University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries Magazine Fall 2016 | Page 36

Steve Dast , Digital Collections , scans materials .
and spreadsheet software can no longer be opened and read , even if they ’ re in perfect digital condition . Although conversion software exists for many consumer-market formats , libraries and archives must continually audit their holdings to discover at-risk formats and , if possible , migrate content to newer , more standard formats .
The Libraries are trying to meet these challenges by relying on international standards for capturing , encoding , storing , and migrating digital content . However , because the digital landscape changes so quickly , we need to constantly monitor our content if we want to prevent the digital decay of millions of dollars ’ worth of our cultural heritage . These systems come at a cost , however , at a time when base budgets are shrinking . Libraries and other heritage institutions are working together to find creative ways to fund and sustain critical preservation programs : developing efficient work flows , creating preservation endowment funds , and joining collaborative initiatives such as HathiTrust and the Digital Preservation Network . It will take a combination of these methods to ensure that our cultural heritage is preserved for future generations .
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