Digital Preservation Policies and Procedures

Here are the policies and procedures for preserving digital materials in the BYU Library Archive:

1. Digital Preservation Policy 

The mission statement of the HBLL digital preservation area is to preserve and maintain viability, authenticity, and accessibility for all selected digital materials produced within or acquired by the Library.

Fundamental components of the BYU mission statement are teaching, learning, and scholarly research. Each of these endeavors requires access to materials that are available in the library and in other locations.   The mission statement of the Library fits perfectly with the university’s mission, which is, in part, to acquire, organize, preserve, and make readily available collections of scholarly and related materials in all media.

To keep the Library’s digital resources authentic and accessible in the future to anyone who needs them we must avoid the threats of rapid technological obsolescence and the inherent fragility of digital media. The HBLL Digital Archive exists to maintain digital resources that support high quality research, learning and teaching by providing long-term preservation storage and preservation activities.

The full Digital Preservation policy is current being revised.

2. Deciding what to preserve

An important part of managing materials long term is to first select the correct materials that will be needed.  Below is a link to the Digital Preservation Decision Tool, a guide that can help determine which materials to archive.  Download the latest version of the Decision Tool and Instructions for completing the Decision Tool:

Print Version

Download Editable PDF Version

Instructions for Completing the Decision Form

3. The Harold B. Lee Library  Digital Archive

The Digital Archive uses the Rosetta software to provide preservation activities in order to maintain the digital resources within the Library.

4. Millenniata Discs

The library uses the Millenniata M-DISCs for digital materials that need to be accessible long term.  Please contact us about uses of the M-Discs in the Library.

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