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Digital preservation

The uncertain future of saving the past

by Stijn Hoorens, Jeff Rothenberg

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Digital objects are becoming a critical component of scholarly research, but stakeholders show an alarming lack of concern about preserving digital data accurately and sustainably: those charged with archiving information have not yet developed strategies that will enable future generations to build their knowledge on what has gone before. How will research findings be communicated in the future, and how true to the original look, feel and behaviour of these publications will digital archives need to be? Scenario planning can address the challenge of developing strategies in the face of these uncertainties to help librarians and archivists maintain the time-honoured tradition of preserving the past to inform the future.

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