Long-Term Archiving – Digital Inheritance

An increasing part of information produced in the world is now digital. Institutions serving as memory banks – that is, archives, libraries, museums and related establishments, which have the task of collecting, archiving, and making accessible our cultural inheritance – are confronted with the challenge of securing that digital knowledge for the future.

„Charter on the Preservation of Digital Heritage“, passed on 17th October, 2003, by UNESCO, stresses the growing danger of the loss of a significant part of the digital heritage.  That is contributed to not only by the rapid obsolescence of technologies needed to tap into digital resources, but also by uncertainty concerning the conservation of the means necessary and available, and concerning adequate methods of archiving. Further factors are uncertainty over responsibilities and the lack of legal standards. To secure the digital inheritance measures must be taken which take into account the whole life cycle of digital resources, from their production to their being made accessible.