Contents:
- Introduction
- Preservation Intentions and Preservation Intent Statements
- Significant Properties and Preservation Intent Statements
- Current Activity and Methodology
- Benefits
- Preservation Intent Statements for Archived Web Collections
- Summary Preservation Intent Statement for NLA’s Selective Web Collection
- Practical Application
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgement
- Notes
This article describes an approach developed at the National Library of Australia to define formal and reviewable statements of “preservation intent” for specific classes of digital content within the library collection. After explaining how “preservation intent” relates to “significant properties”, it goes on to describe how their approach requires the involvement of both collection curators and digital specialists. The benefits of the approach are then outlined and the article goes on to describe the application of the approach to developing such statements for archived web collections. The article was published in the January/February 2013 issue (volume 19, Number 1/2) of D-Lib magazine with the title ‘Oh, you wanted us to preserve that?!’ Statements of Preservation Intent for the National Library of Australia’s Digital Collections.
This article offers an interesting approach to archives trying to concretely determine what collections need long-term preservation and are struggling to find a methodology to do so. Honestly acknowledging that archives will not be able to keep all collection items accessible forever, it emphasizes the insight collection curators can bring to the long-term preservation discussion: by insisting they define what is of value and in what form it will be most valuable to its users over time, it introduces a broadened view of who is responsible in digital preservation decision making and ensures that potential technical solutions are informed by a broader collection policy. Although it does not speak specifically about audiovisual materials, it is relevant to broadcast archives in its emphasis on defining access driven preservation requirements, the primary motivation in broadcast archives.