Digital preservation of library materials

According to Hornby, A.S (2005). Digital refers to the using a system of receiving and sending information as a series of the numbers one and zero, showing that an electronic signal is there or is not there.

According to Digital Preservation Coalition (2008). Digital preservation refers to the series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary. It involves planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies

According to Brown, A. (2013). Digital preservation refers to all of the actions required to maintain access to digital materials beyond the limits of media failure or technological change

Archivability: One of the most fundamental challenges in archiving is determining what should be preserved. It is not feasible to preserve everything. Nor is it even possible to preserve some materials at all, due to their poor condition, security classification or culturally sensitive nature.

Data volumes: The world is becoming increasingly digitized, with more and more sources of data needing preservation. The sheer volume of data is a challenge that impacts most of the other challenges mentioned in this article, thus making them inherently larger and more complex. The costs of storage, downloading and ongoing maintenance, for example, are much more than they'd be with smaller volumes of data.  

Multiplicities: Materials born digital today are likely to have multiple copies in multiple versions stored in multiple locations, possibly under multiple filenames and in multiple file formats. This is especially so for images and videos. Photos taken on mobile devices, for example, may be automatically stored in iCloud, copied to Facebook,

Hardware & storage: Like software, hardware is prone to obsolescence, but also to mechanical failure. Hardware may be damaged by carelessness, neglect, overuse, or inappropriate storage. Batteries may be left in place during storage and cause unintended damage, not just to the hardware itself but also to any media which may have been left in the hardware. The care of digital media provides a further challenge.

Software: Rapid developments in application software and their underlying operating systems pose a challenge for digital preservation on several levels. Files may not render correctly on versions of software other than those they were designed to work on. While backwards compatibility is usually built into new software versions (at least for the most recent versions), this isn't a given.

File formats: File formats have long been considered one of the biggest risks in digital preservation. However, this has not proven to be the overwhelming danger that it was initially perceived to be. In large part, this is due to the availability of open file formats, resulting in the formats being supported by more software applications. Proprietary file formats continue to pose a challenge, as their specifications are less likely to be openly available.

Metadata: Metadata is probably the most important aspect of digital preservation. Materials with poor metadata may be undiscoverable, their authenticity unverifiable and their context unclear. Thus, they may not be as usable as they otherwise would. Inadequate or missing structural metadata will also impact on rendering. Preserving materials without good metadata is pretty much the same as throwing them away; along with all the resources expended in 'preserving' them. 

Legalities: Digital preservation presents some complex legal issues, well beyond those that apply to analogue material. Generally, preservation of analogue material doesn't involve the exercise of the copyright owner's right of reproduction.

Privacy: Material chosen for preservation may contain private and confidential information, and its unauthorised release may lead to legal action. Consequently, it is important for preservers to anonymise information prior to making it available. This could involve blacking out names and identifying information, or replacing identifiers with generic names, such as 'Person1', depending on the type of media and data.

Resourcing: Preservation costs involve not just the actual digitisation, but also storage, infrastructure, staff resourcing and training, ongoing maintenance and auditing of the digitised materials. There are also costs associated with providing access to digitised materials.Most institutions have limited resources to spend on preservation efforts, so the challenge is to expend these resources on preserving the most worthy materials, using the most cost-effective and efficient strategies.

Conclusion: The challenges in digital preservation involve dealing with not just the technologies of the past, but also those to come. The field is developing swiftly, and custodians of digital materials need to keep abreast of changes. One of the biggest challenges is to avoid being pulled onto a preservation path that turns out to have been a waste of time, energy and money. File format obsolescence has not turned out to be the overwhelming danger it was initially perceived to be and similar miscalculations may apply to other current and future technologies. The best of the preservation community can do with digital material is to make educated guesses based on a few decades of mostly anecdotal experience.

REFERENCES

Houghton, Bernadette (2016). Preservation Challenges in the Digital Age. vol. 22. Reston, Va.: Corporation for National Research Initiatives

Brown, A. (2013). Practical digital preservation. A how-to guide for organizations of any size. London: facet publishing.

Prytherch, Ray (2005). Harrod's librarians' glossary and reference book.10^th ed. Aldershot: Ashgate

Digital Preservation Coalition (2008). "Introduction: Definitions and Concepts". Digital Preservation Handbook. York,

Hornby,A.S (2005).oxford advances learner’s dictionary. 7^th ed. Oxford: Oxford university press