As the need for digital content increases almost daily, preserving this content for university libraries, especially in the least developed and developing nations, becomes a challenge, resulting in the loss of this data. Even though most of these libraries are automated and adopt one digital preservation strategy or the other, library users need…

This research explores individuals' relationships with their personal digital information through the concepts of digital possessions and self extension. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, twenty-three participants were interviewed about their definitions of digital possessions and digital legacies, and about their connections to…

The internationally recognized "NMC Horizon Report" series and regional "NMC Technology Outlooks" are part of the NMC Horizon Project, a 12-year effort established in 2002 that annually identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact over the coming five years in every sector of education around the…

The education sector remains abuzz with cost-cutting expectations despite pressures to increase services. Automation of costly manual tasks could save funds for many of these institutions, specifically in data protection. The IT departments of schools and universities can take advantage of a proven cost-savings opportunity in data protection that…

An unprecedented amount of information encompassing almost every facet of human activities across the world is generated daily in the form of zeros and ones, and that is often the only form in which such information is recorded. A good fraction of this information needs to be preserved for periods of time ranging from a few years to centuries.…

Discusses electronic-document preservation and argues that digital tablets, storing both the documents and the software to use them, should be developed as a more permanent alternative to migration, currently the primary preservation strategy. Discusses technology that could be used to produce a digital tablet, lists life expectancy of digital…

Over the past several decades, millions of digital objects of significant scientific, economic, cultural, and historic value have been published and distributed to libraries and archives on removable media. Providing long-term access to these documents, media files, and software executables is an increasingly complex task because of dependencies…

Describes imaging technology, which allows huge numbers of words and illustrations to be reduced to tiny fraction of space required by originals and discusses current applications. Highlights include image processing system at National Archives; use by banks for high-speed check processing; engineering document management systems (EDMS); folder…

Gathering and displaying governance documents and photos online can help educate the public, promote transparency, and preserve historical artifacts. Under the leadership of a board chair with lifelong interest in history and respect for the historical record, the Office of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System has discovered that…

Discusses the user benefits of write-once optical storage devices; describes typical applications in archival storage, one-off complex instruction sets, and information storage and retrieval systems; and identifies current trends toward standardization of equipment. (CLB)

There is much speculation that the development of institutional repositories will impact on or even change the traditional scholarly communication process. The purpose of this conversation is to introduce the reader to the use of and response to institutional repositories which were initiated by the Open Access Initiative. The concept of…

The Association of Research Libraries distributed a survey to its 119 member libraries to assess the use of state-of-the-art digital technologies as a preservation method. Libraries were asked to report detailed data on all projects designed specifically to: (1) enhance images of faded or brittle originals, (2) provide access to digital images…

Examines the institutional, intellectual and conceptual differences between library and archives management, and identifies shared concerns and problems arising from developments in information technology. The need for the incorporation of information science concepts in the professional education of archivists and librarians is discussed. (CLB)

Reports on a three-year research project entitled "The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records." The project aims to identify and define in a purely theoretical way both the by-products of electronic systems and the methods for protecting the integrity of those which constitute evidence of action. (AEF)

Discusses the Peirce On-line Resource Testbed (PORT), a digital archive of primary data. Highlights include knowledge processing testbeds for digital resource development; Peirce's pragmatism in operation; PORT and knowledge processing; obstacles to archive access; and PORT as a paradigm for critical control in knowledge processing. (AEF)