WIREDGOV

The National Archives is celebrating its victory at the Conservation Awards 2007, winning the award for digital preservation. The award, presented on 27 September, recognises leadership and practical advancement in the new and challenging field of digital preservation. The prize was given to The National Archives for its work on active preservation through the development of two tools: the PRONOM Technical Registry and Digital Record Object Identification (DROID) file format identification.

Almost all the records created in government  and an increasing number of those arriving at The National Archives, are now electronic. As technologies change and inevitably become obsolete, the information in these documents risks becoming inaccessible, providing one of the most fundamental challenges of digital preservation.  A major challenge for The National Archives has been to develop the capability to preserve digital records in accessible form, across time and evolving technology.

The National Archives' PRONOM Technical Registry answers this challenge. PRONOM is an online knowledge base providing a simple interface to allow users to query a database of technical information on over 600 file formats and 250 software tools. In conjunction with this tool, The National Archives has also developed a standalone format identification tool called DROID, which identifies and reports the specific file format versions of digital files. Freely available to download under an Open Source licence and written in platform-independent Java, DROID supports batch processing of large numbers of files.

Natalie Ceeney, Chief Executive at The National Archives, said:

"I am thrilled that The National Archives has won this award. The digital revolution has drastically changed the nature of the information we need to safeguard and digital preservation is now fundamental to preserving our heritage. The National Archives seeks to ensure the survival of today´s information for tomorrow, constantly developing new tools to ensure that we continue to have access to the information government creates."

Ronald Milne, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Digital Preservation Coalition, which sponsors the Award, said,

"The National Archives fully deserves the recognition which accompanies this award."