| Stephen Abrams Digital Library Program Manager Harvard University |
Andreas Stanescu Software Architect OCLC, Inc. |
The role of format is central to effective preservation of digitally encoded assets. While it is possible for bits to be preserved indefinitely without consideration of format, it is only through the careful management of format that the meaning of those bits remains accessible over time. To respond to the rapid rate of technological change inherent to the digital environment, it is important for formats themselves to become the objects of preservation control. The Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR), being developed jointly by the Harvard University Library and OCLC with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will provide sustainable services to manage, discover, and deliver significant technical and administration information about digital formats. The GDFR is a distributed network of independent, but cooperating registries that synchronize their holdings through periodic mirroring operations. This presentation will provide an update on the GDFR project, its overall goals, the technical progress to date, and efforts to develop a sustainable business and governance model that will ensure the continual existence of the GDFR as a key piece of common good preservation infrastructure.
http://www.formatregistry.org/
Handout (MS Word)