The UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has announced the availability of a new handbook created by its Preservation of Web Resources (PoWR) project. The book offers information for web managers, data professionals and those making decisions concerning the long-term preservation of online resources.
The JISC PoWR handbook is the result of a JISC-supported collaboration between UKOLN and ULCC's Digital Archives, a partnership that brings together expertise from the web management and digital preservation fields. The handbook seeks to help institutions to identify where material of interest might exist, which elements may require long-term access and how these decisions can link into wider institutional policies.
With vast quantities of digital data available on or via the Internet, the PoWR handbook encourages institutions to see the requirement for coherent preservation strategies. Key issues include prioritising what to keep, how to keep it, which preservation policies to implement, the consequences of preservation decisions and how to provide sustainable access for the future.
Following workshops and conference presentations, the handbook was influenced by sector-wide blog input, and it addresses current issues using a helpful case study approach. These exemplars illustrate common problems and suggest courses of action, using a pragmatic MoSCoW analysis - distinguishing what 'Must be kept and what should be kept from what could be kept and what won't'.
