FAQs

According to the Digital Preservation Coalition Handbook: Digital Preservation refers to the series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary. Digital preservation is defined very broadly for the purposes of this study and refers to all of the actions required to maintain access to digital materials beyond the limits of media failure or technological and organisational change. Those materials may be records created during the day-to-day business of an organisation; “born-digital” materials created for a specific purpose (e.g. training resources); or the products of digitisation projects.

The Digital Preservation Coalition Handbook recommend looking at this in terms of needs:

1. Short-term preservation – Access to digital materials either for a defined period of time while use is predicted but which does not extend beyond the foreseeable future and/or until it becomes inaccessible because of changes in technology.
2. Medium-term preservation – Continued access to digital materials beyond changes in technology for a defined period of time but not indefinitely.
3. Long-term preservation – Continued access to digital materials, or at least to the information contained in them, indefinitely.
4. How can the DCL help me do this?

Located in the heart of MediaCity UK, the DCL offers services and specialized equipment to digitize and preserve various types of collections. We work with all types of media and supports. The DCL works in an academic setting while providing professional-grade digitization equipment.

The DCL offers services of digitization, preservation, curation, and funding support. We consult with our clients to offer them the most adapted digital preservation solution. More here.

A typical package starts from £500 (for a basic digital preservation package) to around £7,000 (for a standard digitisation project with a digital preservation package based on a long-term digital curation plan).

The DCL offers support in the form of assistance in grant applications. We help our clients identify relevant calls and funding bodies and accompany them throughout the application process, including in writing the application.

A typical digitsation project takes around 2 to 3 months.

The DCL works with a variety of clients. We are also members of the Digital Preservation Coalition and the International GLAM Labs Community, aligning ourselves regularly with projects on Digital Research in Humanities and Arts (DRHA) Worldwide.

The DCL brings added value to digitization services on several aspects. We offer solutions for long-term preservation, as well as options for digital curation of the collections. We work on a maximum of two projects at a time, meaning your project will have the full dedication of the team. The DCL is strongly connected within the digital preservation world, but also withing the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Museums, and Archives) sector, meaning we can offer a portal for building networks between institutions.