Long-term preservation

The preservation of online publications represents a particular challenge. The digital data itself must be preserved, but so, too, must its long-term accessibility. This means preserving the interpretability of the content of the digital data. Ongoing technical advances are resulting in constant changes in hardware and software. It must be possible to use publications saved in new file formats on current computer systems just as it was on systems which are now long obsolete. To achieve this, an earlier system environment can be recreated on a current system (emulation) or an earlier file format can be converted into a current one (migration).

In the kopal project sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German National Library, together with partners, set up a jointly usable digital repository from 2004 to 2007. This includes the administration of information for supporting migration and emulation in LMER format (digital preservation metadata for electronic resources). Also, the open-source software koLibRI (kopal Library for Retrieval and Ingest) was created, providing a framework which can be used for setting up format migration processes. The aim of the nestor project sponsored by the BMBF is to create, under the leadership of the German National Library, a competence network for the long-term preservation and accessibility of digital resources for Germany.