Updated January 2, 2020. 

Audience

The intended audience for this policy includes faculty, administrators, and students of Duke University, as well as researchers external to Duke who are collaborating with Duke personnel and whose projects will make use of Duke University Libraries’ repository services.

Purpose

Duke University Libraries (DUL) and Duke University are committed to the long-term preservation and persistent access to the University’s digital assets curated in the Duke Digital Repositories.  Duke University Libraries is committed to the stewardship of these materials into the future. The following Digital Preservation Policy describes the DUL’s overarching approach to sustainable access for digital objects. Detailed strategies for preservation activities are documented in the Preservation Strategies below. Acknowledging the rapid, ongoing changes in this technological environment, policies are subject to change.

The preservation objectives are:

Scope

This policy covers all materials selected for inclusion in the Duke Digital Repositories as defined in individual repository collection policies.  This policy applies for the intended duration of stewardship for each collection.  These policies are subject to change by the Duke University Libraries and are not specific to systems or software implementation.

This policy does not address issues outside the scope of preservation such as collection development policies, retention schedules, or selection criteria for higher levels of preservation service.

Preservation Strategies

References

  1. United States Computer Emergency Readiness: Team Data Backup Options
  2. National Digital Stewardship Alliance: Levels of Digital Preservation
  3. Significant properties of digital objects: definitions, applications, implications
  4. ISO 14721:2012 Space data and information transfer systems -- Open archival information system (OAIS) -- Reference model