Feature
Zhenxin Wu Professor of the Information System Department, and deputy director of the Digital Preservation Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Science Library, Beijing, China
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Unesco and the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) published an Executive Guide on Digital Preservation in May last year. In your opinion, what are the challenges of international co-operation on digital preservation? How can digital preservation programmes be more inclusive? With the continuous development of big data and complex digital object types, the complexity and cost of digital preservation are constantly increasing, meaning that co-operation regarding digital preservation has become an inevitable trend. I personally think the most important challenge which the international co- operation of digital preservation is facing is the sustainability of the co-operation model. How to ensure the consistency of international co-operation goals? How to balance the responsibilities and benefits of participants in co-operation? These are important issues which must be addressed. We can only succeed by ensuring that the partners have compatible goals, be it prestige, knowledge and technology, or other goals, and benefit from sustained co- operation. At the same time, the international digital preservation plan should consider the different roles and contributions of the participants, distinguish their various
“We can only succeed by
goals and expectations, and their abilities and willingness to contribute. This will help to attract more contributors.
The DPC’s BitList provides an overview of digital content that is important to preserve. How does your archive contribute to the preservation of endangered content? Digital preservation is a complex, expensive and long-term activity. Archiving agencies should carefully formulate preservation actions. NDPP will evaluate digital resources and formulate preservation policies around our core mission, and gradually expand the scope of preserved resources in accordance with our capacities. At the same time, we will co-operate with other archiving agencies to promote the preservation of endangered content in China and beyond. NDPP aims to preserve the digital resources in science and technology, initially aiming at publications, and gradually expanding to other digital objects and information resources (such as data, methods, tools and discussions).
ensuring that the partners have compatible goals”
24 Research Information October/November 2020
It is important to validate good practices in the field of digital archiving and several certifications exist such as TRAC metrics, CoreTrustSeal, Nestor Seal for Trustworthy Digital Archives. Should certification be made compulsory at the national, or even international level? Trustworthy auditing and certification are very important for digital preservation. It is a very good reference and guidance for practitioners by regulating their activities. Since each certified system or organisation needs to spend a lot of manpower to prepare for certification, it is more difficult for a small-scale (or
“The international digital preservation plan should consider the
different roles and contributions of the participants”
not long-lasting) project or organisation. The current standard is more suitable for institutions with long-term and stable funding; in addition, for non-English projects and institutions, the translation of a large number of documents is also a time-consuming and labour-intensive task. Therefore, the necessity and feasibility
of compulsory implementation at the national and even international levels need to be fully considered. However, relevant domains in various countries, such as libraries or archives, can consider formulating standards that meet local issues and become compulsory.
The OAIS standard is the cornerstone for electronic archiving. Are there other recommendations or standards that are particularly important and is your organisation implementing them? We use standards implemented at the global level, such as OAIS, ISO 16363 Space data and information transfer systems – audit and certification of trustworthy digital repositories, and PREMIS. We have implemented them fully in our preservation activities, including preservation policy making, archiving system designing and developing, and trusted process management.
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