Increasingly, New Zealand and the world's cultural heritage is being created and stored in digital form. Institutions are being challenged to preserve and provide long-term access to digital heritage collections under their guardianship.
The National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) is the National Library of New Zealand's technical and business solution to this challenge.
The NDHA Programme pioneered the development of the NDHA in partnership with the Ex Libris Group and Sun Microsystems. The first phase of the NDHA was implemented in October 2008. The second, and final, phase of the NDHA will be completed by 2010.
For NDHA developments, visit the NDHA webspace
What is the NDHA?
The NDHA refers to the technology, new business processes and other organisational changes the National Library has put in place to provide ongoing preservation of and access to and preservation of digital heritage collections under the guardianship of the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library.
At its core, the NDHA is a system of software applications that support a digital storehouse for the websites, sound and vision files, digital images and other born-digital and digitised items that make up the Library's growing digital heritage collections.
The NDHA uses a standards-based, commercial digital preservation system developed in partnership with Ex Libris Group, a library management systems vendor, and Sun Microsystems, a provider of open network computing systems to develop the NDHA. The hardware and software are designed to be scalable over time as the digital collections grow.
The NDHA also includes applications such as INDIGO and the Web Curator Tool that integrate the NDHA's digital preservation system with the National Library's collection management systems and access products such as Papers Past, Timeframes and Matapihi.
Developed by the NDHA Programme, the intention is to make these digital library tools such as INDIGO and the Web Curator Tool available to other institutions via open source.
More about the Web Curator Tool
Supporting the NDHA are new business practices, preservation planning, digital preservation expertise, technical support and the NDHA Business Unit.
What does the NDHA mean for library users?
The NDHA ensures that, despite technical obsolescence, the National Library's digital heritage collections will be preserved for researchers, students and library users now and in the future.
In turn, the National Library will be able to facilitate a much more proactive programme of collecting both published and unpublished born-digital heritage collection material, increasing both the volume and 'breadth' of collecting in this area.
When a researcher or a school student accesses a digital collection using Papers Past, Timeframes orMatapihi, they can be assured of the integrity of the items they access because they are stored and their long-term preservation is managed by the NDHA.
When a publisher is ready to fulfil their Legal Deposit responsibilities, they can deposit their electronic publication with the National Library using the NDHA's Web Deposit Tool.
Creators of digital content can also put forward their work for inclusion in our digital heritage collections using the Web Deposit Tool. If accepted into the collections, donors and publishers alike can be assured that their work is preserved.
Peer Review Group
An international Peer Review Group (PRG) has been formed as an independent resource for the NDHA Programme.
The PRG consists of recognised thought leaders and innovators from the international library and academic communities. All have institutional expertise in the areas of digital preservation and permanent access.
NDHA Cross Government Group
The National Library shares the expertise it is developing with the rest of the public sector through the NDHA Cross Government Group, made up of 27 public sector organisations. The group has met quarterly since July 2004. It is a forum for the organisations to share digital preservation initiatives and issues.
Contact the NDHA Cross Government Group
The NDHA and New Zealand's Digital Strategy
New Zealand's Digital Strategy provides a framework for information and communications technology (ICT) in New Zealand.
Go to the Digital Strategy website
The NDHA contributes to New Zealand's Digital Strategy by preserving New Zealand's digital memory under the National Library's guardianship and ensuring ongoing access, in accordance with collection and access policies, to its digital heritage collections.
The National Library led the development of the New Zealand Digital Content Strategy, which is part of the Digital Strategy. The digital content preserved and accessible from the NDHA will contribute significantly to the realisation of the New Zealand Digital Content Strategy.
More about the New Zealand Digital Content Strategy
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