Digital Preservation Coalition

The Digital Preservation Coalition is delighted to welcome as members the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, acting jointly through the 'SWISH Partnership'.

'The Royal Commissions collect, record and interpret information on the architectural, industrial, archaeological and maritime heritage of our countries,' explained Kirsty Lingstadt of RCAHMS.  'We have been doing this for more than a hundred years so our archives are vast and continue to expand.'

'Our digital collections are growing rapidly. Between us we curate more than 300,000 digital objects totalling over 11TB and we expect this to increase by more than 50000 objects and 3TB annually. We have very diverse types of data including GIS data, vector graphics and laser scanning.

'In 2003 RCAHMS and RCAHMW established a joint venture called - SWISH (Shared Web Information Services for Heritage) to share maintenance and development costs and to create a shared vision for future enhancements of our online resources. The partnership enables us to share ideas and experiences and develop joint strategies'

'We are looking forward to working with DPC so that we can develop a trusted digital repository that will help us curate and provide access to these important and popular collections.'

Richard Ovenden, Chair of the DPC said 'Naturally I am delighted to welcome these new members to the Coalition.  The organisations within the SWISH partnership have outstanding collections and a lot of experience within their staff: I expect we will learn from them as well as assisting them to achieve their own goals.'

'These latest recruits bring the membership to a new high of 32. That's very pleasing but it's not surprising. Digital preservation and issues relating to long term access to digital information can seem daunting: by working together, the Digital Preservation Coalition is developing the skills and approaches needed for our members to ensure the proper preservation of their collections, and continued services to their users.'

 For more on RCAHMS and their collections see: www.rcahms.gov.uk

For more on RCAHMW and their collections see: www.rcahmw.gov.uk

Click here to find out more about joining the DPC