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Digital Preservation

This guide is meant to be an introduction to the practice of digital preservation. Use it to learn about the topic and how to ensure long term access to your own data.

Standards and Guidelines

This page contains three popular models of digital preservation for those interested in more detailed aspects of how digital preservation is commonly conducted by larger institutions.

Digital Curation Lifecycle Model

The DCLM was created by the Digital Curation Center to visualize how to preserve research data, but it can be expanded to all types of digital objects that may need preserving.

                                           

NDSA Levels of Preservation

The Levels of Digital Preservation (LoP) is a resource for digital preservation practitioners to refer to when building or evaluating their digital preservation program. Five functional areas (Storage, Integrity, Control, Metadata, Content) are graded on a four-level scale based on their level of robustness.

OAIS - The Open Archival Information System Reference Model

Per OCLC, the Open Archival Information System Reference Model is a conceptual framework for an archival system dedicated to preserving and maintaining access to digital information over the long term. 

Complete documentation is provided by Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems.