News

Comments are sought on the DPC's draft response to the DCMS's consultation on the regulations for Legal Deposit of electronic materials.  The draft response is online at: http://www.dpconline.org/advocacy/direct-advocacy/dpc-response-to-electronic-legal-deposit [pdf, login required] Comments are requested by Monday 13th December. 

In January 2010 the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) consulted on draft regulations for the legal deposit of ‘free of charge’ electronic publications – the ‘free web’.  This consultation was intended to be the first part of a two part process and the DPC responded arguing inter alia that the second phase of proposals be presented without delay as arguably the ‘paid web’ includes material of lasting value and that until regulations were introduced this element of our collected digital memory would be at risk. 

The DPC, JISC and West Yorkshire Archive Service are delighted to announce the release of a new digital preservation case note which examines the practical problems of digital preservation faced by West Yorkshire Archive Service as they negotiated and received their first large digital collection.  They conclude that although digital preservation can seem daunting and although nobody has the perfect answer to digital preservation for every case, that if we try we may fail but if we do nothing we certainly will.

The case note will be released at the end of October: a member's preview of the Case Note is available here (login required).

Glasgow Museums and the DPC, with the assistance of the JISC are delighted to announce the release of a new addition to the Digital Preservation Case Notes series.  In this case note, Glasgow Museums shows that the benefits of digital preservation can be expressed in terms of new opportunities they create in the short and long term.  Even relatively simple steps can bring early rewards if properly embedded within the mission of an organization.

The DPC has responded to the consultation on the Public records review, welcoming the explicit statement that digitized and ‘born digital’ materials constitute a public record, noting and supporting the focus on informational content and the consequent need for ‘technology proofing’ and the management of formats.  The DPC has offered its assistance in identifying and resolving issues that may arise.

The Digital Preservation Coalition is delighted to welcome St Andrews University as its latest associate member.

Birgit Plietzsch, Arts Computing Advisor at the University explained 'Most of today's information is held in a digital format. As a University we need to ensure that digital information remains accessible for as long as required. Our current focus is on the preservation of Arts and Humanities electronic resources. Such resources are often the outcome of expensive publicly funded research projects. It is in the interest of the scholarly community within the University to ensure the data contained within these resources is preserved in the long-term.'

The DPC, with help from the British Library , Portico and ULCC, and with funding from JISC, is pleased to announce the launch of the fourth in a series of Digital Preservation Case Notes.  The Case Notes offer straightforward examples of organisations and individuals tackling the digital preservation challenges that come from mass digitization.  The latest describes the Archival Sound Recordings (2) project from the British Library.  It discusses the benefits that accrue to preservation when content and metadata are wrapped together - and a technology called METS which can help to achieve that.

The Digital Preservation Coalition is delighted to welcome the Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII) at Glasgow University as its newest associate member.

'Since its foundation, HATII has had a strong commitment to digital preservation and digitization. It has been involved in a large number of collaborative initiatives such as the Digital Curation Centre, the PLANETS project, Digital Preservation Europe and Erpanet.

'HATII sees new opportunities to frame its research through DPC membership as well as an opportunity to influence policy and practice', explained Ann Gow, Associate Director.  'Long term access to digital resources is an aspiration across the public and private sectors.  It requires a diverse range of experience if it is to be achieved

HATII is delighted to join the DPC as an associate member.  We recognise the value of partnership in this critical area and look forward to interdisciplinary collaboration with the DPC'

The DPC, with help from the National Library of Wales, Portico and ULCC, and with funding from JISC, is pleased to announce the launch of the third in a series of Digital Preservation Case Notes.  The Case Notes offer straightforward examples of organisations and individuals tackling the digital preservation challenges that come from mass digitization. 

The Digital Preservation Coalition, with ULCC and Portico, with the support of the National Archives and sponsorship from JISC is pleased to announce the release of the second in our series of Digital Preservation Case Notes.

In this case note we examine the relationship between policy and practice in digital preservation.  The National Archives has digitised a significant volume of the UK's Cabinet Papers, using techniques and practices that they have developed over many years.  It has considerable expertise in digital preservation. However the measure of their commitment to long term preservation is not so much their undoubted expertise so much as their carefully considered policy framework for the long term management of digital resources. Funders often ask to see policy documents in assessing grant applications: for digitisation grants, or other grants likely to create prolific amounts of new and valuable digital content, it is reasonable to assess their digital preservation policies.