Cast your mind back to 2013. That was the year scientists confirmed a skeleton buried under a car park in Leicester was that of English king Richard III; Andy Murray won Wimbledon for the first time; and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcomed a new royal baby.
2013 was also the year that we became the first local government archive service to use digital preservation software, Preservica, to look after our digital archives. What started out as a pilot project soon became an essential part of our management of digital collections.
Preservica allows us to upload files in any format and convert them to a readable format if needed. This is important when we discover floppy disks from the 1980s containing now obsolete file formats! The system makes several copies of files, constantly monitors them for changes and automatically repairs where necessary. This means we can be confident that the files remain authentic – what we see now is exactly the same as what we initially uploaded.
Having a trusted digital repository system has allowed us to preserve around 160,000 digital files (and counting!) – from oral history projects and digitised film to community newsletters and adoption records.
This was great for us but we soon became aware that we were one of a small handful of local authority archive services actively managing our digital collections. Barriers for other archive services included lack of staff capacity, inexperience with digital, and pressures on funding. Our friends at Preservica also recognised these barriers and introduced a consortium pricing model. Members of a consortium would each receive the same digital repository system at a discounted price. A bulk-buy discount and the opportunity to help fellow archivists manage their digital collections? Yes please! We jumped at the chance to be involved and in 2018 were joined by Wiltshire and West Sussex archives services.
Fast forward to 2022, the year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Following much coordination and a thorough procurement process our Preservica Local Government Digital Preservation Consortium now has 18 members.
We are delighted to continue working with existing partners and to welcome new members to the group. The growing community of archivists working in this area and sharing expertise is incredibly valuable. And of course, the bigger discount which comes with more members benefits us all! It is great to play a small part in helping other archives preserve their precious pieces of history for current and future generations to learn from and enjoy.
As always, please get in touch if you have records of interest in any format. You can also see our previous blog for tips on managing your own digital information.