Preservation of Digital Material - Responses from 15 out of 16 directors canvassed, question 2iii

National Library of Australia

"For us, I do not think the situation will change dramatically within that timeframe. This is largely because the amount of Australian publishing that is issued in parallel form is small and I think will remain so. The trend that is evident among some sectors especially government, is towards online only rather than dual publishing. Even if we are able to achieve an extension to our legal deposit legislation within the next 5 years, it is unlikely that new legislation would oblige publishers to "deposit" digital (online) publications - rather, the National Library would have the right to "acquire" them - but publishers would still be required to deposit print publications. Therefore, due to resource restrictions that will always be an issue in these areas of activity, it will continue to be more efficient and effective for us to devote our effort to seeking out and acquiring significant digital only publications for our PANDORA Archive. For those in parallel formats, the print copy should continue to be deposited under legal deposit.

However, parallel publishing is an area we will continue to monitor closely with the view to making savings. Where it would be cost-effective for us to collect the digital form only, we would consider this option seriously. We are not opposed in principle but feel that at this stage, where we have a choice, it is still probably prudent to be cautious until there is more confidence within the profession about the sustainability of digital repositories and resources in them"

National Library of Wales

"It's hard to say whether 5 years will make a difference to this policy [of preserving print] - an educated guess would be, 'no'."

Oxford University Library Services

"Only if the computing industry can be persuaded to invest effort and resources into the enhancement of the stability and longevity of electronic formats, and if more experience is built up of the managerial and financial aspects of long-term digital archiving"

Cambridge University Library

"It is quite likely, provided that the print and electronic are indeed identical AND that adequate digital archiving provision is available AND that this is not more expensive in the long term than print archiving".

National Library of Scotland

"Yes. As digital preservation technologies become more robust, as digital publishing continues to increase, and as space pressures become more acute, it is likely that the NLS will be attracted to digital preservation as a preferred medium. However, the Library does not have such a policy at present."

Deutsche Bibliothek

"Regarding the technical and organisational development of long-term preservation of digital resources we expect great progress within the next 5 years. In parallel, retrospective digitisation projects will raise the quantity of parallel digital formats enriched by user-friendly applications. Consequently in the medium-term the need for "traditional" storage capacity will decrease.

Establishment and maintenance of digital deposit systems for the long-term preservation of digital resources will need considerable additional investments which have to be made available. The reduction of costs by investing in digital deposits instead of "traditional" storage can only be expected in the long-term, far beyond 5 years.

On the other hand, it has to be kept in mind that the production of printed media has not decreased since the invention of digital media, quite the reverse: it still increases. Therefore at the moment we do not have a significantly sinking need in "traditional" storage."

National Library of Canada

"We had anticipated that with the gradual shift to the production of more electronic resources there would be a diminishing of the volume of traditional media publications. This has not occurred to date. Our experience is that the numbers of materials in traditional formats are increasing. At the same time there is no doubt that the number of electronic publications being produced without a parallel print publication or other tangible format is increasing.

We had anticipated having more of the infrastructure in place (than we do) to better ensure continued access to electronic publications and resources and a reduction in the variety of formats and software. We don't see the situation changing in 5 years - there will still be an on-going need to preserve print and other tangible form publications. There even may be more pressure on the institution as the national knowledge and heritage resource to ensure that the print versions are 'protected' as more institutions move to a more digital environment. There seems to be increased interest as well in having a 'last copy' or similar protective means with the national institution".

Harvard University Library

"Yes, we expect the digital to become more robust. We are likely to move towards relying on the digital as that occurs. It is also likely that we will less and less acquire both formats, so will not have the print to archive".

Library of Congress

"We're confident that the future will be digital, but the transition to this future will be gradual. Within the next 5 years, the Library's National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program will deliver strategies to help libraries, archives and museums preserve digital content. Digital technology is also rapidly improving. These improvements will result in more precise renderings of original materials, more effective methods for collecting, archiving and preserving 'born-digital' materials, and the increased proliferation and use of trusted storage repositories. Also, as digital content continues to multiply in all aspects of our lives, its safekeeping will increasingly become a responsibility shared among all those who create, use and benefit from digital information."

KB - Royal Library of the Netherlands

See answer to first question

Yale University Library

".sceptical. The library community keep telling ourselves that the present state of affairs is interim. We do not yet see quite how or when the situation will change. Many of the reasons for this are administrative and political (see above)."

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

"It is a precise evaluation of both the technical and legal aspects of long-term preservation of digitised documents that will determine all potential change of the present situation."

Royal Library of Denmark

"Well, yes and no. Perhaps more in a 10 year perspective. We expect that the situation will change in a direction where the digital versions will play a much bigger role in general, also with respect to long term preservation activities and the proportion of resources allocated for this, and not least as these activities will enhance our knowledge and competence within the field"

National Library of Norway

"Probably not the next five years, but we believe that the situation eventually will change. We are experiencing a situation where, each year, more material is born digital, and it also seems like the growth in the output of analogue material is declining. This means that we eventually will be forced to shift the main attention from analogue to digital objects. Because we foresee that the analogue print output will decline, that we will receive digital originals used to produce analogue copies and that most of the audiovisual material eventually will be digital, we believe that we actually will be able to continue keeping the analogue copies we receive, but the biggest challenge will be the digital objects."

Royal Library of Sweden

"The Royal Library's role and tasks are under review by the Swedish government and the result will be presented to the Minister of education this month. So I foresee that the library will get new tasks and resources based on a revised deposit law within two years rather than five. This will affect the situation described under point 2, but not the reasoning under point 1".

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