Websites and digital news stories disappear daily; researchers can’t access their own data for reuse; students don’t know how to make their work last for the next ten years. Knowledge is built on previously gathered information; but what happens when that information is no longer accessible? And where does the archivist, librarian, or administrator fit into this picture? This book...

For centuries, librarians and archivists have collected valuable information, organized it, sought to keep it in usable condition, and provided access to users. Throughout the years, the forms of content have changed tremendously, from tablets and scrolls to handwritten tomes to published books and now to digital content. The purpose of librarianship and archiving has always been to collect and...

As you read through this book, think about what policies and procedures you and your organization have established in each area of digital curation. Compare what you are doing to what others have tested or established before you and look for the gaps that need to be filled. You may find that a type of content your organization wants to collect does not yet have established best practices for...

To the uninitiated, digital curation can seem like a vast and confusing wilderness—unknown territory. Those of us who venture into it face uncertainty, for we cannot foresee all the ways in which software and hardware will change in the future. We have limited resources with which to face these risks. In many ways, we are explorers entering largely unmapped wilderness. Still, we can learn...

Time marches on, continually driving the digital hardware and software we have used into obsolescence. The varieties of storage devices, operating systems, and software packages we use continue to change as vendors stop supporting older versions and offer for sale the newest, safer versions, with new bells and whistles designed to excite and entice. Yet, the files, databases, and content we...

If you want to develop an effective plan for digital curation, you will need a reasonable understanding of the scope and types of content to be preserved and curated. A useful approach is to first clarify the focus areas for collection, then identify the possible content for inclusion from within those focus areas, and then select from within the identified options. Identification and selection...

Everything in life tends toward chaos. Untended fields become tangled underbrush and sprouting forests. Closets and garages become confused catchall piles of forgotten belongings. Gardens fill with weeds and suffer the depredations of insects and hungry animals. Throughout time, metal rusts, machines degrade, material rots, and food decomposes. Those of us who do not exercise, eat right, and get...

As the years go by, digital curators must successfully navigate the constantly changing software and hardware environment to ensure that the content they manage continues to be usable. Curators must also be aware that digital content can begin to degrade on media almost as soon as it is written, depending upon the quality of the media, the temperature, the humidity, and other stresses....

The entire purpose of digital curation is to support continued use of the content throughout time. This is a point that seems to elude many who are involved in digital preservation, believing that backups are sufficient, or even that effective storage is sufficient. At some point (if not continuously), versions of the stored content need to be made available to the targeted user audience, but in...

Effective digital preservation and curation requires a community. Although it may seem that you are alone in the face of daunting challenges, and you may certainly be alone in facing a tremendous influx of digital content to be managed, it is simply not possible for anyone to do all of it without community support. Similarly, it is not possible for the digital preservation and curation community...

~Jody L. DeRidder is director of metadata frameworks in the Metadata Strategy and Operations Division of OCLC, Inc., where she is facilitating the development of methods to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of managing various kinds of metadata and information. During the prior nine years, she was head of metadata and digital services...