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Further resources

A list of additional guidance materials relating to preservation policies. Use this as a reference point for further reading on the subject. The DPC Digital Preservation Policy Toolkit builds on some of the resources listed below but does not attempt to replace them.

 

General guidance on preservation policy writing

  • Practical Digital Preservation: A how-to guide for organizations of any size by Adrian Brown, (2013), pp. 24–36, Facet Publishing - This book includes a helpful section on developing a policy.

  • Presentation by Kirsty Lee University of Edinburgh (2014): - This presentation includes a table showing the different policy elements included in Adrian Brown’s Practical Digital Preservation, the Library of Congress work and JISC report from 2008.

  • Blog post from Somaya Langley ‘Cambridge University Libraries inaugural Digital Preservation Policy’ (2018) - This blog post gives a helpful insight into the policy development process.

  • Blog post from Edith Halversson ‘Policy Ramblings’ (2017) - This blog post highlights work to analyze preservation policies (or strategies) from 60 institutions, using the 19 headings from the Library of Congress study. There are some interesting findings – for example, the policies that covered all headings are not necessarily more effective than those that cover fewer.

  • Event page for Devising Your Digital Preservation Policy: Learnings from the Digital Preservation at Oxford and Cambridge (DPOC) project (2018) - Slides from the day are available and are a useful reference.

  • APARSEN D35.1 Exemplar good governance structures and data policies (2013) - This report is aimed specifically at science data but does include some useful general recommendations which are easy to pick out from the 'Recommendations and conclusions' section of the report.

  • Digital preservation policies: Guidance for archives, The National Archives UK (2011) - Though quite old, this guide still contains useful advice in an easy to read format.

 

Other preservation policy templates

  • Archives West Midlands Digital Preservation Policy template (2018) - A recent example of a preservation policy that has been created for members of Archives West Midlands. The text is written in full, and there are areas where members are encouraged to insert their own organization name or mission statement, or add other specifics unique to them. One of the aims of this policy is to move all members to level 1 of the NDSA Levels of Preservation.

  • DCC template preservation policy (2010) - This template is focused on ‘data’ and suggests quite a high level of detail on some policy elements, such as whether new versions of data can be submitted and how this will be handled.

  • NEDCC Digital Preservation Policy Template (2008) - Developed for a 2-day workshop, this example includes headings and suggests questions to answer under each section. It doesn’t include example statements.

  • MetaArchive Preservation Policy Template: Digital Preservation Policy & Planning Workshop (2010) - Similar to the NEDCC Digital Preservation Policy Template, this resource includes headings and hints as to what to include in each section. This template goes into a high level of detail on what to preserve and which preservation strategies may be employed.

  • DPOC project preservation policy templates (2018) - Two different templates are available to download from Oxford and Cambridge. The Cambridge template gives a format/style for the policy and includes the headings that you might wish to use; the Oxford template also includes a short description of what you might want to include in each section.

  • DDHN Digital Preservation Policy Road Map - The Dutch Digital Heritage Network’s guide for creating a policy road map (Dutch language only).

 

Preservation policy frameworks and headings

  • Digital Preservation Policy Framework: Development Guideline Version 2.1 - Originally created by Nancy McGovan, this framework is specifically designed to address the seven attributes of a Trusted Digital Repository. Rather than being for the creation of an aspirational policy it reflects on the current capabilities of a digital preservation program.

  • Analysis of Current Digital Preservation Policies, Madeline Sheldon, Library of Congress (2013) - This report describes the high-level analysis of digital preservation policies or strategies published during 2008 and 2013. Analysis includes what types of topic various institutions thought to include, or exclude, within their policies, and to what extent, or detail, they covered each element. A taxonomy was developed based on most commonly cited elements. The report includes a final list of 19 criteria or topics to cover.

  • Digital Preservation Policies Study, Neil Beagrie et al. (2008) - This study relates most specifically to higher education, but includes some useful information relating to policy headings and example statements.

  • Digital Preservation Policy Framework - This framework from the DPM workshop team describes a policy framework centred around 5 stages: Acknowledge, Act, Consolidate, Institutionalize, Externalize (last updated 2016).

 

Policy examples


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