On 4 and 5 November 2005, the Netherlands National Commission for UNESCO and the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands, jointly organised an international conference 'Preserving Digital Heritage: Principles and Policies'.

The conference addressed two issues: the selection of digital materials to be preserved and the division of tasks between institutions for preservation purposes. Its starting point was the 'Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage' which was adopted by the 32nd session of the General Conference of UNESCO in November 2003. It presented a range of state-of-the-art examples of a variety of materials, heritage institutions and cooperation schemes.

The report of the conference appeared in print in June 2007. A digital version can be downloaded at www.unesco.nl/main_6-3.php.

Contents:

A. de Jong en V. Wintermans: Introduction

A. Abid: Safeguarding our digital heritage: a new preservation paradigm

W. Uricchio: Moving beyond the artifact: lessons from participatory culture

D. Bearman: Addressing selection and digital preservation as systemic problems

J. Mackenzie Owen: Preserving the digital heritage: roles and responsibilities for heritage repositories