Digital Preservation Policy
Reviewed and updated August 2023
Approved by Steve Lloyd, Head of Cultural Services, 24 October 2023
This document will be reviewed and updated in 2026 in line with the Archives Service Accreditation programme.
Lancashire Archives
Inspiring people and communities to explore their heritage; promoting and continuing to collect Lancashire's archives while preserving them for everyone to use and enjoy, now and in the future.
Digital Preservation Policy
1. Purpose of Policy
1.1 This policy forms part of the suite of policies relating specifically to the collections held by Lancashire Archives. It should be read in conjunction with the Collections Management Policy, which describes the statutory and legal basis for Lancashire Archives, the preservation and management of its collections, the framework of standards within which it operates and the code of ethics followed by staff caring for and working on the collections.
1.2 This policy explains in more detail the approach of Lancashire Archives to the preservation of digital records in our care.
2. Context
2.1 Digital records are at risk of being lost, owing to factors such as
- the rapid obsolescence of hardware, software and storage media
- a lack of the resources and skills needed to manage the preservation of such material
- uncertainty about technical and infrastructural requirements
- the need for ongoing, active management to ensure that records remain authentic and accessible
2.2 Lancashire Archives exists to collect and preserve the county's unique and irreplaceable archives, making them accessible to everyone, now and in the future. Increasingly those records are being created in a digital format.
2.3 This policy aligns with Lancashire County Council's Digital First Strategy, which aims to make the Council a digital first organisation over the next five years.
2.4 This policy relates to both born digital records, which are created and managed electronically, and made digital records, which were originally created in a non-digital form but subsequently converted to digital for preservation or access purposes.
3. Appraisal, selection and acquisition
3.1 The nature of the creation of digital records means that it is difficult to be certain that a deposited digital object is the record and that no copy, which could subsequently be amended, remains with the depositor. This is fundamentally different from the creation and deposit of records in traditional media and the archive service will need to develop procedures and policies which reflect this.
3.2 Lancashire Archives will seek to work with depositors and potential depositors to encourage good practice in the creation and care of digital records.
3.3 We will appraise and select digital records for preservation with reference to our Appraisal Guidelines.
3.4 At present we are able to preserve only the most common file formats.
3.5 In certain circumstances it may be preferable for depositors to deposit a hard copy version of the records in order to ensure their preservation.
4. Preservation
4.1 Digital archives will initially be kept in the file format in which they were created and checksums will be used periodically to check data integrity.
4.2 Lancashire Archives will record technical metadata to assist in the long-term management of digital material, particularly when monitoring the potential obsolescence of file formats and the need to migrate files to a more sustainable format.
4.3 Digital archives will be stored within Lancashire County Council's ICT infrastructure in a read-only storage format on a server which is backed up periodically including off-site storage for preservation purposes.
4.4 Digital archives will be afforded the same level of security as records created and stored by Lancashire County Council. They will be included in the council's disaster recovery plan.
5. Access
5.1 Lancashire Archives will work towards providing online access to digital archives via its online catalogue. In the short term, we will provide access to digital material in our public searchroom.
6. Standards
6.1 Lancashire Archives will apply current international standards when capturing technical metadata.
6.2 Lancashire Archives will apply international standards for cataloguing when describing digital material.
6.3 Standards in the area of digital preservation are continuing to be developed. Lancashire Archives will monitor these and attempt to align our work to them as far as is practically possible.
7. Review
7.1 This policy will be reviewed every 3 years.