Digital preservation scope and principles
Digital preservation is the coordinated, ongoing set of processes and activities that maintains digital materials in understandable, accessible and usable forms for long term use by user communities, beyond the limits of technological or organisational failure or change.
Digital materials encompass data, records, collection objects and outputs in electronic form including text, images, audio, moving images, 3D assets and immersive media that can be accessed by a computer. They can be born digital (created digitally) or digitised (physical and analogue materials which are converted into digital files).
Preservation assets are digital materials selected for long-term preservation as determined by legislative mandate or other endorsed eligibility criteria.
See the Digital preservation glossary for more definitions.
What are we preserving?
The University provides digital preservation services and infrastructure to collection custodians with digital materials that meet the below scope criteria.
In scope
The University seeks to preserve digital materials which:
- Are subject to legal, compliance and/or funding obligations requiring ongoing retention and preservation
- Are identified as requiring ongoing retention and preservation in University policies
- Are significant to the University and wider community due to their:
- Rarity and uniqueness, for example materials that are irreplaceable or represent a major advance in technological, scholarly or creative practice
- Historic, social and cultural value, for examples materials representing important social or cultural movements and events, and diverse voices from the University community
- Substantial monetary value, for example purchased collections and materials tied to funding agreements or large-scale commercial ventures
- Research and teaching value, for example materials considered to be exemplars and/or those representing a major advance, change or achievement in their field
- Fall within the following preservation streams: Cultural collections or Research.
Preservation streams
| Cultural collections | Research | |
|---|---|---|
| Description | University digital cultural collections — Library special collections, University of Melbourne Archives, museum, gallery and faculty collections. | Digital materials generated during research undertaken by University researchers and research students |
| Examples | Digital artworks, documents, images, sound recordings, videos, 3D assets and immersive works Digital records and data created, received, and maintained as evidence by the University, in pursuant of legal obligations, or in the transaction of business. Such as University-wide policies, reports, and strategic meeting documents. | Digital records, data and outputs for select research projects with regulatory or community significance. PhD theses and accompanying submission material, including non-traditional research outputs |
| In scope | Born digital cultural collection materials held by a University cultural collection custodian Born digital University records and data classed as ‘permanent’ in the University Records Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA) Digitised collection materials that are considered master copies due to the condition or availability of the physical original* | Born digital research records, data and outputs classed as ‘Permanent’ in the University Records Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA) Digitised records, data and outputs classed as ‘Permanent’ in the RDA that are considered master copies due to the condition or availability of the physical original |
| Policy | Collections Policy (MPF1309) Records Management Policy (MPF1106) | Research Data Management Policy (MPF1242) |
* For example, content held on magnetic media for which equipment required to read the media is considered obsolete.
Some digital materials which meet the eligibility criteria for preservation may be particularly technically challenging, or resource intensive to ingest and preserve long term. In these circumstances, digital materials may be excluded from preservation based on the following:
- Current state of the digital materials (e.g. format, and technical complexity)
- Dependencies of the digital materials (e.g. technology, software or supporting documentation needed for preservation and access)
- Preservation activities needed to preserve the digital materials to the agreed level (e.g. normalisation, migration)
- Funding needed for preservation actions and ingest workflows for the digital materials.
Out of scope
The following are out of scope for digital preservation at the University:
- Physical and analogue cultural collection materials. These will continue to be managed by University cultural collection custodians.
- Physical and analogue records and data. These will continue to be managed by record and data owners (University Faculty or Chancellery work units), Records & Information team (for records registered into the enterprise recordkeeping system) and University of Melbourne Archives (for permanent value records registered into the archival management system).
- Access copies of born-digital or digitised materials. These will continue to be managed by University collection custodians
- Websites. University of Melbourne Archives will continue to manage the majority of permanent web content as part of the University’s Web Archiving Program. Any sites which are of a complex nature, and which cannot be captured via the Web Archiving Program may be in scope on a case-by-case basis.
- Digital materials which are on loan to the University.
How are we preserving?
The following high-level principles guide development and implementation of digital preservation services, infrastrucure and capabilities at the University.
Preservation principles
- Preservation assets should be preserved with authenticity and integrity.
- Preservation assets should remain understandable, accessible, and usable by user communities for as long as they are required.
- Sustainability will be upheld as a key concept driving operational decisions to mitigate detrimental impacts on our global environment.
- The ongoing preservation of preservation assets should be flexible, cost effective, and appropriate for the requirements of the preservation assets and user communities.
- A commitment to building, monitoring, and maintaining the essential ongoing human infrastructure and culture to support digital preservation; for staff contributing directly and indirectly to digital preservation functions, and for the broader community of digital content creators, custodians, and users.
- As new technologies emerge, new measures and methods to ensure the ongoing preservation of preservation assets will be developed, appropriate for the University context and its user communities.
- Justification for ongoing management of preservation assets should be periodically reviewed based on changes to university and/or business unit priorities, documented criteria, available human resourcing and funding, or other criteria as necessary.
- The University will explore collaboration and partnership opportunities with external parties to enhance its digital preservation processes, infrastructure, and knowledge generation.