digital preservation resources

Canadian Heritage Information Network. “Digital Preservation Toolkit.” 

Documents created by the Canadian Heritage Information Network to help identify digital resources and help create policies and plans to support their preservation. This document is focused on museums but a good starting place for archives as well.

Center for Research Libraries. “Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification: Criteria and Checklist.”

Criteria and checklists to assess digital repositories.

Cornell University. “Digital Preservation Management: Implementing Short-term Strategies for Longterm Problems.”

An online tutorial introducing users to digital preservation management.

Digital Preservation Coalition. “Digital Preservation Handbook.” 

Digital Preservation Handbook created by the Digital Preservation Coalition to guide preserving and providing access to digital resources over time.

InterPARES 3 Project. “Products-TEAM Canada.”

> Preserver Guidelines A very useful, and clearly laid out, 12 page guide on preserving digital records.

> Creator Guidelines A very useful, and clearly laid out, 10 page guide on saving and recovering files. This guide should be paired with the “Preserver Guidelines” guide.

> Maintaining Your Digital Records A brief overview of basic digital preservation, including planning, organization, and choosing the best format.

> Managing E-Mail What e-mails should be kept as a digital record? How and where should it be stored? This guide will discuss the management and housing of digital correspondence. 

> Policies and Procedures for the Preservation of Electronic and Digital Materials Acquired from Private Donors A guide that discusses what digital records should be acquiesced and accessioned, and how to preserve them. 

> Policy and Procedures Template InterPARES 3 – Canada has supplied a template on the policies and procedures for accepting digital record donations from private donors. 

Organizational Culture Based on interviews with different institutions, this brochure covers a number of issues that an institution may confront when organizing digital records.

Library and Archives Canada. “File Format Guidelines for Preservation and Long-term Access.”

Library and Archives Canada’s guidelines to assess file formats for digital resources. 

Library of Congress. “Sustainability of Digital Formats: Planning for Library of Congress Collections.”  

A list of resources from the Library of Congress about digital file formats and digital preservation.

Northeast Document Conservation Center. “Digital Preservation.” 

Northeast Document Conservation Center’s best practices for digital preservation.

Northeast Document Conservation Center. “Digital Preservation Readiness Webliography.” 

Northeast Document Conservation Center’s list of resources on digital preservation.

Online Computer Library Center. “Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities.”  

An RLG-OCLC report outlining the attributes and responsibilities of trusted digital repositories.

University of Cambridge. “Digital Repositories.” 

Why have a digital repository? The University of Cambridge discusses the benefits and detriments of using them through a question and answer format.