Digital preservation: where are we at, where are we going?
Henderson, Sandra
In November 2006, Charles Sturt University organised a one-day
conference at the National Library to look at the practical side of
digital preservation. A large number of public librarians from as far
afield as Western Australia were among those attending the event.
Jim Lindner from Media Matters in the United States set the scene
for the conference by describing the problems of digital preservation,
speculating on what preservation can realistically achieve, the extent
to which technology has changed within our working lifetimes, and the
sorts of options that are available.
Alan Howells of Preservation Solutions Australia spoke about the
importance of a digital preservation strategy, and many in the audience
came out of the session with a renewed resolve to put in place, or
update, such a strategy, based on his sound practical advice. Ian Walker
from Search Tech spoke about choosing the right equipment for the
digitisation task to be undertaken.
The thorny issue of copyright, and how this impacts on proposals
for digital preservation, was tackled by Erin Driscoll of the Australian
Film Commission. Elizabeth Watt from the National Library spoke about
the Community Heritage Grants Program, and a complementary paper by
Ellen Forsyth (State Library of New South Wales) and Claire Campbell
(Wagga Wagga Public Library) used a case study of the Wagga library to
show how a public library can tackle a digitisation project using a
Community Heritage Grant.
Peter Jetnikoff (State Library of Victoria) and Michael Carden
(National Archives of Australia) gave interesting presentations on how
these two institutions are addressing the challenges of digital
preservation for their large collections, while Paul Koerbin of the
National Library gave an update on the PANDORA Archive.
The program for the event, with links to many of the presentations,
can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/digpresprog.html.
Sandra Henderson
Manager
Coordination Support
National Library of Australia
