Distributed Digital Preservation: Private LOCKSS Networks as Business, Social, and Technical Frameworks

The Library of Congress' National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP) has helped underwrite the development of highly targeted collaborative preservation networks among content sites with common interests in specialized subject areas. Today, institutions worldwide have tapped the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) Program's innovative approach to distributed digital preservation to accomplish a variety of business, social, and technical pursuits. LOCKSS technology enables nontechnical administrators to create and manage their own preservation network via a "Private LOCKSS Network" (PLN). A PLN is a scaled down version of the public LOCKSS network, which comprises two hundred library members and preserves over a thousand titles from more than three hundred publishers. PLNs enable like-minded institutions to shoulder the responsibility of preserving in perpetuity scholarly e-content of importance to the group. More and more research organizations are discovering the benefits of PLNs to address their collection and preservation needs.