Using a digital preservation system to ensure access to online digital content

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the benefits of integrating a digital preservation system into the library as a way to ensure uninterrupted access to e‐journals and e‐books.

This paper introduces the concept of a digital preservation system, and shows how it can made to benefit end‐users through a simple integration with the online pubic access catalogue (OPAC), to ensure continuous access to a library's e‐journals and e‐books.

A digital preservation system ensures that libraries continue to have access to on‐line assets once a subscription is cancelled or the publisher discontinues access. It extends the traditional library model of print journals and books on the shelf to encompass digital media. Providing end‐user access to preserved content can be simplified by integrating the online public access catalogue (OPAC) with the digital preservation system through a link resolver. End‐users can access the preserved content using an interface they already know, and the integration guards against publisher outages to provide continuous access to the library's digital collection.

The techniques shown in this paper can be extended to integrating digital preservation systems with other library systems.

This paper illustrates a simple way for the library to ensure that end‐users have un‐interrupted access to digital assets, even if it is necessary to cancel a subscription or there is a temporary disruption in service from the publisher.