Because there is relatively little information gathered or reported about digital preservation practices and policies, we proposed and conducted the 1st Association of Research Libraries (ARL) SPEC survey on digital preservation (Systems and Procedures Exchange Center). While ARL specifically surveys only its members, the publications are resource guides for any academic library researching management issues. For this meeting of PLN members I will specifically share data from the point of view of PLN (28) vs. non-PLN (34) members.

This survey sought to identify the strategies that institutions use to protect their digital collections and to describe the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders. We specifically noted digital preservation includes the policies, strategies, and actions that ensure access to digital content over time.

Today I’m going to share some of the survey data about (1) digital content, (2) strategies for preserving that content, (3) and about staff, time, and funding they currently devote to digital preservation and projection of these three years into the future. For this meeting of PLN members I will specifically share data from the point of view of PLN (28) vs. non-PLN (34) members. The full report (where we covered more issues and in more depth) is available at http://publications.arl.org/Digital-Preservation-SPEC-Kit-325/