NASIG Digital Preservation Committee Update: Model Policies

Increased Media Attention on Digital Preservation

In 2024, media attention has increased awareness of the issues we face in maintaining digital records. Martin Eve’s research article published by Iowa State University Digital Press, showed that 32.9 percent (n = 6982) of Crossref members may not have digital preservation in place according to the recommendations of the Digital Preservation Coalition, while only 0.96 percent of Crossref members (n = 204) preserve over 75 percent of their content.² The Hollywood Reporter described the possibility of the loss of films due to lack of active policies and implementation.³ The Pew Research Center report stating that 38 percent of webpages which were in existence in 2013 can no longer be accessed.⁴ These examples reached beyond the library community and may provide useful evidence as we request support from our institutions to make digital preservation a priority.

Resetting by Listening

During the NASIG 2024 conference in Spokane, Washington, the NASIG-DPC held a session to update the community on the digital preservation model policy and its benefits.⁵ The session provided valuable information about members’ concerns with the policy and where our work on the digital preservation committee should extend. Though most of the session was a discussion format, we were able—by quick polling—to acquire audience feedback on a few key questions. Figure 1 presents a word cloud of the concerns the attendees reported when asked the question, “When you hear digital preservation what concerns come to mind?”

Figure 1.

Word Cloud of Concerns That Come to Mind When Thinking of Digital Preservation. The figure is adapted from the poll generated with Mentimeter.

The word cloud provides an overall impression of concerns around sustainability and resources needed for digital preservation, which could contribute to a widespread sense of loss of digital assets. Showing the word cloud at the beginning of the session helped guide the discussion on what tasks libraries can be responsible for, what they will need help with, and how NASIG-DPC can be of service moving forward.

Steps Forward

In order to fundamentally tackle concerns over what is digital preservation and the resources available to help, the NASIG-DPC revamped their NASIGuide: Digital Preservation 101 on April 24, 2024.⁶ It covers basic knowledge and insights on digital preservation and provides readers information on where and how to start. Apart from laying out the difference between digital preservation and backup copies, the guide also gives examples, services, and initiatives that actively support multiple organizations worldwide in their digital preservation implementations and sustainability.

In the next couple of months, the Committee will leverage the audience feedback and session discussion to create additional materials librarians can use in conversations with vendors. The materials are intended to empower librarians to communicate what preservation means and what they expect to see as a paying customer. We will also look at how to help libraries engage with institutional researchers, who can greatly help in preservation if they know about the issues and steps within their institution to solve them.

Conclusion

The increased media attention stemming from research data on the gaps in content that is currently being digitally preserved allows for the awareness of problems and the ability for more people to engage by learning about the importance of digital preservation. However, with increased attention and engagement about the problem, it is important to follow with tangible steps forward to help support those who are now willing to take on the responsibility of ensuring our digital legacy for the long-term. The NASIG-DPC is working to provide these tangible steps forward, starting with the NASIGuide-Digital Preservation 101 and the second step, the NASIG Model Digital Preservation Policy. Moving forward, the more entities thinking about and actively looking at how to preserve their content, the better our digital legacies will be protected.