Higher Education and Research Institutions cover a range of remits and digital materials. Within one organization, there is likely to be a requirement to collect and preserve research data, archives and special collections materials, library information and university records. This may sound complex but working collaboratively across all of these departments can amplify the digital preservation message across the entire institution.

You may also want to check Archives and Libraries Specific Risks.

What is Digital Preservation?

  • Planning and strategizing to sustain access to digital research data for as long as is required,
  • Preserving continuity as well as functionality for future research,
  • Ensuring data remains accessible and usable,
  • Providing staff and users with sufficient digital preservation skills to fulfil their part of the data management process.

What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?

Risks

Possible Consequences

Key Motivators

Unable to fully capture and represent current events for future generations

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

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Enabling Research

Inability to access legal documentation, institutional history and decision-making precedents

  • Unable to rely on past evidence to inform current decision-making
  • Unable to meet legal/regulatory requirements

Accountability

Authenticity

Business Continuity

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

Business Continuity

Costs

Enabling Research

Technology

Research data not transferred to the relevant repository for preservation

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

Accountability

Costs

Enabling Research

Reputation

Lack of vendor accountability

  • Unable to place trust in services provided
  • Services not fit for purpose
  • Poor customer service
  • Unable to plan for succession

Accountability

Business Continuity

Costs

No active preservation carried out on data

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

Costs

Enabling 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

Enabling Research

Reputation

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

Costs

Enabling Research

Reputation

Revenue

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

Enabling Research

Data rendered unusable 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

Enabling Research

Revenue

Litigation from consumers if data made available is not reliable and trustworthy

  • Requirement to pay fines/settlements/compensation
  • Gaps in the cultural/scholarly record
  • Field of research is set back/compromised
  • Loss of reputation

Authenticity

Compliance

Costs

Reputation

What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create? 

Digital Preservation can…

Key Motivators

demonstrate, to funders, a commitment to the sustainability of their investment and the cultural record

Accountability

Costs

Corporate/Cultural Memory

demonstrate compliance with institutional and funder policies on data management policies 

Compliance

Reputation

create a pathway for smaller organizations to take advantage of enterprise level infrastructure through shared or cloud services

Costs

Technology

reduce duplication of infrastructure and effort by sharing services, systems and storage with other institutions

Business Continuity

Costs

Technology

demonstrate long term vision and planning

Business Continuity

Costs

Compliance

provide opportunities for raising funds through the reuse of existing data

Revenue

Enabling Research

Reputation

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

Revenue

Enabling Research

Reputation

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

Enabling Research

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

make the right information is available at the right time, by using the most appropriate service

Business Continuity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Technology

save on storage costs by enabling documented appraisal, disposal and deletion procedures

Accountability

Costs

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

Revenue

Enabling Research

Reputation

demonstrate greater transparency through documented audit trails

Accountability

Compliance

support business continuity through sustained access to key business records

Business Continuity

avoid wasted expenditure and reduce long-term operational costs by considering access and reuse at the stage of data generation, creation and system design.

Costs

Technology

inform and educate the public by enabling access to diverse digital data and records

Corporate/Cultural Memory

improve future policy formation by supporting robust strategy, processes and procedures

Business Continuity

demonstrate, to the public purse, a commitment to maintaining the sustainability of the cultural record

Accountability

Corporate/Cultural Memory

inspire the trust and understanding of future users, by providing a complete digital record

Authenticity

Corporate/Cultural Memory

Reputation

improve knowledge transfer during staff turnover and exits by sustaining access to a complete digital record

Business Continuity

enable informed and planned disposal as well as retention which mitigates the continuous increase in the volume of time-series data, as well as the cost of managing it

Costs

Technology

remove the need for expensive and time-consuming data rescue and digital archaeology work on legacy data through appropriate planning and initial investment

Business Continuity

Costs

What do Higher Education and Research institutions need to enable Digital Preservation?

All organisations require the same things to enable effective digital preservation.

Go to Digital Preservation Needs


Scroll to top