification of roles and
responsibilities
 Training and education

7. SHPT School of Library Science
Managerial issues
 preservation planning
 developing strategy
 taking sole responsibility for
preservation
 dealing with IT staff or external
preservation service providers

8. SHPT School of Library Science
Methods of digital preservation
 Bitstream Copying
 Durable, Persistent Media
 Standards
 Migration
 Emulation
 Encapsulation
 Preservation Metadata

9. SHPT School of Library Science
Bitstream Copying
– or backing up
data, where you
make a duplicate
of the digital object.
Durable, Persistent
Media – where you
preserve the
physical media,
or CD, on which the
object is stored.
Migration – where you
copy data from one
technology to another to
avoid obsolescence of
both the physical media
and the data format.
Standards – relies
on recognized, long-
term standards over
proprietary formats.
Emulation – process of
reproducing software and
hardware
environments to translate
code from one computing
environment to run
on another.
Encapsulation – as part
of an emulation strategy,
where objects and
metadata are grouped
together to help decode
and render object later.
Preservation Metadata
– describes the
software, hardware and
requirements of the
digital object to use in
preserving the object.
Preservation
Strategies

10. SHPT School of Library Science
challenges of digital
preservation
 Technology obsolescence
 Absence of established standards,
protocols, and proven methods for
preserving digital information
 technological or economic feasibility of
operating on a mass scale

11. SHPT School of Library Science
Learning more about digital preservation
 Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) site published by the
Australian National University
http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/18.html.
 Directory of Digital Repositories and Services in the UK
http://www.dpconline.org/docs/guides/directory.pdf
 Contracting Out for Digital Preservation Services: Information Leaflet
and Checklist, by Duncan Simpson
http://www.dpconline.org/docs/guides/outsourcing.pdf

12. SHPT School of Library Science
Thank You !!

13. SHPT School of Library Science