Alongside technical and theoretical work, an important strand of activity in the Digital Preservation programme focuses on the policy, financial and legal aspects of ensuring that digital materials remain sustainable, accessible and useful. The formulation of effective institutional or programme policy in this area is vital to the long-term success of preservation initiatives and may, in the mid to long-term future, largely define what resources future generations of researchers, teachers and learners have at their disposal to support certain types of work.
The creation of policy must be informed by realistic estimates of the financial cost of undertaking preservation and institutions are reliant on such mechanisms to enable strategic planning and the prioritisation of scarce resources. Likewise, understanding the legal framework within which preservation can happen is critically important, not only for institutions to avoid unnecessary litigation but also to enable them to be less risk-averse and to execute measures that less well-informed institutions may be unwilling to try.
Legal, Costs and Policy Work
Digital Preservation Policy Study
This study looks at a number of different resources to suggest a framework for creating digital preservation policies and recommends that preservation policy should be drawn up with reference to other institutional policy imperatives, e.g. research, teaching and learning, records management, staff development etc ...
Final Report (pdf) File, 663kb,
Appendices (pdf) File, 660kb