Libraries

Global Coalition of Library Associations Endorses Preservation of Digital Scholarship

• By Sri Ravipati
• 12/13/16

An international coalition of academic and research library associations is supporting an initiative to preserve digital scholarship.

The International Alliance of Research Library Associations (IARLA) officially endorsed “Working Together to Ensure the Future of Digital Scholarly Record,” a statement that provides recommendations for publishers, national libraries and research libraries to preserve and ensure long-term access to electronic journals and other forms of digital scholarship. The statement was drafted by the Keepers Registry, an online community of practitioners operated by the EDINA center for digital expertise at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland; higher ed IT organization Jisc in the United Kingdom; and the ISSN International Centre located in Paris, France.

IARLA “recognizes the importance of the significance of preservation of the scholarly record,” according to the announcement. With the endorsement, IARLA declared its commitment to supporting the following actions among its member libraries:

• Involving experts to “identify important titles and classes of content at risk of loss” in order to help prioritize preservation efforts;
• Ensuring all journals from IARLA universities are archived; and
• Engaging in conversations about preservation efforts during negotiations with publishers.

Further information is available on the IARLA site.