Level Up - Policy and Strategy

Introduction

Both high level strategic documentation and practical procedures and workflows are required to implement digital preservation successfully. 

“When writing a preservation policy, don’t start from scratch, use what is out there already. For us this included the DPC Preservation Policy Toolkit (focusing in particular on the required elements) and digital preservation policies from other organizations which were available online. The time we have taken to write our policy has been well spent - it demonstrates why we are doing what we are doing.” -  Samantha Case, Barcardi

Tips

• Writing a digital preservation policy is one of the key requirements for moving up the levels of DPC RAM and can be a valuable advocacy exercise in its own right. As described in the DPC’s Preservation Policy Toolkit, writing a policy generally involves many different stakeholders and will need to be read and signed off at a high level. 

• Writing a policy can be a daunting task, so start off small and simple. As a minimum you should explain what digital content you are keeping and why. Write a short draft to circulate and get reactions early on. It is important to get colleagues engaged and talking and feedback received will help to frame the direction of travel.

• Start with an aspirational policy - this can be helpful in pushing things forward and reaching agreement of what you should be doing (even if the reality is quite different).

• Schedule in regular reviews of your policy, particularly if it is aspirational in the first instance. As your digital preservation programme moves from theory to practice, check back on your policy frequently to make sure it accurately reflects what you are doing.

• If your organization needs persuading that a digital preservation policy is needed, consider what drivers you can use to change their mind - for example a preservation policy may be needed if your organization would like to apply for digital preservation certification or accreditation in the future.

• Consider what other policies your organization has that relate to digital preservation. Can you build on these or further develop them?

• Consider how you will communicate any policy, strategy or procedure that is created. Consider who needs to know about it and what they need to know. It may be helpful to have a clear idea of any action or behaviour change you might be looking for. It is one thing to encourage people to read and understand a document, but a more impactful outcome is to encourage them to take steps to put it into action. 

• Document any digital preservation procedures and workflows that are in place and ensure staff are aware of them as appropriate.

Helpful resources

• Digital Preservation Policy Toolkit - this toolkit from the DPC is designed to help you write your own digital preservation policy.

• DPC Member support - DPC staff are available to provide a brief review of digital preservation policy documents from DPC Members. Full Members of the DPC are entitled to a higher level of support and this may involve more detailed review and feedback of any policy, strategy or procedure documentation or other tasks as appropriate.

• Understanding User Needs - this Technology Watch Guidance Note by Sharon McMeekin provides advice and guidance on methodologies for understanding user needs. An understanding of user needs should inform the development of policy and procedure documentation within an organization.

• DOCUMENT THIS. And this. And this - a blog post from Amy Rudersdorf on the importance of documentation.

• Devising Your Digital Preservation Policy: Learnings from the Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge (DPOC) project - slides from a preservation policy event held in December 2018.

• Write the docs - this resource is focused specifically on software documentation, and provides some useful tips on writing technical documentation. 

• Community Owned Workflows (COW) - this resource provides a forum for sharing your digital preservation workflows with others in the digital preservation community and for exploring workflows that have been shared by others.

• OSSArcFlow Guide to Documenting Born-Digital Archival Workflows - this helpful resource describes the process of creating text-based documentation and diagrams to describe digital preservation workflows.

• Exploring ethical considerations for providing access to digital heritage collections - this Technology Watch Guidance Note by Lisa Smith, Jenny Wood, Greg Oakes and Madalyn Grant covers some of the ethical issues to consider when planning for access to digital content

Case studies

• Digital Preservation Policy Toolkit: University of Bristol Case Study - Emma Hancox provides a case study of a collaborative approach to preservation policy development

• Developing a Digital Preservation Programme at the British Geological Survey - Jaana Pinnick touches on the importance of developing a policy as part of a wider programme of digital preservation activities

• Reviving Digital Preservation Policies at National Library of New Zealand - Martin Gengenbach focuses on the important, but sometimes underrated, activity of policy revision

• Understanding user needs: a case study from the National Library of Scotland - this Technology Watch Guidance Note from Chris Fleet provides a good example of how user feedback can provide information to inform decisions around preservation and access.

• ADS Deaccession policy – this policy from the Archaeology Data Service includes a nice example of how a request to return data would be handled (see section 7 – complete removal of a dataset). Olivia Foster of the ADS gave a presentation on this topic at the DPClinic on 23^rd February 2024, which DPC Members can access via this link.