Expertise in recognising important heritage materials

Experience in working with user communities

Experience in working with rights owners
Expertise and international networks dedicated to organising and describing heritage
materials so they can be found and understood
Commitment to their long term preservation
At least some relevant expertise and infrastructure that might be brought to bear on
digital asset management, and
At least some prospect of an ongoing mandate from their communities to manage and
preserve digital heritage.

To this promising foundation, some institutions have been able to add a leadership role in
looking for practical ways of preserving digital heritage.

This does not necessarily mean that all institutions with a traditional heritage role should try
to become digital heritage managers: in some cases the resources and expertise required are
just not available; while in others their existing role is so important and so demanding that
they should not sacrifice what is already in their care, for the sake of what may be much less
important digital material.

It also does not mean that existing heritage institutions are the only organisations that need to
manage digital heritage materials.

But it does suggest that existing heritage institutions are good crystallisation points around
which digital heritage preservation programmes can grow. Such institutions should not
disregard the existing strengths that they bring to the management of digital heritage
materials, often in partnership with others who can bring a range of new skills and
understandings.

Among existing heritage institutions, national libraries, national archival agencies and other
lead institutions in various sectors may have a particularly important role in initiating
preservation programmes. This has already emerged in many countries.

9.6.2 The roles of new kinds of digital preservation agencies

Some people believe that new institutions will be needed to take on the task of preserving
digital heritage. Presumably these agencies would offer specialist expertise and facilities
dedicated to digital materials, and possibly dedicated to preservation rather than a wider range
of functions which existing collecting institutions perform, like arranging and interpreting
materials and promoting their use.

Many data archives fit into such a field already, as they exist solely to manage and preserve
digital materials. They often have the paradoxical advantages of being able to focus on a
limited range of materials and management tasks, while being able to offer services to a wider
range of data-producing communities.

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