The International e-Depot: e-Journal Archiving at the National Library of the Netherlands

Abstract

Electronic journals dominate the field of academic literature, and it is of great importance to the international scientific community that this electronic intellectual output remains accessible in perpetuity. It is uncertain, however, whether the traditional model, based on national deposits and geographical frontiers, will be able to guarantee the long-term safety of the international academic output in a digital form. Academic literature is produced by multinational publishers, and has often no longer a country of origin that can be easily identified and thus no obvious guardian. Hence, in the traditional model there is a huge risk of academic records being lost forever. A systematic and more concentrated approach is needed to address this unacceptable risk. In this presentation we discuss the policy and ambitions of the National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB) regarding digital archiving of electronic publications. We discuss three possible threats against permanent access, and we propose a coordinated and systematic approach to address these risks: the Safe Places Network. This paper also includes a comprehensive overview of the e-Depot system and the KB approaches to digital preservation.