Why Preserve?
... Because digital preservation builds a sustainable future for our digital assets!
Read some of the Why Preserve? messages submitted by the digital preservation community for World Digital Preservation Day below, and add yours now! Whatever the reason you or your organization preserve digital materials, please complete this short form to submit your Why Preserve? story to our virtual wall.
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Because preserving digital records is essential for compliance, accountability, and transparency in every sector. Karyn Williamson, DPC UK |
Because in a world of misinformation, digital preservation protects the integrity of our records, research, and history. Sarah Middleton, DPC UK |
Because we’re keeping knowledge alive for students, scholars, and our community into the future. Student and Scholarly Services, |
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Because digital preservation creates moments of connection across time and space Irina Schidt - American University Cairo |
Because the emergence of libraries and archives stems from humanity's need to preserve cultural heritage... Zhenxin Wu - NDPP National Library of China |
Because when records are lost, blurred or inaccessible, residents and citizens lose their right to know... Villy Magero |
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...we preserve for future use Helen Dafter - The Postal Museum |
Because public access to information is an important cornerstone of democracy Kommunalförbundet Sydarkivera |
Because preservation is no longer just about storing files... Holly Duncan - Preferred Media |
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Because preservation holds what digital information once was for anyone who values truth. Sherry Xie - ITrust AI Project |
Our nervous trust in the digital medium is so so great but yet so fragile, any irrecoverable loss from data corruption can easily send us back to basics of writing on the wall. Delight Sigauke - DRETA, National University of Science and Technology |
Digital Preservation of Vosa vaka-Viti | Fijian Language is crucial, in ensuring the language, contents are timestamped historically and sustained for the next generations of Indigenous Fijians and those who wish to learn the language. Elisapeci Samanunu Waqanivala - Viti (NZ) Council e Aotearoa |
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Because if we don’t preserve, nobody will. Chris Redman - Powerhouse |
Because when truth faces an uphill struggle, we need a trusted and sustainable memory curated and preserved. Reynold Leming - Informu Solutions Ltd |
I preserve because our social documentary collections carry our stories. They are integral to understanding who we are as individuals and communities, for building knowledge and in enabling accountability. Roxi Ruuska - State Library of New South Wales |
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We preserve to ensure that our 600-year paper legacy continues into the digital future. The format may change, but our purpose remains the same. Elizabeth Thompson-MacRae - University of St Andrews |
Digital preservation is now the key and the future to preserving our intellectual patrimony. Caroline Kangalee - NALIS |
If we don't preserve, they're genuinely won't be a reliable record of our society left over. This is now so depressingly obvious, which does nothing but increase the urgency of our work. Together we can! :) Garth Stewart - Digital Preservation Coalition |
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"You have to begin to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realize that memory is what makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all, just as an intelligence without the possibility of expression is not really an intelligence. Our memory is our coherence, our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it, we are nothing." Luis Bunuel, from My Last Sigh Neil Jefferies |
Because there is a disconnect between the skills, frameworks, and resources that are needed to safeguard digital cultural heritage for the long term, and the priority that organisation leaders often allocate to digital preservation work. There is a need for upskilling and support communities for professionals who carry out this essential work. Laurisa Sastoque - Digital Preservation Southampton |
At Kiribati National Library and Archives, we preserve Kiribati’s documentary heritage historical records, oral histories, and cultural materials to safeguard our national identity and history. Preservation ensures that even as climate change threatens physical sites, future generations can access, learn from, and celebrate Kiribati’s rich past. I/we preserve because Kiribati’s history, culture, and identity are irreplaceable treasures. Through the Kiribati National Library and Archives, we safeguard documents, oral histories, and cultural records so that future generations can learn from the past, celebrate our heritage, and remain connected to our roots, even as climate change and modernization threaten our physical and cultural landscapes. Aileen Boubou - Kiribati National Library and Archives |
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Because... "Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." |
I preserve for memories, accessibility, accountability, and longevity... Germina Melius |
Because preparing the past helps us prepare for the future! |
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Every act of preservation is history and knowledge for the next generation. Germina Melius |
Preserving historical archives is essential for future generations because they provide valuable information about judicial sentences that have defined our democracy over time. Teresa Garmendia - Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación |
Because it is only through preservation that an accurate account of the past endures for future generations, otherwise we lose it. Abel M'kulama - Zambian Archives and Records Management Association (ZARMA) |
| .... because we can't learn from a past that's lost | For transparancy | Because back-ups are not enough! |
| To enable future storytelling | ... because it provides hope for the future | ... because it's a legislative mandate to preserve |
| I preserve to be a good ancestor now! | Because we want to tell the stories of the wonderful work being created | ... memory of government ... |
| For those who haven't been born yet know their history | For future generations and future artificially intelligent species to be empowered by | To support the self-determination of peoples and cultures all over the world. Digital preservation ensures access to people's rights, entitlements and memory in perpetuity. |
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I preserve because I want the items in my institution to be accessible in years to come for people to do things with that haven't even been invented yet. Kerrie Shaw |
To protect the legacy of what came before, especially marginalized communities. |
Because we deserve: Memory. Accountability. Legacy. Justice. Widening access, across the world and time. |
| ... because if not me, who? | Because we won't have a road map for the future without preservation, dedicated people and resources. | To ensure people can aways find what they are looking for and understand it. |
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Digital preservation for UNHCR, refugees and displaced and stateless persons is important because it ensures our work, decisions, and stories remain accessible for future generations – supporting continuity of assistance and awareness. |