The Moscow Declaration on Digital Information Preservation

The preservation of digital information – a new problem of our era – concerns the whole world, and every man and woman. It arose at a time when electronic gadgetry is used in every sphere of life; when the volume of born-digital or digitized information is growing exponentially; when the variety of formats of information presentation, and the types and classes of digital objects is increasing apace; technology and software are being rapidly updated; the lifetime and reliability of present-day digital media do not meet the challenges of long-term information preservation; and last but not least, the virtual space of digital information impedes law enforcement and obliterates the borders between national jurisdictions. Despite all efforts, the preservation of digital information lags behind technical development and social changes. For two millennia – ever since the Library of Alexandria was established – humankind has been learning to preserve information on analogue carriers. With that goal in view, all developed countries had established by the mid-20th century a ramified network of comprehensive and specialized libraries, archives, museums, and scientific and technical information centres. They shared basic functions and actively interacted on their own level and between levels nationally and transnationally. They all were parts of a sophisticated infrastructure comprising the press, research institutes, method-setting centres, the educational and personnel retraining system, national and international professional associations, equipment manufacturing industries, standardizing organizations, etc. The methods and criteria of information source selection, and sophisticated and globally standardized methods of, information accounting and storing and metadata creation are regularly updated.