Strategy for digital preservation at the National Library of Norway (2026-2029)

The National Library of Norway’s legal mandate is to collect, preserve, and provide access to all published material that documents Norway and Norwegian society, regardless of medium or form of publication. This work is grounded in the Legal Deposit Act, which requires the National Library to ensure that published material is preserved for the future and made accessible to present and future generations. The strategy aims to secure long-term access to the digital cultural heritage, support the effective management of large and diverse collections, and ensure that preservation efforts are consistent with technological developments, responsible use of resources, and the needs of society.

The Legal Deposit Act of Publicly Available Documents (Legal Deposit Act)

§1 […] testaments of Norwegian culture and social life should be preserved and be available as source material for research and documentation.¹

Ambition for Digital Preservation

Ensure the protection of, and meaningful access to, national digital cultural heritage for current and future generations. Serve as a cornerstone for the retrieval and dissemination of authentic digital content, and support further service development at the National Library based on the digital collection.

Goals for Digital Preservation

• Digital content for digital preservation shall be received using efficient and standardized machine solutions.
• Digital content shall be protected against unintended access, alteration, loss, or damage.
• The National Library shall at all times know what digital content is being preserved, its provenance, its condition, and what has been done to it.
• Digitally preserved content shall be accessible for dissemination now and in the future.
• Data quality shall be ensured through the use of standardized storage formats, file structures, and metadata. This enables, among other things, automated use in AI development and research infrastructure.

Challenges

• Integrity: It is easy to alter digital content, and it can be challenging to maintain and verify its integrity.
• Data Size and Volume: Increasing amounts of data challenge existing solutions for management, storage, and security of the digital collection.
• Technological Change: Risk that digital content becomes unusable or incomprehensible when software and hardware become outdated, and the diversity of file formats/variants of formats increases.
• Professional Competence: Lack of expertise and resources can limit the ability to carry out digital preservation.
• Changes in Usage Patterns: Unpredictability in terms of who will want access to and retrieve different parts of the preserved content and how it will be used.
• Financials: Funding and budgeting are unpredictable. Insufficient funding may force irreversible decisions, such as compression with loss of quality or the exclusion of materials from the collection.

Strategic areas of focus

• Developing expertise: Build expertise in digital preservation, contribute to continuous improvement within interdisciplinary teams, and maintain up-to-date knowledge of current practices in the field. Serve as a professional resource for the ABM sector in Norway. Actively contribute to national and international initiatives and share knowledge and experiences.
• Standardization: Establish uniform, standardized, and automated handling of digital content and metadata.
• Technology: Further develop and ensure robust and scalable technological infrastructure that adheres to the principles² for managing digital content in a secure and sustainable manner. This includes both software, hardware, and other infrastructure.
• Services: Provide services for long-term digital preservation within the National Library and for the LAM sector. These are critical societal services that support knowledge preparedness and form the foundation for an informed and trust-based democracy.