Preservica sets out its commitments to new Charter for digital preservation sustainability

Independently ratified Charter outlines 7 Sustainability Principles for assessing the long-term durability of digital preservation service providers.

Preservica has published detailed Commitments to an independently ratified Charter for assessing the sustainability and durability of digital preservation service providers that manage long-term access to digital content.

The new Charter, worked on by an independent group of major institutions and industry professionals, incorporates 7 Sustainability Principles, and responds to growing scrutiny into the durability of digital preservation services following the launch of a recent ILMS (Institute of Library and Museum Services) funded study by Ithaka and the collapse of services such as DPN (Digital Preservation Network).

The 7 Sustainability Principles ratified by the working group go beyond product functionality to encompass broader long-term dependencies on how providers:

Data Sustainability - ensure the integrity and portability of customer’s data
Software Sustainability - work with users to develop and innovate software
Operational Sustainability - ensure service continuity and secure data
Knowledge Sustainability - develop and manage digital preservation knowledge
Financial Sustainability - maintain long-term financial viability and resilience
Governance Sustainability - practice good corporate governance
Environmental Sustainability - commit to measuring and reducing environmental impact

By publishing detailed Commitments to all 7 Principles Preservica aims to lead the way in setting a new standard for ensuring the long-term durability of its technology, services and company and hopes the Charter will also become a “blue-print” for best practice across the industry.

Sustainability Council

The Charter and Principles were refined, reviewed and ratified over several months by an independent Sustainability Council that includes representatives from major institutions and the digital preservation community from across the globe:

• Tanya Marshall, State Archivist & Chief Records Officer, Vermont State Archives & Records Administration
• Jason R. Baron, Professor of the Practice, University of Maryland
• Yaso Arumugam, Assistant Director-General Data & Digital, CIO, CISO, National Archives of Australia
• Portia Sanders, Public Records Division Manager, Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Los Angeles County
• Patricia Franks, Professor Emerita, School of Information, San Jose State University
• Anne Archer, Head of Heritage and Archives, BT
• Euan Cochrane, Digital Preservation Manager, Yale University
• Remke Verdegem, Product Owner, e-Depot, National Archives of the Netherlands

The Council will also independently audit Preservica’s Commitments to ensure the company continues to adhere to the standards it has set for ensuring the long-term durability of its digital preservation software and service.

Tanya Marshall, State Archivist & Chief Records Officer, Vermont State Archives & Records Administration:

“Digital preservation is, by its very nature, a long-term venture and partnering with the right provider over the long term needs to be a carefully considered decision. As a Sustainability Council, we wanted the Charter to set a very high bar, one that we hope will become a new industry code of practice for assessing the long-term durability of all digital preservation providers.”

Mike Quinn, CEO Preservica:

“We welcome the diligent work of the Sustainability Council and are proud to publish Preservica’s detailed Commitments to meeting all 7 Sustainability Principles outlined in the Charter. By publishing our Commitments we aim to demonstrate our singular focus on future-proofing our Digital Preservation technology and ensuring the long-term durability of our services and company - for all our users and partners”

Environmental Sustainability

Environmental Sustainability has also become an important consideration for many organizations and was set down by the Council as one of the key long-term Principles in the Charter. Through its Commitments Preservica is leading the way by working with specialist carbon benchmarking firm – Small World Consulting - to baseline and reduce the impact of its business and cloud hosted services. Small World Consulting will also draw up recommendations that will help Preservica customers reduce the impact of their digital preservation activities.

Mike Berners-Lee, Founder of Small World Consulting and author of best-selling book “There Is No Planet B”:

“It’s refreshing to see vendors like Preservica stepping up and taking positive action to actively measure and reduce the environmental impact of its service. We look forward to working with the Preservica team and its growing community of customers.”

You can download a copy of the Sustainability Charter & Principles along with Preservica’s Commitments HERE

Join our Webinar: “7 Principles for assessing the long-term sustainability of your Digital Preservation provider”

April 28^th 4pm UK, 11am Eastern