(Illustration by Jørgen Stamp digitalbevaring.dk CC BY 2.5 Denmark)

More and more information (as a result of digitising non-digital collections, as different digital resource types, or as result of the day-to-day organisation or individual activities) is being created digitally and the pace at which it is being created is accelerating.

Considering that there is a real threat that the digital materials will be created in such a way that not even their short-term viability can be assured, every organisation needs to develop (implement and stick to it) a Digital Preservation (DP) strategy/framework/program that sets the direction and establishes priorities in terms of creation and management of authentic, reliable and usable digital objects, capable of supporting specific activities for as long as they are required. 

According to LEARN Project Glossary, DIGITAL PRESERVATION is defined as "The set of processes, activities and management of digital information over time to ensure its long-term accessibility. Because of the relatively short life-cycle of digital information, preservation is an ongoing process".

Digital Preservation as part of Life-Cycle of Digital Information

The lifecycle of digital object [Records] management may include the following core business processes (with ongoing reporting) :

Planning
Creation and capture
<-Selecting-> - - <-Sensitivity reviews of selected records->
Cataloguing,  Classification, assigning Metadata
Storage
Security
Maintenance 
<-Appraisal->
Transfer for 
- Access
- Disposal for deletion
- PRESERVATION
Sharing, Re-use

The DP related processes are occurring in an environment in which there is a growing awareness of the significant challenges associated with ensuring continued access to digital objects, even in the short term. 

Engagement and exploitation of digital content are enabled when digital materials endure. To ensure the value of digital materials in the long run [or rather : to secure the long-term persistence of information in digital form] we need to ensure long-term access, which in turn means we need to understand and mitigate rapid changes in technology and organisations. See:

PRESERVATION ISSUES 

Digital platforms change and the long chains of interdependence on which they depend are complicated and fluid. Their longevity and utility is threatened where contents or contexts are lost. 

For analog collections that are digitized, the high-quality digital surrogates produced require the same attention as born-digital collections in order to avoid subjecting the analog materials to repeated digitization. 

Thus, DP is focused on the task of ensuring that digital collections are accessible to the public in the future. A DP strategy does not mean that everything should be preserved. The question is less what can be preserved so much as what should not be lost ...

"Managing archival collections requires a comprehensive approach that incorporates identifying needs, establishing priorities, and allocating resources to meet goals", -  @Smithsonian Institution Archives.

With a growing and effective body of approaches, experience, and collaboration to address the challenges, DP is a doable endeavour with simple first steps all can undertake:

GETTING STARTED : The emphasis is on the preservation of born-digital materials, or the products of digitisation* (the digital surrogates themselves) ... 

Creation, management and archiving of digital materials are no longer at opposite ends of a process but are integrated all the way through. This means that Preservation Action is already needed at the start of the life of a digital object, not always at its end. See: 

CREATING DIGITAL MATERIALS. 

It is important for creators to realise if they do not actively work to ensure continuity, their digital materials can easily become unusable. It is about making sure that their information is complete, available and therefore usable for their business needs. Your information is usable if you can:

• Find it when you need it;
• Open it as you need it;
• Work with it in the way you need to;
• Understand what it is and what it is about;
• Trust that it is what it says it is.

This enables you to operate accountably, legally, effectively and efficiently, make informed decisions, reduce costs, and deliver better services. 

THE CHOICE OF FILE FORMATS & STANDARDS and the capture of critical documentation or the description of key relationships in the 

 METADATA & DOCUMENTATION (to understanding the data, how it will be used, its dependencies and its context - to enable it to be captured for preservation in an appropriate and documented manner),

- may require a small investment up front, but could deliver considerable savings further down the line.  

 PRESERVATION PLANNING :

Where the opportunity exists to intervene with preservation actions early in the lifecycle, digital materials can be shaped to survive better into the future. Each of the options presents its own advantages and disadvantages and these need to be evaluated carefully, possibly on a case by case basis. 

Acquisition & Appraisal -  Decision tree -  Retention and review - Storage

A considered preservation planning process might result in the migration of digital files from format to format, the emulation of obsolete software, or the employment of alternative software applications to render the data. 

Selection, appraisal and disposal are significant components in any digital management activity. See: 

PRESERVATION ACTION

The greater the importance of digital materials, the greater the need for their preservation: DP protects investment, captures potential and transmits opportunities to future generations and our own.

Maintaining trust (Authenticity & Integrity) in the data 

For an end-user to have trust in the result of digital preservation work requires not only careful consideration of the entire lifecycle of the digital materials but also Who or What has interacted with them over time. This means that Information management systems need to be able to link to essential contextual information regarding the business procedures of the creating agency.

FIXITY & CHECKSUMS

The application of data integrity techniques and the maintenance of audit trails can provide confidence that a digital object has remained unchanged (except by necessary preservation action) since deposit in an archive.

In addition to tracking/creating checksums, complete chain of custody documentation is an important indicator of authenticity. This could include logs of checksum files that date from the initial transfer or creation of the digital file.

System and physical security policies and procedures should be in place to ensure the care and integrity of items during accessioning. These should be developed from and reflect the institutional policies and procedures on security. See 

INFORMATION SECURITY.

Data authenticity to a user may depend much more on the broader trustworthiness of the preserving organisation as a whole. Maintaining high quality preservation processes based on current 

STANDARDS & BEST PRACTICE* and validated by appropriate  AUDIT & CERTIFICATION will be crucial.

* Many best practices and obligations - - 

 LEGAL COMPLIANCE : Selection of materials : Copyright [It will be necessary to ensure permission is given both to digitise* the original and to make copies of the digital copy for the purposes of preservation and delivery]

- - will be project or sector specific. 

How to join the DPC [e.g., DANS joins the Digital Preservation Coalition in July 2017]

Related: 

• Data Management & Permanent Access to Digital Research Resources : learning from DANS Institute (AIMS)
• Software Preservation Network (SPN)
• What do we mean by "Long-Term Preservation"? How can we preserve oyr Data? Learn more from this EUDAT showcase
• Open Preservation Foundation Annual Report (AIMS)
• JHOVE: a widely-used open source digital preservation tool (AIMS)
• Towards Trusted Digital Repositories : accessing, sharing and using quality data (AIMS)
• Put FAIR principles into practice and enjoy your data (AIMS)
• ICSU-WDS : Trusted Data Services for Global Science (AIMS)
• What is digital curation? (DCC) 
• How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan (DCC) 
• How to Appraise and Select Research Data for Curation (DCC) 
• ICPSR Digital Preservation Policy Framework: OAIS compliance -  Administrative responsibility - Organizational viability - Financial sustainability - Technological and procedural suitability - Systems security - Procedural accountability.
• Digital Preservation Framework (University of Minnesota Libraries)
• Cataloguing and archives networks (The National Archives) 
• Metadata Considerations for Deposits (The DPN Preservation Metadata Standards Working Group) 
• Preservation Metadata (2nd edition, by Gartner, R., Lavoie, B., DPC Technology Watch Report)
• Digital Preservation Workflow Curriculum (Molinaro, M. DPN, 2017) - released with a Creative Commons license, provides you with skills and knowledge to implement and manage a DP program within your organization.
• Digital Preservation in Theory and Practice (EHRI)
• Preserving digital heritage: At the crossroads of Trust and Linked Open Data (IFLA Journal) 
• United Nations (UN) Archives and Records Management Section (in particular, The Archives and Records Management Section (ARMS))
• Archives | IAEA of the UN 
• 05. Cataloguing, Description and Metadata (The Special Collections Handbook ~ by Alison Cullingford)