Practical Digital Preservation: A How-to Guide for Organizations of Any Size

This very practical guide, offering a comprehensive overview of best practice, is aimed at the non-specialist, assuming only a basic understanding of IT and offering guidance as to how to implement strategies with minimal time and resources. Digital preservation has become a critical issue for institutions of all sizes but until recently has mostly been the preserve of national archives and libraries with the resources, time and specialist knowledge available to experiment. As the discipline matures and practical tools and information are increasingly available the barriers to entry are falling for smaller organizations which can realistically start to take active steps towards a preservation strategy. However, the sheer volume of technical information now available on the subject is becoming a significant obstacle and a straightforward guide is required to offer clear and practical solutions.

Each chapter covers the essential building blocks of digital preservation strategy and implementation, leading the reader through the process. International case studies from organizations such as the Wellcome Library, Central Connecticut State University Library in the USA and Gloucestershire Archives in the UK illustrate how real organizations have approached the challenges of digital preservation.

Key topics include:

• Making the case for digital preservation
• Understanding your requirements
• Models for implementing a digital preservation service
• Selecting and acquiring digital objects
• Accessioning and ingesting digital objects
• Describing digital objects
• Preserving digital objects
• Providing access to users
• Future trends

This is an essential handbook for anyone involved in digital preservation and those wanting to get a better understanding of the process. It's also a useful guide to digital preservation basics for students studying library and information science, archives and records management courses and academics getting to grips with practical issues.