The Libraries celebrate World Digital Preservation Day on November 3, 2022. Organized by the Digital Preservation Coalition, World Preservation Day is supported by digital preservation networks around the globe. This year’s theme is “Data For All, For Good, Forever.”
Digital preservation combines policies, strategies and actions to ensure access to content that is born digital or converted to digital form regardless of the challenges of file corruption, media failure and technological change. The goal of digital preservation is to secure the most accurate rendering possible of authenticated content over time.*
Our digital preservation initiatives focus on preserving the unique born-digital and digitized collections owned and created by the Libraries and University. We hold many digital items in a variety of formats, content that includes digitized reproductions of manuscripts, archival photographs, historical publications, sound recordings, film, video and three-dimensional objects. Our efforts help ensure that university records, scholarship and research are preserved indefinitely and made accessible to future generations.
Rosetta, a tool designed to ensure data integrity and access over time, is the system used by the Libraries to help support digital preservation. Material added to Rosetta can be made publicly accessible via the Libraries’ discovery catalog, FindIt! or placed in a private archive. Some examples of collections preserved in Rosetta include:
- Binghamton University Photograph Project: Includes over 100,000 digital photographs taken by the university’s photographers. The images document important moments in the university’s history and also day to day life on campus.
- Binghamton University Music Recitals: An audio collection of concerts and recitals given on campus by students, faculty, and outside musical groups. This collection includes access to the recordings (on-campus only) and scanned copies of the programs.
- Digitized and Born-Digital University Archives: materials including campus publications, bulletins, reports and photographs.
We continuously strive to learn more about digital preservation best practices in order to increase our capacity to preserve at-risk digital material. We encourage the campus community to reach out to us if they have questions about digital preservation or would like to discuss preserving their own resources.
For more information about Digital Preservation at Binghamton University Libraries see: