Digital preservation is an issue of huge importance to the library and information profession right now. With the widescale adoption of the internet and the rise of the WWW, the world has been overwhelmed by digital information. Digital data is being produced on a massive scale by individuals and institutions: some of it is born, lives and dies only in digital form, and it is the potential death of this data that is the concern of this volume.
So how can information professionals try to remedy this situation? Digital preservation is a complex issue, with many different aspects and views, so in this book each chapter is written by an international expert on the topic. Many case studies and examples are used to ground the ideas and theories in real concerns and practice. This volume will arm the information professional with the knowledge they need about this important and pressing issue and give examples of best practice to help find a way to a solution for this problem. Chapters cover:

• formats of digital data
• authenticity of digital data
• preservation strategies
• international trends in digital preservation
• web archiving
• metadata
• institutional policies
• the cost of digital preservation and cost of data loss.

Written by leading international experts in digital library development, each book in the Digital Futures series examines in detail some of the key strategic and practical issues facing libraries and other cultural institutions in the rapidly expanding world of digital information.
Readership: This is an indispensable guide for all information managers, librarians and archivists. Others in the information and culture world, such as museum curators, media professionals and web content providers will also find it essential reading, as will students of digital culture on library and information studies and other courses.

1. Key issues in digital preservation - Marilyn Deegan and Simon Tanner 2. Strategies for digital preservation - David Holdsworth
3. The status of preservation metadata in the digital library community - Robin Wendler
4. Web archiving - Julien Masanès
5. Web archiving activities: case studies - Elisa Mason
6. The costs of digital preservation - Brian F. Lavoie 7. It’s money that matters in long-term preservation - Stephen Chapman
8. Some European approaches to digital preservation - Peter McKinney 9. Digital preservation projects: some brief case studies - Jasmine Kelly and Elisa Mason