9

Sustainability

Introduction

Long-term sustain ability of digital programs, collections, and objects is one of the biggest question marks in repository work. Although practitioners all acknowledge that digital preservation is a major concern, most work related to digital preservation is still at the research or theoretical level. Few strategies have had widespread adoption, particularly among smaller institutions. However, no institution can afford to completely ignore preservation issues while others work to ‘solve’ the problem – and it would be irresponsible to do so.

The preservation challenges created by shifting to a digital environment are significant. Issues include dealing with file format, hardware and software obsolescence; investing ...

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