Introduction

On 1 and 2 November 2007, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands, KB) is holding an international conference on digital preservation. The conference is organised at the occasion of the retirement of Johan Steenbakkers, the KB’s director of e-Strategy. Tools and Trends will feature international speakers who will present newest developments of Tools for digital preservation and the latest Trends in long-term archiving.

The occasion

In 1998 the European project NEDLIB was launched. This project was one of the first international projects to take on the topic of digital preservation. Since then, a lot of progress has been made developing concepts, tools and even standards. Johan Steenbakkers, director of e-Strategy at the National Library of the Netherlands (KB), was the project coordinator for NEDLIB. He was the initiator of digital preservation research at the KB, starting already in the early nineties, and responsible for the development and implementation of the e-Depot. His retirement is a very good occasion to present recent developments in digital preservation: what have we accomplished since NEDLIB?

The programme

Thursday November 1 will focus on Tools in digital preservation. To ensure future access to our digital heritage, long-term storage is just the first step. Acquisition, selection, appraisal, description, maintenance, retrieval and representation of digital objects are all aspects of the process of digital resource management. Organisations that have the responsibility for the curation of digital material need tools that allow them to set up their preservation workflow. Current projects are working on the development of these tools and procedures and will present their work at Tools and Trends. Sessions will focus on characterization of digital objects, on preservation action (migration, emulation) and preservation planning. Projects that will present their practical developments include PLANETS and CASPAR.

Friday November 2 will be dedicated to Trends in digital archiving. With enormous speed, all types of communication and information have become digital. Different digital collections require different forms of curation and may also require different preservation levels. Tools and Trends has invited international experts to answer the question: What are the latest trends in long-term preservation of web resources, e-publications, scientific data and archival records? And, looking forward: How can we set-up and maintain links between digital collections, what are the similarities and differences in preserving different kinds of digital materials and how do different sectors collaborate and divide responsibilities?

At the close of the conference, Friday afternoon, a more personal and informal ‘session’ is included for the retirement of Johan Steenbakkers.