Networking for Digital Preservation: Current Practice in 15 National Libraries. IFLA Publications 119

In 2004-2005, The National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) conducted a survey for the IFLA-CDNL Alliance for Bibliographic Standards (ICABS)--an alliance founded jointly by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) and the national libraries of Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.--on the use and development of standards in digital archiving within the international library world. The survey resulted in the present report, and gives an overview of current digital preservation practice in the 15 national libraries of Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The main focal points in the survey are the use of standards in operational safe place environments (the current state of affairs of initiatives on electronic repositories), and the current state of affairs with respect to, and the need for permanent access strategies (such as migration and emulation). The survey also provides an overview of current national and international projects on digital preservation. The study made use of desk research, interviews and an analysis of new developments. This report contains two parts. Part One provides an analysis of the current state of affairs at 15 national libraries. Part Two contains the detailed overviews per library. Each overview is divided into four sections: General; Digital Repository; Preservation Strategies; and Current Activities. The report contains a foreword written by Dr. Wim van Drimmelen, Director General, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, and a foreword written by Renate Gompel, Chair of ICABS. Appendices includes a list of references and acronyms and the Report of the National Library of Australia on Guidance for Digital Preservation: A Summary. It is hoped that this report will serve as a useful guide for libraries and cultural heritage institutions as they face the future challenges of long-term archiving and preservation. (Contains 109 footnotes.) [This research was supported by structural funding from Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands.]