Digital Preservation: A Time Bomb for Digital Libraries

Abstract

The difficulty and expense of preservingdigital information is a potential impediment todigital library development. Preservation oftraditional materials became more successful andsystematic after libraries and archives integratedpreservation into overall planning and resourceallocation. Digital preservation is largelyexperimental and replete with the risks associatedwith untested methods. Digital preservationstrategies are shaped by the needs and constraints ofrepositories with little consideration for therequirements of current and future users of digitalscholarly resources. This article discusses thepresent state of digital preservation, articulatesrequirements of both users and custodians, andsuggests research needs in storage media, migration,conversion, and overall management strategies. Additional research in these areas would helpdevelopers of digital libraries and other institutionswith preservation responsibilities to integratelong-term preservation into program planning,administration, system architectures, and resourceallocation.