Archives in the digital age

The long-term preservation and management of digital records is a major concern facing archives. Preserving digital records involves challenges, including policy questions, institutional roles and relationships, legal issues, intellectual property rights, and meta-data and other technical issues. This article summarizes the findings of a study to describe the state of play in the UK in the effective long-term management of digital records, both 'born digital' and those digitized as part of a work process. The findings provide information on what exists on the ground and analyzes the specific needs of archives, with particular emphasis on archives run by local authorities.