Digital Preservation: Where Are We At, Where are We Going?
In November 2006, Charles Sturt University organised a one-day conference at the National Library to look at the practical side of digital preservation. A large number of public librarians from as far afield as Western Australia were among those attending the event.
Jim Lindner from Media Matters in the United States set the scene for the conference by describing the problems of digital preservation, speculating on what preservation can realistically achieve, the extent to which technology has changed within our working lifetimes, and the sorts of options that are available.
Alan Howells of Preservation Solutions Australia spoke about the importance of a digital preservation strategy, and many in the audience came out of the session with a renewed resolve to put in place, or update, such a strategy, based on his sound practical advice. Ian Walker from Search Tech spoke about choosing the right equipment for the digitisation task to be undertaken.
The thorny issue of copyright, and how this impacts on proposals for digital preservation, was tackled by Erin Driscoll of the Australian Film Commission. Elizabeth Watt from the National Library spoke about the Community Heritage Grants Program, and a complementary paper by Ellen Forsyth (State Library of New South Wales) and Claire Campbell (Wagga Wagga Public Library) used a case study of the Wagga library to show how a public library can tackle a digitisation project using a Community Heritage Grant.
Peter Jetnikoff (State Library of Victoria) and Michael Carden (National Archives of Australia) gave interesting presentations on how these two institutions are addressing the challenges of digital preservation for their large collections, while Paul Koerbin of the National Library gave an update on the PANDORA Archive.
The program for the event, with links to many of the presentations, can be found at http://www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/meetings/digpresprog.html.
Sandra Henderson
Manager
Coordination Support
National Library of Australia



