Digital Preservation Policies

Some Strategies for digital preservation:

Back up:
Digital media is fragile and you can risk losing important files. Improper handling of hardware can render contents inaccessible. Files can also be damaged by viruses and other malicious programs. Make copies of your collections and save them in multiple locations, preferably on external hard drives. CDs and DVDs are easily damaged and may fail within a few years. Buy new hard drives periodically and move your files from old hardware to new hardware.

Conversion:
Software and hardware becomes obsolete. It is sometimes impossible to open files from disks that are just a few years old. It is, therefore, important to convert old media, such as floppy disks, to newer formats to ensure future access. Converting image files to TIFF will increase the longevity of the data that makes up the image. TIFF files are large and inefficient for use in email or web pages or in other instances where speed is more important. This is because TIFF uses lossless compression which does not lose data in transformation.

Lossy compression on the other hand gets rid of redundant image data creating a smaller, more efficient file for quick access and retrieval. The loss of this data however visibly degrades an image over time. JPEG is an example of a file type that uses lossy compression.

Metadata:
Metadata, in this context, is information used to describe, represent, and retrieve a digital file. Preservation metadata specifically tracks how a file is created, if any data is lost over time, and issues pertaining to rights management. Knowledge of the hardware and software used to create a file can help ensure future access. Knowledge of the rate at which the file is degrading helps inform future preservation strategies.

Resources for further study:

British Library Introduction to Digital Preservation.
http://www.bl.uk/about/collectioncare/digpresintro.html

Digital Preservation Coalition.
http://www.dpconline.org

Library of Congress Introduction to Digital Preservation.
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/you/digitalmemories.html

A Metadata Approach to Preservation of Digital Resources: The University of North Texas Libraries' Experience.
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_8/alemneh/

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIP).
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/

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