| This thesis is a contribution to the study of the challenges facing archivists and records managers working on the long-term management and preservation of digital records. This thesis discusses the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian government Crown agency, as a case study. In 2004 IDRC's Research Information Management Service (RIMS) Division was given the responsibility for developing a digital preservation program for the centre's final reports and related documentation. To facilitate this work, it hired a student intern to research recommendations for a digital preservation strategy. My research as the centre's intern led to the following recommendations for IDRC: (1) Choose file formats that are ubiquitous, non-proprietary (when possible), viable, and lossless; (2) Implement a strategy of conversion and migration of file formats and media as they become obsolete; (3) Capture metadata to support the preservation of and access to digital objects; and (4) Comply with the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model.; Much academic study by archivists on digital preservation focuses on the concepts relating to digital records and records management. This thesis offers a practical institutional example of one effort to develop an actual archival program. |
