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Preserving our data

Preserving our data

Cyclists, 1898. Cat ref: COPY 1/437

Digital preservation

The National Archives is at the forefront of digital preservation in the UK. We work to tackle the challenges of digital preservation, ensuring continued access to digital information in the future.

The National Archives is playing an active role in storing and preserving digital material created by UK government. Digital preservation is the care and management of original electronic records. These records are sometimes described as 'born-digital'. These are different from scanned copies of paper or parchment records and include emails, websites, databases and digital images and video.

The preservation of digital records presents a number of challenges because:

  • The equipment and software needed to view digital records can quickly become obsolete
  • Media such as tapes and discs can deteriorate very quickly even if they do not appear to be damaged
  • The context of a digital record and its relation to other records can easily be lost

Everyone relies on the integrity of digital information, from the NHS patient to heads of government. It is essential that this information be preserved for future generations, just as traditional records have been preserved for us in the past, on paper and parchment.