PRINCIPLES IN ADDRESSING THESE CHALLENGES

14.6 Building on past practices

Transfer and control are long-established practices in managing non-digital heritage. When
applied to digital materials, these processes must be modified.
An appropriate legal basis for transfer is required. It must address concerns over the
ease with which materials can be re-used, as well as the need to copy data for its
preservation
Transfer must affected without loss of data, often using quite different methods from
those used for transfer of non-digital materials
The transfer of accompanying documentation is particularly critical for digital data
that may not be understandable without it.

14.7 Two approaches to effecting transfers

Most transfer strategies are variations of two basic concepts: producers pushing digital
materials to the preservation programme, or the preservation programme pulling materials
from the producer.

Programme managers must decide which approach will be most suitable for the materials
being transferred and for the workflows of the parties involved.

14.8 Controlling formats and standards

Many programmes impose controls at the point of transfer on the formats of the material they
receive. The purpose of this is to simplify preservation by reducing the variations that have to
be managed in storing the material and in keeping it accessible. Not all programmes are able
to restrict the formats they accept, but they should seek to verify that formats have been used
in a standard way.

14.9 Controlling material by identification

Digital files must be given suitable file identifiers so they can be retrieved. Each file within a
storage system must be identified with a unique file name so that it cannot be confused with
any other file.

It is also most important for preservation programmes to ensure that the materials they keep
can be reliably found, whatever their location. The Universal Resource Locator (URL) used to
identify Web-based resources, for example, does not allow users to find material once it has
been moved. Thus, items can be effectively lost even though it may still exist and be well
protected. Overcoming this problem requires some form of persistent identification, built
around an identifier and a means of resolving or linking to the file in its current location.
There are a number of schemes proposed or in place including the Digital Object Identifier
(DOI) used by publishers, and various schemes being investigated by libraries and archives,
but none has yet found universal acceptance.

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