Digitization and Digital Preservation: A Review of the Literature, Stephanie Routhier Perry, San Jose State University.

“Digitization is rapidly becoming one of the standard forms of preservation for libraries, archives and information centers’ analog materials. This newer process is allowing preservationists to ensure information contained within fragile, organic materials will still be viewable to future generations. However, as technology changes, there are concerns that the methods used today to preserve these materials are not going to be sufficient or even viable in the future. Software and formats change very quickly, and could be obsolete in a relatively short time period. This applies both to hard copy materials that are converted into digital copies, as well as born-digital items, or those who were created as digital copy initially. For this reason, digitization is not strictly a preservation activity, as the new files will require preservation as well. It is important to understand what digital preservation is, and how it can be effectively used to preserve collective knowledge for future generations. There is a wealth of information on this topic in the literature today, and finding relevant articles and sources is not difficult. There are different schools of thought on digital preservation; some see it as the most important advancement in the topic of preservation, while others feel that it is not the only or even the best solution to keeping information safe. While there are opposing views on some aspects of digitization and digital preservation, there are also areas where most authors seem to agree. Budgetary issues, professional education, and increased technological currency are frequently mentioned as challenges in the field, and the need for better and more in-depth education, cost-sharing initiatives, and cooperation are universal suggestions. This is a field where changes happen very fast. What was current at one time becomes out-dated quickly. The objective of this paper is to define the differences between digitization and digital preservation, and to get a broad overview of the current state of digital preservation. There are many subtopics within this field, and each of them are worthy of more in-depth study. However, this review will discuss the topic as a whole.”