Digital Preservation Strategies for Born-Digital Library Collections: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

As library collections increasingly comprise born-digital materials including datasets, software, web archives, and digital art, preserving long-term accessibility presents significant technical and institutional challenges. This comparative analysis evaluates digital preservation strategies employed by 23 national and research libraries across North America and Europe, examining format migration policies, storage redundancy approaches, metadata standards adoption, and community-based preservation networks. We assess the effectiveness of OAIS implementations against emerging alternatives, finding that no single strategy adequately addresses all material types. Our analysis yields a decision framework for library digital preservation planning that accounts for collection characteristics, institutional capacity, and sustainability considerations. We further discuss the emerging role of distributed ledger technologies and AI-based format migration in next-generation preservation workflows.