Digital Preservation: Digital Preservation Methods, Tools and Storage

Digital information relies on the combination of data, software and hardware.

Types of software used to Preserve Digital Materials:

• CONTENTdm: allows you to easily build, preserve, and showcase your digital collections on your personalized website, making them more discoverable to people around the world. It also secures and monitors your digital originals in a cloud-based preservation archive, so they remain safe for the future.
• Collection Management Software: is a collections management system also called a collections information system, it is used to organize, control, and manage collections of digital materials.

Types of software used to protect digital materials:

1. Personal Security passwords
2. Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software
3. Cloud Management Services
4. Data Loss Prevention
5. Data Recovery and Classification Software
6. Encrypted Email Software
7. Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS)
8. SafeWeb Browsing Extension

Digitisation is the process of transforming information from a physical format to a digital version.

Digitalisation is the practice of utilizing technology to enhance corporate processes.

Difference between Digitisation and Digital Preservation:

Digitisation entails the process of taking traditional library materials, that are in the form of books and papers and converting them to the electronic form, where they can be stored and manipulated by a computer.

Digital preservation encompasses the entire organizational plan of digital content from creation and curation to preservation and access. For example, emails, social media posts, and other files first created digitally.

Some of the scanners at Unisa Library are:

Zeutschel Overhead  Scanners : OS 12000 and the OS 14000

Scamax  for advanced image processing and indexing

Within the Institution, the following software's are used to clean digital objects:

1. ABBYY FineReader: is an optical character recognition (OCR) application. The program allows the conversion of image documents (photos, scans, PDF files) into editable electronic formats.
2. Adobe Acrobat Pro DC: is a powerful PDF creator and converter that includes smart tools for editing, sharing, and transforming of files and documents.
3. Adobe Photoshop: is software that is extensively used for image editing, graphic design and digital art. It makes use of layering to allow for depth and flexibility in the design and editing process, as well as providing powerful editing tools.