DATA CURATION PRESERVATION ISSUES (THREATS TO DIGITAL MATERIALS)

 Digital Preservation: Common challenges of digital preservation

Digital preservation is a collection of processes, activities, and digital information management practices that are implemented over time to ensure long-term accessibility of digital information. (Shar et al, 2021). Digital materials are inherently fragile, threatened by a range of technical, logistical, and human factors.

The most fundamental threat is technological obsolescence Digital information is stored on a variety of devices and in a variety of formats, and as technology advances, older devices and formats become obsolete. This means that digital information stored in these older formats may become unreadable or inaccessible over time. (Verma & Sharma, 2023).

Another significant threat is fragile storage media. Oladotun et al (2023) states that the initial problem with preservation of digital materials is the storage media itself. Materials in digital medium are prone to physical degradation, loss etc. Magnetic storage media is highly sensitive to dust, heat, humidity and other climatic conditions. Similarly, Rahman and Mezbah-ul-Islam (2012) notes that digital materials are especially vulnerable to loss and destruction because they are stored on fragile magnetic and optical media that deteriorate rapidly and that can fail suddenly from exposure to heat, humidity, airborne contaminants, faulty reading and writing devices, human error and sabotage

File formats and styles are another threat to digital preservation. Information that was once limited to the traditional types, including monographs, cartographic materials, charts, graphic contents, etc., but now there are variety of digital contents available in various formats. Hypertext, multimedia, dynamic pages, geographic information systems, and interactive video are just a few examples of new formats that have been emerged. The encoding, compression, and storage of these file formats or styles present numerous challenges to libraries and information centers (Gokhale-Shahade, 2018).

Nature of content is also another threat to digital preservation Digital information exists in several forms and types. Most of the objects that are true replica of their print document like books, reports, correspondence etc. can be converted into digital documents and preserve but materials that cannot be replicated in traditional hard-copy, for example interactive web pages, geographic information systems and so on may create problem (Masenya and Ngulube, 2020)

Sustainability of digital objects pose another threat. Oladotun et al (2023) observed that digital materials are especially vulnerable to loss and destruction because they are stored in fragile magnetic and optical media that deteriorate rapidly. In some cases, digital object has a very short span of life coverage comparing to hard backed traditional (Oladotun et al., 2023)

Digital contents are machine-dependent and necessitate specialized hardware and software for data storage and retrieval. However, because the computer (hardware and software) and storage technologies are constantly evolving, the storage equipment must be changed and upgraded accordingly. Otherwise, it could pose the greatest technological threat to the continued availability of digital content (Shar et al, 2021).

Conclusion

Digital materials face numerous preservation threats. Addressing these challenges requires proactive data curation practices, sustainable investment, and the adoption of appropriate preservation strategies. Effective data curation must confront these threats to ensure that information remains accessible for future generations.

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REFERENCE

Gokhale-Shahade, R. (2018). Trends in digitization and archiving, digital preservation: Issues and challenges. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 5(10), 197-20

Masenya, T. M., & Ngulube, P. (2020). Factors that influence digital preservation sustainability in academic libraries in South Africa. South African Journal of Libraries and Information Science, 86(1), 52–63. https://doi.org/10.7553/86-1-1860

Oladotun, A. P., Aliyu, A., & Jega, A. M. (2023). Perspectives in preservation of digital materials in libraries: Skills and competencies. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 7(6), 1096–1101. https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.769

Rahman, M. M., & Mezbah-ul-Islam, M. (2012, October 17–18). Issues and challenges for sustainable digital preservation practices in Bangladesh [Paper presentation]. International Seminar on "Digital Libraries for Digital Nation," Library Association of Bangladesh (LAB), Dhaka, Banglades

Shah, Usman Ali; Hussain, Mohammad; Saddiqa, Ms; and Yar, Muhammad Shehr, (2021.) "Problems and Challenges in the Preservation of Digital Contents: An Analytical Study” Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). 5628. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/5628

Verma R. and Sharma A.K. (2023). Digital Preservation and Conservation of Library Collections in the Digital Age: Issues and Challenges. Library Progress International, 43(2), 259-269.

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