Essential Guide: Preserving Electronic Government Records

The digital age has fundamentally changed the way that information is created, used and managed. In the public sector, millions of government records are now born-digital or transformed to electronic formats daily making traditional paper and microfilm preservation methods increasingly obsolete. Cybersecurity threats, increased citizen demands for transparency and virtual access to government services are transforming the nature of how public sector agencies operate and ensure continuity of essential services.

This Essential Guide explores how forward-thinking public sector organizations are taking steps to mitigate and protect electronic records by integrating digital preservation technology and good practices into their enterprise infrastructure; recognizing that content servers and backup systems provide only “bit level” protection and are insufficient for ensuring authenticity and future readability.

What you will learn:

• The risks of digital fragility and unintended consequences for long-term electronic records
• Approaches and recognized standards for the long-term preservation of digital objects and metadata
• How other public sector organizations are ensuring future access to permanent public records by integrating digital preservation into the records management life cycle