Why Preserve? How sustainable strategies secure our digital future
Michael Hope
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November 5, 2025
On November 6, the global community comes together for World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD), pausing to reflect on why we preserve digital information. Every year, the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) brings together voices from across the world to answer this very question.
Why preserve?
Because Digital Preservation protects the integrity of our records, research and history.
Because it ensures today’s knowledge remains accessible for generations to come.
Because it sustains trust, transparency and accountability across sectors.
We see these “whys” come to life every day through our customers - archives that preserve cultural memory, government agencies that ensure accountability, corporations that maintain compliance, and universities that safeguard research.
But beyond the why lies another crucial question: how do you ensure your Digital Preservation strategy is truly sustainable, standards-based and ready for a fast emerging AI world?
Let’s explore these in turn:
How sustainable is your Digital Preservation strategy?
Digital Preservation is, by its very nature, a long-term endeavor. It demands not only a durable technical solution but also a strategic approach to remain adaptable and resilient in the face of rapid technological, organizational and economic shifts.
In its study, The Effectiveness and Durability of Digital Preservation and Curation Systems, Ithaka S+R found that, “The long-term stewardship of digital materials depends not only on the technical resiliency of preservation systems but also on the financial and organisational sustainability of the stewarding organisations and their service providers.”
It’s a reminder that long-term Digital Preservation sustainability - whether financial, organizational or technological - isn’t just a side concern but fundamental to ensuring digital assets are accessible into the future.
From the uncertainty surrounding the future of IMLS funding to the challenges faced by preservation cooperatives like MetaArchive and the ongoing evolution of the NDSA’s own sustainability strategy, many institutions are reevaluating what sustainability really means in the context of long-term Digital Preservation.
It starts with recognising that long-term preservation isn’t just about storing data, it’s about ensuring usability and trust over time. That means prioritising approaches and partnerships that align with global standards and anticipate an AI-powered future.
Look for proven commitment to long-term sustainability
Cloud-hosted Digital Preservation platforms are a great option, particularly as budgets tighten and staff resources become more limited. Before jumping into any solution, however, it’s critical to ask: Can this Digital Preservation partner demonstrate a commitment to ensuring a long-term sustainable service?
Some providers have taken steps to document their long-term commitments through charters and independent oversight.
For example, Preservica worked with its community to develop the Seven Principles for Sustainable Digital Preservation for assessing Digital Preservation service providers. These principles extend beyond product functionality to encompass the broader ecosystem required for genuine durability. They include:
- Protecting and maintaining accessible data
Your data must remain accessible, secure and under your control at all times. - Continuously evolving software and innovation
Long-term preservation depends on software that is actively developed and maintained in line with user needs and industry standards. - Operating and scaling services reliably
Preservation infrastructure should be robust, reliable and built for scale. - Engaging with users and partners
A thriving preservation community builds resilience through shared expertise. - Ensuring financial health and longevity
A transparent and sustainable business model protects your investment. - Upholding strong corporate governance
Good governance is essential to continuity and accountability. - Minimizing environmental impact
Sustainability includes our collective responsibility to the planet.
Together, these principles form the backbone of Preservica’s Sustainability Charter, which has been independently ratified and audited to ensure measurable, transparent and sustainable preservation practices.
Choose a platform built on proven Digital Preservation standards
Another important consideration for long-term sustainability is whether the chosen Digital Preservation platform and program align with globally recognized standards such as ISO 14721, the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model and the NDSA (National Digital Stewardship Alliance) - Levels of Digital Preservation.
Working with a provider that not only aligns with but also actively monitors and develops to and beyond advancements in the standards is also essential. For example, in his recent blog, Jack O'Sullivan highlights how Preservica builds on and extends the latest additions to OAIS Version 3, including:
- Preservation Watch: Monitoring risks to file formats and proactively taking action
- Automated Preservation Actions: Built-in workflows for continuous integrity
- Flexible Ingest Models: Including “ingest first, describe later” for faster workflows
Long-term Digital Preservation programs, at institutions such as The National Archives UK and Aalto University, demonstrate that success depends not only on standards and sustainability, but also on scalability and the ability to adapt to emerging needs, including AI.
Leveraging AI for enhancing long-term value
As organizations begin to explore the use of AI tools to enhance the quality and discoverability of long-term content - including AI assistance for image analysis, PII detection, AV transcription, OCR and metadata cleanup and more - then the scalability and flexibility of the Digital Preservation platform becomes important, especially in ensuring AI can be applied safely and with human oversight.
Preserving trusted, well-described content in actionable formats, turns Digital Preservation into a strategic foundation for the future - especially when it comes to AI-driven initiatives for optimizing processes or uncovering new insights.
To drive even greater value and adoption, the archiving, Digital Preservation and discovery of long-term content should become a seamless part of everyday user workflows and systems, such as Microsoft SharePoint.
Being embedded in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem also enables the safe use of AI tools like Microsoft Copilot for identifying and archiving long-term records as well as natural language search across trusted archival data for FOI requests, legal discovery and new insights.
Preservica's Active Digital Preservation platform, integrated with Microsoft 365 and new AI-powered enrichment tools, works in combination to ensure your long-term content is not only protected and compliant but also AI-ready.
From “why preserve” to “how you preserve”
As Digital Preservation continues to shift economically, politically and technologically, institutions face a clear imperative: ensure that how they preserve is as strong as the reasons why they preserve. Safeguarding digital assets for the future is moot if they can’t be preserved in a sustainable, standards-based, scalable and AI-ready way.
As you evaluate your own preservation strategy, use this quick sustainability self-checklist:
- Is there a documented commitment to long-term sustainability?
- Is the solution built on recognized Digital Preservation standards?
- Does it enable you to leverage emerging AI tools in a safe and scalable way?
By working with our community, following transparent governance practices, and continuing to innovate responsibly, Preservica strives to be the Digital Preservation partner institutions can rely on - helping ensure that how you preserve is every bit as enduring as why you preserve.
Learn More
Explore our Sustainability Charter, AI capabilities, OAIS v3 updates or join our AI Workshop Series to see how Preservica is helping institutions worldwide build sustainable and scalable Digital Preservation programs ready for the future.
