Digital Preservation Services
As a trusted steward of the scholarly record, the University of Alberta Library (UAL) is committed to preserving the digital content of enduring value for long-term access. UAL’s digital preservation initiatives exhibit a commitment towards undertaking digital preservation activities to the best of its ability and with the explicit goal of ensuring long-term access of the digital assets under its stewardship. UAL offers numerous services to address the digital preservation needs of the university community.
Digital Repository Services
UAL develops and supports digital repository infrastructure for access and preservation of born-digital materials. Our repositories include:
- ERA: Education & Research Archive, the University of Alberta's institutional repository
- ERA Audio + Video, a multimedia repository and streaming service
- Dataverse, a data repository that helps researchers publish, analyze, distribute and share their data and datasets
For more information about our different digital repository services, please visit: https://library.ualberta.ca/research-support/era.
Web Archiving Services
UAL provides web archiving services to address the increasing demand for capturing sites in support of the university’s needs for research, teaching, and library collection building. UAL is using the web archiving service Archive-It to capture and preserve at-risk web content. In particular, content that is of a local nature, or pertaining to western Canada, has been a focus.
See the sites and collections that have been archived by the University of Alberta at: https://archive-it.org/organizations/401
Digital Preservation Consultation Services
UAL provides consultation services to aid with digital preservation related activities. These services include advice and guidance for preserving digital content and guidelines about the creation of digital content suitable for long-term preservation.
About Our Digital Preservation Strategies:
- University of Alberta Libraries Digital Preservation Framework
- University of Alberta Libraries Digital Preservation Practices
- University of Alberta Libraries Registry of File Formats for Preservation
Collaborative Preservation Efforts:
UAL is an active partner in several collaborative preservation efforts including: