Translations:Value of Digital Archiving for Civil Society Organizations/26/en

Beyond mere preservation, creating a digital archive allows for substantial enhancement in managing and operating the content, as well as identifying, searching, locating, and accessing its individual items. Regarding content management, digital archiving is a true “game changer” regarding the number and scope of improvements it allows. Starting from the obvious, rather than going through shelves or boxes, the archivist can click through a database, move an item from one collection to another, or change its name or description. Content can be listed, reviewed, retrieved, copied, or checked for errors—or virtually any other archival action can be performed more quickly and efficiently. A significant additional benefit of digital archives is they allow for each action taken on any archival item to be recorded. Hence, in addition to an item, the entire record of actions taken on it is also preserved in the archive. This is important in determining the chain of custody over an item and is of particular relevance for ensuring the credibility of archival content.