PERCEPTION OF LIBRARY PROFESSIONALS TOWARDS DIGITAL PRESERVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY IN LIBRARIES
Keywords:
Digital Preservation, Library Professionals, Digital Sustainability, Digital Stewardship, Metadata Management, Digital Archiving, Library and Information ScienceAbstract
The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the perception of digital preservation library professionals have, and sustainability in the library. As more and more digital material becomes available on the whole, the importance, in preserving that digital scholarly information, for long-term access, use and authenticity has increased. In the present study only the awareness and readiness of knowledge & perception of library profession towards digital preservation is emphasised. The number of respondents used in this research was structured to be Library Professionals with the population being 75, and the research design used was quantitative, and structured questionnaire was used in collecting the data. The data was analyzed using text analysis, including multiple regression analysis, Pearson's correlation, and the One Sample t-test. Results indicate that library professionals have a favourable attitude towards digital preservation and that digital preservation in the future is key to the preservation of their libraries' collections and their access to information resources. Interestingly, the study also found no statistically significant association between the awareness, institution training, technological, organizational, financial and policy factors and sustainable digital preservation activities. The findings showed that there is a need for further improvements in the job readiness of professionals, support and strategy for continuous programmes in digital preservation in the libraries.
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