Preservation as access: Digital preservation evaluation and the pre-ingest workflow at Library and Archives Canada

Emily Monks-Leeson and Heather Tompkins
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Emily Monks-Leeson: Library and Archives Canada, Canada
Heather Tompkins: Library and Archives Canada, Canada

Journal of Digital Media Management, 2025, vol. 13, issue 4, 326-339

Abstract: Digital preservation evaluation is central to Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) strategic objective of enabling greater access to its collections. While all of LAC’s digital processing and preservation functions support and enable access, pre-ingest, a preservation evaluation workflow that entails the staging and review of transferred digital records — allows LAC to proactively identify preservation issues and is central to navigating and mitigating downstream access difficulties. This paper situates pre-ingest within the policy context of LAC and the Government of Canada, describes the main tasks of the pre-ingest workflow, and discusses how and why these activities are important for both long-term preservation and access. Specifically, it details the main tasks of pre-ingest analysis and triage, as well as the adoption of LAC’s Local Digital Format Registry tool, which automates the application of LAC’s policy registry on file formats to potential acquisitions. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/

Keywords: archives; digital preservation; access; file format evaluation; preservation policy; sustainability; risk-assessment; digital preservation good practice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M11 M15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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