Introduction

The growth of institutional repositories and their valuable digital content raises questions as to how to preserve this content for the long term. In this chapter the main topic is the long-term preservation of digital material and its consequences for institutional repositories.

In 1999 Jeff Rothenberg was one of the first to raise the question on how we can preserve digital material over the years. In his article he imagined that he left his grandchildren a CD-ROM and a letter, in which he told them that the way to his fortune could be found on the CD-ROM. But they found this CD-ROM in 2045. Could they find the treasure, could they read the obsolete CD-ROM? This article was the starting point of many discussions. During the last decade, many articles have been written and conferences organised around the theme of digital preservation. Everyday, new projects and insights are made public on the websites of the preservation communities. Despite all these efforts, digital preservation has not yet attained its full development. For institutional repositories, with their collections of science treasures waiting to be found by contemporary and future generations, the question of how to preserve this valuable material for the long term and how to keep this accessible over the years, becomes vital. Unfortunately, a clear and simple recipe with rules and guidelines on how to perform digital preservation in a consistent manner has not yet been written. Digital preservation is a relatively new area, and one in which a broad community is still searching for the best way to handle digital material for the long term. This means that starting points are still subject to discussion (like the OAIS model) and that, although the goal is clear, the necessary tools to reach this goal are still to be developed or to be improved.

In this chapter, one of the main goals is to raise awareness. It is important for every institutional repository manager to be aware of the aspects of digital preservation and to be familiar with the solutions and measures he/ she is supposed to take for his/her repository.

This chapter will describe various aspects of digital preservation.