Preservação da Informação Digital : uma perspectiva orientada para as bibliotecas

Information has gained, in the last decade, a huge importance. It is an extremely valuable social resource, for it generates wealth and it leads to scientific progress. Due to the new information technologies and the World Wide Web – the new privileged means of communication – information has acquired a digital basis which has made its production, distribution and diffusion easier, fulfilling the growing needs of organizations and individuals. However, because it is too vulnerable, digital information presents new challenges when we think of its preservation. The fast degradation of the media and the technological obsolescence and dependence make this kind of information unlikely to endure. For that reason, thinking about the preservation of digital information is, perhaps, more important than considering the preservation of analogical information, not only because of its economical value but also because its uniqueness demands ongoing and more complex actions and preservation strategies. Although the preservation of digital information is a task for a multitude of entities (such as authors/producers, hardware and software engineers, publishers/distributors, governments, users/consumers, etc.), libraries are still the irreplaceable agents to ensure that the cultural, literary and scientific heritage remains imperishable, now in a digital basis. Assuming this thought as a starting point, this essay presents the main features, concepts, strategies and challenges placed by the preservation of digital information, through the libraries perspective.