5 Open Source Digital Preservation Tools to Assist Enterprise Archiving

5 Open Source Digital Preservation Tools to Assist Enterprise Archiving. Christopher J. Michael. Paragon Solutions. December 15, 2015.
     General article about digital preservation and some useful tools. "Digital archiving and preservation are needed to ensure the authenticity, integrity, and protection of electronic records despite limited resources and a constant stream of new complex technologies. "

• "Digital preservation is the foundation of enterprise archiving."
• "Electronic records are archived when they have long-term retention needs in order to fulfil legal, business and regulatory requirements."
• A digital archive is a repository to store collections of digital objects to provide long-term access to the information.

There are some useful tools to help with the challenges of archiving and obsolescence:

1. Matchbox: software to identify duplicate images.
2. DROID: identify and standardize file formats and metadata extraction.
3. Xena (XML Electronic Normalising for Archives): detect the file formats of objects and convert them into into open formats.
4. ePADD: supports the appraisal, ingest, processing, discovery, and delivery of email archives.
5.  Web Curator Tool: a tool for harvesting websites for archiving with descriptive metadata.

A clearly documented digital preservation policy that includes standard file formats and that is followed consistently will help ensure that objects in the archive will be available long term.

Digital Preservation Matters.