Responsibility for Digital Archiving and Long Term Access to Digital Data

This report presents the findings of an investigation into opinions on the responsibility for maintaining an archive of digital materials produced in the UK and Ireland. The study was conducted by means of focus group meetings and interviews. The report represents the range of opinions expressed and highlights areas of concern to the participants, all of whom have an interest in this issue.

The report recommended that a body should be established to co-ordinate archiving of digital material. The National Office of Digital Archiving (NODA) would be responsible for developing standards and guidelines for archiving digital materials. The job of maintaining the archives should be contracted out to specialist agencies with the appropriate expertise. Once material is selected for preservation it should be kept for ever. Funding for digital archiving must come from the public sector via higher education institutions, legal deposit libraries, the funding councils and NODA itself. Legal deposit legislation should be amended to cover electronic publications and other digital material such as sound and video recordings.