Exploring Variety in Digital Collections and the Implications for Digital Preservation

LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 54, No. 1, Summer 2005 (“Digital Preservation: Finding Balance,” edited by Deborah Woodyard-Robinson), pp. 6–15 © 2005 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois Abstract The amount of digital content produced at academic research institutions is large, and libraries and archives at these institutions have a responsibility to bring this digital material under curatorial control in order to manage and preserve it over time. But this is a daunting task with few proven models, requiring new technology, policies, procedures, core staff competencies, and cost models. The MIT Libraries are working with the DSpaceTM open-source digital repository platform to explore the problem of capturing research and teaching material in any digital format and preserving it over time. By collaborating on this problem with other research institutions using the DSpace platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and other parts of the world, as well as with other important efforts in the digital preservation arena, we are beginning to see ways of managing arbitrary digital content that might make digital preservation an achievable goal.