Note from the Editor

Citation

(2004), "Note from the Editor", VINE, Vol. 34 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/vine.2004.28734aaa.001

Note from the Editor

Digitisation is associated with preservation, because many printed documents and other media are currently being digitised to preserve precious originals from wear and tear.

Ironically digital objects are themselves potentially far more fugitive than paper documents.

Digital objects are inherently vulnerable. Kept in the right conditions paper is long lasting. In contrast, we know that computing platforms and file types change rapidly, meaning that the hardware and software to view electronic objects may in the space of a few years become unavailable.

Also the preservation processes, policies and specialist institutions that have evolved over a long period to conserve printed matter, have not yet been reinvented to protect born digital material.

Although in some senses the particular preserve of archives, increasingly all institutions need to be concerned with digital preservation. National libraries have an obvious remit in this area Thus recent legislation in the UK has extended the legal deposit responsibilities of publishers to electronic publications. There have been a range of other important new work, such as the development of a conceptual model for the digital repository, OAIS. These issues of VINE devoted to digital preservation are timely, therefore.

Acknowledgements

Our thanks go to Maria Inês for collecting so much excellent material for these issues.