Preservation and sustainability

There is little point in creating digitised content and data if there is no strategy to maintain it. Digital preservation enables the longevity of digitised content, yet it has been a poor cousin in the past, with the result that much digitised content is no longer available, either because it has not been preserved or because links to it have been broken. In human terms, use of digitised collections is key, ensuring that an interested audience can give early warning of any risks to access and demand action. In technological terms, however, there is clearly more to be done.

There is also a link between digitisation and physical conservation or preservation. The survey found that many archives and libraries favoured digitising their collection for these purposes. If a collection is digitised and made available, then there can be a reduction in the use of originals. A digital surrogate or snapshot can capture information that would in lost due to gradual or catastrophic degradation of physical objects over time, increasing resilience and enabling disaster recovery. This is not a straightforward relationship – digitisation can sometimes increase the demand for items by raising the profile of little-known collections; and digital versions are not substitutes for the physical originals, which for example may be required as ‘vouchers’ to verify previous research and analyses, or may be necessary to enable additional research into the object’s materiality.

Digital preservation and sustainability, however, are seen as crucial to the longevity of both digital and physical assets. Curation and maintenance of digital assets cost money, but if it is not done, the public will no longer be able to use them. A large amount of funding has been invested by public bodies such as the Heritage Fund over the last 20 years for content digitisation. Further investment in preservation infrastructure ensures that this initial investment is worthwhile.

This was an area where the sector has a tangible sense of frustration about short-term project funding approaches, and where there is a real appetite for a strategic cross-cutting and long-term approach to infrastructural needs and investments. Public digital funding could achieve significant change by supporting shared and recognised resources. Solutions to address some of these issues could be implemented. For example, exit strategies for projects could include ways in which digital components and assets can be reused; and institutions willing to take in ‘orphaned’ material should also be made known as repositories of last resort.

Recommendations

Recommendation 8: ​​E​ncourage research funders such as The Arts and Humanities Research Council and National Heritage Lottery Fund to include preservation and sustainability within their requirements.

The Network will:

• Support the production of guiding principles for digital preservation.

Recommendation 9: Link​ ​​existing​ initiatives to ​maximise​ investment and research into sustainable long-term data infrastructure.

The Network will:

• Collaborate with UK Research and Innovation and The Arts and Humanities Research Council initiatives​,​ ​such as Infrastructure roadmaps and ‘Towards a National Collection’​, and new areas of action when these arise.