Digital Preservation: From Theory toward Practice Richard Fyffe Assistant Dean of Libraries for Scholarly Communication University of Kansas Beth Forrest Warner Assistant Vice Provost for Information Services University of Kansas Deborah Ludwig Director, Academic Systems University of Kansas Digital content permeates every aspect of the academic enterprise. The challenges presented by the need to provide long-term access to this information are widely acknowledged. One key to understanding them lies in recognizing the mismatch between traditional information management practices – practices largely formed in a print-on-paper environment – and the characteristics of digital information. Given the need for different approaches, without a focused planning program there can be no reasonable expectation that digital information created today will remain usable in a few years. A campus-wide Digital Preservation Task Force at the University of Kansas was charged with exploring the implications of a University commitment to the preservation of digital assets, both academic and administrative. The initial stages of this investigation were presented in a project briefing at the Spring 2004 Task Force meeting. In this presentation we will present the three major components and next steps recommended for our emerging digital preservation program: • An integrated technical architecture of systems and services, designed around the whole lifecycle of digital information, from creation forward • A set of functional roles and institutional policies required to insure that these systems and services are implemented and maintained • An education program for faculty, staff, and administrators in the basic concepts and challenges of digital preservation and a training program in information management practices that will contribute to the ongoing availability of digital files. https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/