Preserving New Zealand's National Digital Heritage
 Sun and the National Library of New Zealand are collaborating to find answers and help create next-generation digital libraries. They are working to develop a technical architecture to support the library's National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) Program, an initiative to access, manage and preserve New Zealand's digital heritage. Adhering to the mandate of the National Library Act of 2003, New Zealand will be the first country in the Southern Hemisphere to implement a solution for the preservation of national digital heritage.
"Reflecting a growing need for technology in cultural initiatives, libraries and universities are looking at ways to better use digital information to improve the capture, preservation, and access of information in national archives," said Jim Hassell, managing director, Sun Microsystems Australia and New Zealand.
Without Digital Preservation, Critical Materials Are at Risk
The National Library of New Zealand houses online archives of photography, art, newspapers, music, and visual and audio historical documents. Without digital preservation, many of the critical materials for research and education are at risk from data format changes, media migration, bit loss, application/operating environment shifts, and lack of access.
In their collaboration, the National Library and Sun are developing an advanced information lifecycle management system. It will serve as an international model for the implementation of digital repositories and preservation management. This system will ensure the long-term storage and preservation of New Zealand's digital material and provide authenticity and integrity of data. Additionally, the National Library has been named a Sun Center of Excellence.
"The key objective is to make New Zealand's digital heritage available in perpetuity. We do not want to fail the future by leaving a gap in New Zealand's history because we were too slow or unwilling to confront the challenge of digital preservation now."
Penny Carnaby
National Librarian and Chief Executive
National Library of New Zealand
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Creating an End-to-End Process for Handling Digital Material
"The strategic importance behind this initiative is a technology change which underpins all aspects of the library's responsibilities and services," said Penny Carnaby, national librarian and chief executive of the National Library of New Zealand. "Both print and electronic information is being produced at an extraordinary rate. However, electronic data now makes up the majority of all unique, original output, and the gap between the two is widening,"
The National Library of New Zealand's NDHA Program will develop an end-to-end process for the care and handling of digital material. This will ensure the protection of New Zealand's national cultural heritage for future generations and will support the New Zealand government's digital strategy, which aims to:
- Strengthen national identity through reflecting the digital identities of New Zealanders and making that visible on the international stage
- Promote the development of an inclusive and increasingly creative economy
- Foster the development of digital preservation practices
- Provide a framework to encourage and assist New Zealanders to improve their technical and information literacy skills
- Create fairer educational opportunities
The National Library will be creating an environment and standards for managing and operating digital repositories that will be applicable to the whole digital preservation community. Through its global reference architecture program, Sun will then use the best practices that come out of this collaboration to help other national libraries worldwide.
Questions or comments? Please email education_news@sun.com
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