CSC’s digital preservation services see increasing use
The use of Finland’s national digital preservation services continued its strong growth in 2024. More than three petabytes of cultural heritage and research data are now securely preserved for future generations. CSC’s digital preservation services ensure that important information is not lost, but remains usable for decades, even hundreds of years.
The Digital Preservation Service for Cultural Heritage is already used by 12 Finnish organisations to secure national cultural heritage. The service preserves a diverse range of materials, including films, media art, documents, music, digitized books and ephemera, as well as websites published online.
The Fairdata Digital Preservation Service for Research is used by many Finnish universities, and research materials from various fields – from natural sciences to humanities – are stored there. For example, meteorological and air quality measurement data, imaging data, and research data from history, culture, and the arts are safeguarded through the service.
Both the Digital Preservation Service for Cultural Heritage, which has been in use since 2015, and the Fairdata Digital Preservation Service for Research, launched in 2019, have continued to grow in popularity. In 2024, a total of 20 organisations in Finland secured their material using these services, the number of contracts for the use of the services increased to 30, and the amount of material deposited exceeded three petabytes.
Digital preservation services support research and cultural heritage preservation
The volume of research materials and cultural heritage materials is constantly growing. With digital preservation services, these materials remain accessible for decades, even centuries.
Cultural heritage materials serve as the memory of Finnish society. The Digital Preservation Service for Cultural Heritage helps libraries, archives, and museums preserve key digital or digitized materials. These materials may be either legally mandated for preservation or considered significant for organisations and national cultural heritage.
The Fairdata Digital Preservation Service for Research Data ensures that research data remains available to future generations of researchers, allowing them to utilize, verify, and replicate studies without having to collect the same data again. Often, re-collecting material would not even be possible.
Developing digital preservation services in collaboration
CSC produces Finland’s national digital preservation services provided by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The goal of the Ministry is to ensure the long-term availability and preservation of materials in digital form, especially for organisations within its administrative sector, so that the prerequisites for general access to information, learning and research are preserved, the materials are available for future generations, and the stored materials contribute to opening up new opportunities for scientific, artistic and other creative activities.
CSC’s role is to safeguard the authenticity, usability, and integrity of digital materials of organisations using the service. This requires, for example, monitoring and updating preservation technologies, converting file formats when needed, and managing multiple copies in a geographically distributed manner. Additionally, maintaining the content metadata as well as technical and operational metadata are an integral part of the preservation process.
Using the service requires an agreement between CSC and the organisation. CSC also supports organisations in developing competence related to digital preservation services. Seamless collaboration is key to ensuring the successful long-term preservation of materials.
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Kimmo Koivunen
Kimmo Koivunen is responsible for service related to Data Lifecycle Management.
Preserving digital heritage in a sustainable way
- CSC’s digital preservation services are provided in an economically and organisationally stable manner, maintaining expertise while considering environmental aspects.
• A roadmap has been prepared for CSC’s digital preservation services to guide their sustainable development.
• The carbon footprint model developed for the digital preservation services was awarded as best posterat an international conference in 2024.
• The next step is carbon handprint assessment, which evaluates the impact of centralised services in reducing the carbon footprint of organisations.