The Long-Term Accessibility of Packaged Digital Publications
NDL Research Report No. 6 The Long-term Accessibility of Packaged Digital Publications March 2006 National Diet Library This report is a summary of results obtained through surveys conducted by external research organizations on behalf of the National Diet Library. It has been published with the aim of sharing these results with many other libraries and related organizations. Preface As a part of its digital library operations, the National Diet Library (NDL) conducts research on digital libraries. In FY2003 and FY2004, we commissioned external research organizations to conduct studies relating to the long-term preservation of and establishment of access methods for packaged digital publications such as CD-ROMs. With dramatic advances in technology going on, digital information continuously assumes new forms, leading to the possibility that an increasing proportion of digital information stored in libraries and other places, even that which is only one generation old, will become obsolete and unplayable. Furthermore, there are different opinions in relation to the lifespan of the media on which digital information is recorded, and we are being urged to establish methods of preserving these media. These studies were initiated from a keen awareness that these issues are of vital importance to the NDL, whose duty is to collect, preserve and make available a large number of digital publications through the legal deposit system and other means. The subject of these studies was packaged digital publications held by the NDL. However, we think that the results are relevant not only to the NDL, but also to other libraries and related organizations in the field of library and information science.
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