Digital Preservation: a Paradox or Sophism?

Abstract

Preservation of traditional materials became more successful and systematic after libraries and archives integrated preservation into overall planning and resource allocation. Digital preservation is largely experimental and replete with the risks associated with untested methods. Digital preservation strategies are shaped by the needs and constraints of repositories with little consideration for the requirements of current and future users of digital scholarly resources. The article discusses the present state of digital preservation and the contradiction where we want to maintain digital information intact, but we also want to access this information in a dynamic use context.