Any factor relating to the integrity and operation of the systems, storage, hardware or software required to preserve digital materials.
What are the Risks of not preserving digital materials?
| Organization Type | Risk | Potential Consequences | 
| Technologies used become obsolete; this may apply to elements such as hardware, software and file formats. | 
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| Rate of data creation outstrips capacity for storage, processing and preservation. | 
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| Insufficient funding available to allow sustainable preservation procedures and systems to be established. | 
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| Failure to maintain preservation system and processes. | 
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| The hardware or software required to interpret, and present digital information is no longer available | 
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| Storage conditions are inadequate for preservation | 
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| Do not adequately consider the preservation needs of complex digital objects, including new publication formats | 
 | 
What Opportunities do preserved digital materials create?
| Organization Type | Digital Preservation can… | 
| provide efficiencies of scale through shared services, resources and systems | |
| provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion which results in reduced storage requirements | |
| provide cost and operational efficiencies by allowing the consolidation of legacy systems | |
| provide cost efficiencies through the greater automation of processes | |
| provide cost efficiencies through planned disposal and deletion according to specified retention schedules, which results in reduced storage requirements | |
| create a pathway for smaller organizations to take advantage of enterprise level infrastructure through shared or cloud services | |
| reduce duplication of infrastructure and effort by sharing services, systems and storage with other institutions | |
| make the right information is available at the right time, by using the most appropriate service | |
| avoid wasted expenditure and reduce long-term operational costs by considering access and reuse at the stage of data generation, creation and system design. | |
| enable informed and planned disposal as well as retention which mitigates the continuous increase in the volume of time-series data, as well as the cost of managing it | |
| cut the costs of viewing rooms open to the public by moving some collections into deep storage | 











































































































































