Practical Digital Preservation: A How-to Guide for Organizations of any Size

摘要

Surely all readers of this journal will, like me, want to keep reading a book that begins with an admission by the author that even though an expert in digital preservation he has experienced "a certain sense of despair at ever keeping up to date with the constant stream of reports, conferences, blogs, wikis, projects and tweets." My expectations were high then that Adrian Brown would offer relief from this despair by sifting through the multiple streams of information and deliver practical guidance that readers really can use to tackle the seemingly impossible process of building digital preservation capabilities in institutions, often from ground up. Brown acknowledges that he has set himself an ambitious task, even more so since the book covers the topic from business case development through to access, and even a final chapter on trends. Does Brown strike a balance between giving sufficient detail to ensure that the guidance is relevant and keeping the book accessible to a non-expert readership? Happily, I found that Brown gets it just right.