Strategies for Preservation of Electronic Information Resources in Academic Libraries in Nigeria

Abstract

Modern academic libraries preserve collections that include not only printed materials such as, books, periodicals, newspapers, and magazines, but also electronic resources such as art reproductions, films, sound and video recordings, maps, photographs, microfiches, microfilms, CD-ROMs, computer software, online databases, and other media. In addition to preserving collections within library buildings, modern academic libraries often feature telecommunications links that provide users with access to information at remote sites. Digital preservation, in this context is the process of giving electronic information resources long life. Preservation of Electronic Information Resources is essentially a way of preserving the functionality of and access to digital information which might otherwise be lost due to technological obsolescence, therefore, migration and other methods of preserving electronic records can be adopted. Migration is a set of organized task designed to achieve periodic transfer of digital materials from one hardware/software configuration to another or from one generation of computer technology to a subsequent generation.