DPC

Martin Eve of CrossRef has some sobering news for researchers. A recent analysis suggests that around a quarter of academic publications are not being preserved for the future. 

Eve’s sample is based on the assessment of around 7.5 million of the e-books and articles for which CrossRef provides a fixed identifier, or Digital Object Identifier.   These identifiers prevent ‘link rot’ so that, even if a URL changes, an article or book can still be cited and retrieved.  But they’re not enough on their own because they only preserve the link not the destination. So, unless there’s a preservation service guaranteeing the content, the DOI will stop working if a publisher goes out of business or simply removes a title.  Scholarly content needs to be preserved before it is deleted, not after. 

Prompted by the 2022 Society of American Archivists (SAA) publication of Museum Archives: Practice, Issues, Advocacy (ed. Rachel Chatalbash, Susan Hernandez, and Megan Schwenke), the Yale Center for British Art and SAA's Museum Archives Section are hosting a one-day symposium to examine the current position and future directions of the museum archives field. The symposium will be held in person at the Yale University Art Gallery and livestreamed online. We welcome proposals from new and established museum archivists, and their professional allies, that examine any aspect of the museum archives profession. Themes for consideration include, but are not limited to: 

The Born Digital Cultural Heritage Now #BDCH23 conference https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/bdch-23/ was held at ACMI in Melbourne, Australia from 29 Nov to 1 Dec 2023. It was a forum for researchers, practitioners, artists, historians, cultural theorists, and industry professionals to discuss the challenges of collecting, preserving, and accessing born digital cultural heritage material. Much born digital cultural heritage material such as media art, video games, web content, discussion forum and bulletin board posts, architectural documentation and other digital data created over the last twenty to thirty years is no longer accessible. This is the result of a range of technical and non-technical issues including hardware and software obsolescence, media deterioration, content abandonment, institutional and business decisions, archival practices, legal restrictions, and cultural and audience changes. The #BDCH23 conference focused on how these issues are being addressed in different contexts and the impact this loss on our culture and society.

Mzodidi Tutuka is Principal Library Assistant, Digital Preservation, at University at Cape Town Library. He attended the No Time To Wait 7 conference with support from a travel grant from the DPC Career Development Fund, which is funded by DPC Supporters.

Recently, the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has afforded me the invaluable opportunity to attend a remarkable NTTW7 conference held in the captivating city of Prague. The event was a convergence of minds, a gathering of experts, scholars, and enthusiasts alike, all fervently dedicated to unravelling the complexities of safeguarding our digital heritage. Over the course of three days (8-10 November 2023) immersed in riveting discussions, illuminating presentations, and networking, I gleaned profound insights that underscored the critical importance of working and preserving our digital legacy for future generations.

Graham Purnell is Digital Preservation Assistant at the National Library of Scotland.

As part of a practical exercise to investigate preservation of modern digital objects at the National Library of Scotland (NLS), Graeme Hawley, our Head of General Collections, drew up a short list of items for investigation and possible addition to the Library’s collections.  This list partly emerged out of discussions with partner Legal Deposit Libraries, including the British Library. A small team from across NLS was assembled to investigate best methods and discover technical and legal barriers. The Bytesize Collection Group was born.

Late last year I was lucky enough to attend and give a paper at NDF Whanake\Evolve 2023 at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa 20 – 23 November 2023. NDF is a future and technology conference for the Aotearoa cultural sector. It brings together participants from the cultural sector across the Asia-Pacific region to explore how to tackle global challenges including climate change, inequality, and injustice.