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Forwarded from the NINCH list.
Judy
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From: INTERNET:[log in to unmask], INTERNET:[log in to unmask]
To: Multiple recipients of list, INTERNET:[log in to unmask]
Date: 7/29/97 6:05 PM
RE: Electronic Archives
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NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
July 29, 1997
THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITIZED RECORDS AND REPRODUCTIONS
In the context of continuing discussion and thought about the management
and preservation of digital material come two related by separate policy
statements, one from the Society of American Archivists and from the
Australian Archives.
The first is a statement of principles, recently approved by the Council of
the SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS. The three-page "Statement on the
Preservation of Digitized Reproductions,"
<http://www.archivists.org/governance/resolutions/digitize.html> covers the
issues of preservation, selection, quality, integrity and access. Overall
the document stresses the importance of considering and carrying forward
the context of a document or object when it is digitized, the importance of
an object's metadata accompanying the object throughout its digital
history, and of the long-term care of an object through migration onto
future generations of digital carriers.
The second announcement concerns the release of the AUSTRALIAN ARCHIVES'
policy document, "Managing Electronic Records - A Shared Responsibility"
<http://www.aa.gov.au/AA_WWW/AA_Issues/ManagingER.html>. This is an update
of a 1995 policy document and marks an increasing understanding of the
importance of long-term care of electronic records and objects, from
creation through migration. To quote from the Introduction:
"The essential features of such an approach involve:
* strategic management of electronic records;
* the development and implementation of electronic recordkeeping systems;
* the migration of electronic records, with their content, structure and
context intact, across changes in software and hardware platforms."
