Digital curation/digital archiving: A view from the national archives of Australia

Abstract

This paper considers similarities and differences among the concepts of digital curation, digital archives, and digital libraries. It argues that, from a recordkeeping perspective, the phrase digital archive has been misused, even hijacked, and that this misuse obscures fundamental issues associated with the capture and long-term management of archival resources. The paper also argues that digital archiving requires active archival intervention across the entire records continuum, and that, as such, the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model is deficient because it ignores the need for pre-ingest archival activity. The paper reviews the digital archiving experiences of the National Archives of Australia (NAA), in light of the key messages outlined in the first half of the paper placing those endeavors in the broader Australasian context. These experiences include the NAA's efforts to promote and facilitate improvements in government recordkeeping, the NAA's digital preservation project, and the wider challenges of implementing total "end-to-end" digital archiving in an institution already struggling to fund its more traditional activities. It identifies the major challenges that still require resolution, such as securing access to the various skills and capabilities required for digital curation, Australian style. The paper concludes with thoughts on the skills and capabilities needed to deliver total digital archiving outcomes.