Ten years of the strategic collaboration of German libraries in digital preservation

Abstract

The study focuses on an increasingly important and urgent task of the digital era, on digital preservation. As the number of digitized and digitally created materials and objects is growing exponentially, and the accessibility of these resources greatly depends on their publisher, libraries are becoming aware that they are obliged to preserve the materials and objects of digital literature within their scope, and should ensure their use in a changing technical environment too. This activity is a rather resource-intensive and complex task which can be implemented in co-operation with other libraries. The cooperation of German special libraries with national responsibilities in the field of digital preservation, started in 2009 with a pilot programme is one of the most successful co-operation initiatives among German libraries. One of the three information centres provides central tasks as a host, and although other libraries use the same system, they manage their work processes themselves. The study describes the system developed during the ten years of joint work, highlighting the benefits, difficulties, methods and organizational solutions of the division of labour, as well as the synergic impacts which derive from working in a network, co-operation with external partners and from the opportunities of specialization.