Digital Initiatives at LAC

Digital Research

Survey of Digital Preservation Practices in Canada

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Conclusions

The National Archives (UK) defines digital preservation as the "set of actions required to maintain digital information in an accessible and authentic form, for as long as required for business purposes and across changing technical environments "⁷. The technological challenges in preserving digital information are daunting. Technological obsolescence and the fragility of storage media mean that digital information must be actively managed throughout its lifecycle. Digital preservation involves more than just technical solutions, however, it also requires the development of appropriate policy, the implementation of sound practices, access to human and financial resources, and an active commitment of government and organizations over the long-term.

While one should be cautious about generalizing the survey results beyond the sample of repositories from which they come, the survey does provide an indication of the types of digital preservation practices in use in Canada, and the challenges faced by Canadian repositories.

The survey found that 72% of respondents are involved in some aspects related to digital preservation. Offsite storage was the most commonly cited practice in use, followed by activities that address the decay or obsolescence of storage media, including refreshing, bitstream copying and replication. These practices enhance the longevity of digital documents through copying and the use of multiple storage locations.

Digital preservation practices that address the understandability of the digital object (format/software obsolescence), such as migration or emulation are less widespread, even amongst those repositories that have a formal mandate to preserve. As well, only a few repositories are employing the types of  extensive metadata schemas needed for long-term preservation, such as PREMIS.

The majority of repositories in the survey are applying some basic integrity measurements (virus check, format verification, checksum verification, format validation) but other methods for establishing authenticity and trust in digital repositories, such as through the use of persistent identifiers and audit trails for digital objects are not well established.

There are also numerous other challenges for repositories beyond the most obvious technical ones, in particular around funding/staffing and expertise. Not surprisingly, funding was most commonly cited by respondents as being the main challenge for the institution’s digital preservation program in the near future. Digital preservation is an expensive undertaking and must compete for resources with other organizational activities, like content acquisition, digitization, etc.

Pertaining to the issue of funding is staffing, the most significant cost item for digital preservation.⁸ Staffing and expertise were frequently identified as another main challenge for institutions' digital preservation programs in the near future. Digital preservation requires dedicated experts as well as "varying proportions of many staff such as administration, management, IT support, legal advisers etc."⁹ The technical knowledge needed for digital preservation is not widespread in Canada and there are few opportunities in Canada for staff development and education right now. Furthermore staff members with the appropriate combined expertise may not located in the same departments within an organization.

Policy development is also an issue, with less than 20% of respondents indicating that they currently have a digital preservation policy in place (although 38% have a digital preservation policy that has not yet been implemented). A policy is the pillar of a digital preservation program and represents a formal commitment by an organization to preserve the digital collection. A policy is also important because it provides "guidance and authorization"¹⁰ in terms of roles as well as procedures and practices.

Related to many of these gaps is the lack of high level support for digital preservation within many organizations. Awareness of the importance of preservation with administrators is key to ensuring ongoing funding. However, a number of respondents indicated that digital preservation was not a high priority for decision makers at the institution.

Clearly, digital preservation presents significant challenges; and given the growing volume and complexity of digital information it will continue to do so in the future. One way to assist Canadian organizations with these challenges would be to establish a central entity in Canada that can provide leadership in this area. Such an entity could 'make the case' for digital preservation to organizations, policy makers and the Canadian public, regardless of organizational sector and type. It could also be a venue for developing expertise and disseminating best practices and standards. A number of survey respondents indicated that they felt that they were working in isolation, and this entity could provide a forum for those involved in digital preservation work in Canada to discuss issues and strategies. And finally, it could help to better define roles and responsibilities amongst the distributed network of repositories in Canada. This would be a good first step in terms of improving the capacity of Canadian organizations to preserve our nation's digital assets for future generations.

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