Digital preservation

Digitisation Is Not the Same as Preservation

Digitisation creates digital records. Digital preservation protects those records so they remain readable, trustworthy and accessible over time.

Digitisation captures the material

Scanning, photography, audio transfer and transcription can reduce handling of fragile originals and make collections easier to share.

Preservation protects the future

Long-term preservation considers file formats, storage, backups, checksums, access controls, authenticity and what happens when software changes.

The best projects plan both

If preservation is considered after launch, important decisions may already have been missed. The safest route is to plan digitisation, metadata and preservation together.

Social post idea

Post copy: Digitisation is the beginning, not the finish line. A digital archive still needs preservation planning so files remain readable, trusted and useful for decades.