Please see the attached news release announcing that the National
Science Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation are funding a
blue-ribbon task force to address the issue of economic sustainability for
digital preservation and persistent access. OCLC’s Brian Lavoie,
Programs and Research, is co-chair of this prestigious task force.
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Bob Murphy
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International Task Force to address economic sustainability
and preservation of valuable digital data
The Task Force will be
co-chaired by Fran Berman, director of the
The Blue Ribbon Task
Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access will also include support
by the Library of Congress, the National Archives and Records Administration,
the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the Joint Information
Systems Committee of the
“Digital
information illuminates our world, and modern life, work, education, and
research depend on it,” said Christopher L. Greer, program director in
NSF’s Office of Cyberinfrastructure. “The time to act is now
to ensure the digital information is reliably available as an engine for
progress in our global knowledge society and to secure our digital heritage for
future generations.”
“It is impossible
to imagine success in the Information Age without the availability of our most
valuable digital information when we want it now and in the future,” said
Dr. Berman. “It’s critical for our society to have a
long-term strategic plan for sustaining digital data and we are excited about
the potential of the Task Force to help form that plan.”
“Persistent access
to digital information over long periods of time is vital for the future
progress of research, education, and private enterprise,” said Dr.
Lavoie. “In addition to developing sound technical processes for
preserving digital information, we must also ensure that our preservation
strategies are economically sustainable. The work of the Task Force will
be an important step toward achieving that goal.”
Dr. Berman and Dr. Lavoie
will convene an international group of prominent leaders to develop actionable
recommendations on economic sustainability of digital information for the
science and engineering, cultural heritage, public and private sectors.
The Task Force is expected to meet over the next two years and gather testimony
from a broad set of thought leaders in preparation for the Task Force’s
Final Report.
Though significant
progress has been made to overcome the technical challenges of achieving persistent
access to digital resources, the economic challenges remain.
In its final report, the
Task Force is charged with developing a comprehensive analysis of current
issues, and actionable recommendations for the future to catalyze the
development of sustainable resource strategies for the reliable preservation of
digital information. During its tenure, the Task Force also will produce
a series of articles about the challenges and opportunities of digital
information preservation, for both the scholarly community and the public.
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