Integrated information systems - A challenge for long-term digital preservation

Information technology has led to the fact that much of the information that earlier was produced on paper is now being produced in electronic form. E-government services, where the whole idea is to exchange information electronically, will radically redirect paperbound information towards electronically generated and managed information and documents. Earlier on, long-term preservation was all about paper-bound documents containing content, context and format as well as the legal issues concerning the document, such as signatures and stamps. Although paper-bound documents still are of frequent use, the degree of digital information rapidly increases. Digital information is often compiled from different databases, where content, context, format and signatures can be separated and put together differently. The challenges associated with digital preservation are strategic, organizational and structural as well as technological. The aim of this paper is to present some challenges associated with digital preservation.