The ability of an organisation to facilitate and provide the necessary resources to enable research.

What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?

Organization Type Risk Potential Consequences

All organizations

Technologies used become obsolete; this may apply to elements such as hardware, software and file formats.

  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Required to maintain expensive legacy systems
  • Disruption of business/organisation’s functions
  • Unable to provide audit trails
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

The bits and bytes making up the digital information degrade over time.

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

Insufficient contextual information (metadata) to understand the information and for it to be useful.

  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Disruption of business/organization’s functions
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

Lack of supporting legislation to facilitate preservation, particularly relating to copyright/IPR, privacy and legal deposit.

  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Data loss
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

All organizations

Rate of data creation outstrips capacity for storage, processing and preservation.

  • Important digital objects are not captured within the preservation system
  • Data loss/corruption

All organizations

Insufficient staffing/skills to be able to carry out successful preservation.

  • Unable to carry out necessary preservation actions
  • Data loss
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Archives

Executive level support for digital preservation is not persistent

  • Unable to establish a sustainable, fit for purpose digital preservation programme
  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Archives

Failure to engage with stakeholders at all stages of the record life-cycle

  • Lack of support for digital preservation work
  • System/procedures do not support user needs
  • Do not capture necessary documentation
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects in a useable format

Higher Education and Research

Unable to fully capture and represent current events for future generations

  • Incomplete historical record
  • Future research flawed/unreliable/biased

Higher Education and Research

The hardware or software required to interpret, and present digital information is no longer available

  • Unable to provide access to information required to support organizational processes
  • Disruption of organization’s functions
  • Increased costs now and in the future

Higher Education and Research

Research data not transferred to the relevant repository for preservation

  • Data loss
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Research repeated unnecessarily

Higher Education and Research

No active preservation carried out on data

  • Expensive procedures required to access legacy data
  • Lack of documentation

Higher Education and Research

Data from an experiment that cannot be repeated is not preserved

  • Data loss
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of reputation

Higher Education and Research

Data is inaccessible due to lack of preservation

  • Inability to answer crucial research questions
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of scientific legacy and the associated research opportunities
  • Research repeated unnecessarily
  • Loss of potential opportunities for collaboration
  • Loss of reputation

Higher Education and Research

Data is not preserved with sufficient context, identifiers and documentation

  • Unique scientific datasets unknown and potential unrecognised questions
  • Field of research is set back/compromised

Higher Education and Research

Data rendered usable through a lack of proactive use, updates, and checking

  • Inability to answer crucial research questions
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of scientific legacy and the associated research opportunities
  • Loss of potential opportunities for collaboration

Libraries

Storage conditions are inadequate for preservation

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Disruption of organisation’s functions
  • Confidence loss
  • Damage to reputation

Libraries

Preservation not carried out in a timely manner

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Costly interventions require to restore access

Libraries

No active programme/processes aimed at acquiring digital objects/collections

  • Data generated by the cultural and creative industries will be lost or inaccessible
  • Failure to protect the living national record
  • Primary sources for future research cannot be found, interpreted or re-used
  • Failure to meet organisational goals
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

Libraries

Organisation does not move important digital/digitized objects into a preservation system

  • Data loss/corruption
  • Unable to provide access to digital objects
  • Loss of context/documentation
  • Loss of reputation
  • Loss of funding

What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create? 

Organization type

Digital Preservation can…

All organizations

an investment in distinctiveness, competence and competitiveness by providing access to legacy data and digital systems which are essential for innovation, research, development

All organizations  

capture potential by providing greater scope for innovation and reuse of data

Archives

make available a dynamic, powerful information asset which represents an accurate social and cultural record

Business

inform business initiatives today through an understanding of previous decisions and rationale enabled by access to a complete set of reliable records

Higher Education and Research

provide opportunities for raising funds through the reuse of existing data

Higher Education and Research

generate income and new service models through the reuse of existing data

Higher Education and Research

provide opportunities for the reuse of historical research data for purposes not originally anticipated

Higher Education and Research

increase the potential for the re-use of digital material though established IPR

Libraries

help ensure that cultural and creative data, including the outputs of industry remains accessible, reusable and understandable

Libraries

create greater scope for innovation and reuse by using cultural and creative data at scale

Libraries

maintain access to digital outputs of cultural and creative industries which are essential for innovation, research, development


Scroll to top