2.2 Preservation Policies
According to the JISC briefing paper Digital Preservation: Continued access to authentic digital assets, “Digital preservation is the series of actions and interventions required to ensure continued and reliable access to authentic digital objects for as long as they are deemed to be of value" (Pennock 2006). Preservation is the heart of a repository, and this heart is what often distinguishes an archive from other facilities that store data.
A digital preservation policy is a part of the preservation environment of the data archive. Its content includes the information about (i) an organizational framework in terms of the mission, selection and acquisition, access and use of data; (ii) potential challenges such as legal issues or the role of technological progress; (iii) principles for the guidelines of the data preservation like the main strategy, principles in terms of standards and co‐operation, well‐documented and traceable processes, transparency and trustworthiness and technical infrastructure; (iv) roles and responsibilities for the different types of work that data preservation requires and potential coordination between teams. Several examples of presentation policies can be found below ("Links to examples").
Digital preservation policies aim to determine the rules, the responsibilities, the roles and the system of monitoring data management within a data archive.
Preservation policies should be in line with the core mission of the organization as well as the legal framework in order to ensure permanent accessibility to archives' holdings or secure access to specific datasets (sensitive data, data under embargo period, etc.). Archives need to determine the scope of preservation actions by identifying the collections to be preserved, their significance and the desired preservation period: how, for how long, and under which specific access conditions/restrictions.
Resilient preservation makes an archive trustworthy towards designated communities of users, data providers, funding institutions and policy makers.
What to consider when creating or adapting a preservation policy
A preservation policy should clearly define the scope of materials covered, specifying data and metadata for example. Because preservation activities affect other areas of the archive, such connections should be considered. External guidelines and standards are also often relevant, as are considerations about long-term sustainability.
Relevant sections from Chapter 1
1.2 What does an archive look like and what does it do?
1.5 What is a certified archive?
Links to examples
Digital Preservation Policy. Principles of digital preservation of research data at GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. GESIS. https://www.gesis.org/fileadmin/upload/Datenservices/Preservation_Policy/DSS_Preservation_Policy_2-0-0.pdf
Preservation policy template for repositories. Digital Curation Coalition (DCC). http://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/Preservation%20policy%20template.pdf
Preservation Policy. UKDA. http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/media/54776/ukda062-dps-preservationpolicy.pdf
Digital Preservation Policies: Guidance for archives. The National Archives. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/digital-preservation-policies-guidance-draft-v4.2.pdf