(16 September 2015, Canberra) A research project in digital and traditional preservation management in Australian national and state libraries has won the 2015 ALIA Research Grant Award.
This award is based on recommendations from the ALIA Research Advisory Committee, endorsed by the ALIA Board.
The research topic will investigate the various approaches to digital and physical preservation management, with special reference to Australian national/state/territory libraries, to identify similarities and differences.
This is important because the National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) have a mandate to preserve cultural heritage.
From the findings of the research, a new integrated conceptual framework will be developed. Such a framework can inform the prioritisation of all materials requiring preservation attention and enable sharing of strategies across all formats.
Work will also be done on an integrated conceptual framework on disaster preparedness that spans physical and digital collections.
This research could help the international preservation community by providing a better understanding of preservation practices and insights into how the two areas of preservation – physical and digital – can learn from each other.
Ms Brown wrote in her application: ‘The effective management of preservation has become a key issue for libraries and other memory institutions in the context of challenges presented by new digital materials, and in a climate of limited resources. In the 21st century, knowing how to effectively manage the preservation of hybrid collections is now a professional requirement.’
Read the announcement in full.
