News

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.

The DPC, with help from the Scott Polar Research Institute, Portico and ULCC, and with funding from JISC, is pleased to announce the launch of the first 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 first describes the Scott Polar Research Institute's 'Freeze Frame' project.  It makes the point that short lived projects need to do some long term thinking to ensure that the benefits of digitization are robust and it describes how a short term project negotiated its way round this long term problem.

The DPC has opened a new 'Frequently Asked Questions' section of its website where members can post and answer questions on the topic of digital preservation.  Discussion around these Frequently Asked Questions have previously tended to happen on the DPC's closed discussion lists.  Putting on the website allows a wider group of people to see them and to refer back to them more easily. The new facility allows users to comment directly on the questions without having to use email.

The DPC has published its response to the recent Intellectual Property Office consultation on exceptions to copyright law with a detailed discussion of how these proposals impact on digital preservation. 

In summary, the DPC warmly welcomes the proposal to permit multiple copies to be created for preservation purposes. It notes and welcomes the proposal to broaden the types of content that can qualify for this exception and welcomes the proposal that extends this exception to a wider range of institutions.