Who's Responsible for Digital Preservation?

Many libraries are currently being restructured and rethought to support new campus goals, in response to concerns, or as staffing levels change. That doesn't mean that our core functions change - we're still here to describe materials, provide access to items in a variety of formats, and assist or manage the preservation of materials. What is less clear as we move forward is who is really responsible for what, especially when it comes to digital preservation. Should that the library handle it or should it fall under the realm of the IT department, a different department within your institution, or even an external department or company? These questions are hard enough to answer, but as we take on new roles, both comfortable and unfamiliar, finding the solution has become even more challenging.

To help answer the questions Harvard Library's Digital Repository Service (DRS) has recently produced and shared documentation of how the management of digital assets is being handled. There is a blog post available describing the process of developing documentation and the full document is available on the DRS wiki.