Preservation skills and strategies of electronic information resources in digital era: Case of University of KwaZulu-Natal libraries

INTRODUCTION Various African countries have put efforts in bringing EIRs into their libraries and these can be reflected in many academic and research libraries such as that of UKZN in South Africa. EIRs comprise the information that is written on the magnetic tapes or optical media (Wamukoya and Mutula, 2005). One can also say that it is the information that can be accessed electronically. The resources that are originally created in electronic format are called digital born resources while those that were originally in paper form then converted into e-form are termed as digitized resources. There are various types of EIRs which are available; some of the popular ones that are gaining grounds are electronic books, electronic journals, databases, electronic theses and dissertations and scanned resources (Wamukoya and Mutula, 2005). The use of EIRs has led to reshaping information retrieval methods and access to information. In the past, information was being transferred from librarians to users. Currently, the majority of the communication and transfer of information is between users and computers and this is due to the most of information being accessed is stored electronically (Gbaje, 2011). Therefore, the need to perform digital preservation strategies and have skilled librarians in terms of managing EIRs in libraries and other collection centers that preserve EIRs is very important. According to Gbaje (2011), the increase use of the Internet and computers in many information centres as well as production of EIRs combined with the significant challenges related with ensuring long term preservation of EIRs, means that, it is vital that there should be thorough action to overcome these challenges. Also, according to Styblinska (2006), the need to preserve and have access to EIRs is currently increasing at a very fast speed. Rapid changes in the formats used and the technologies used in storing EIRs have threatened to shorten the life span of EIRs in the digital age. Minor concentration has been given to the challenges that are facing preservation of EIRs. Particularly, there is little action done focusing on how long a given physical media on which the EIRs is meant to be preserved is going to survive with the change in technologies (Styblinska, 2006). It is observed that even under the best storage device conditions, EIRs stored can easily get lost or even have a limited life span (Styblinska, 2006). Despite the developments in the use of information technologies in many libraries and information centers, preserving EIRs for continuous access by users is a main issue for many libraries all over the world (Ngoepe and van der Walt, 2009). The digital preservation of EIRs is thus a challenging exercise that needs appropriate digital preservation strategies. As a result, librarians involved in preserving EIRs should be Information Technology (IT) literate and there should be IT trainings whenever a change in technology occurs. According to Gbaje (2011), offering special training programmes to staff is one way of equipping them with necessary skills to perform their works effectively. Therefore, the implication of not attaining special training programmes on preservation of EIR is that librarians/information professionals will not be equipped to perform preservation of digital materials effectively (Gbaje, 2011). It is the responsibility of the librarian to monitor the library's EIRs format and see if they are still suitable for preservation. If this is not the case, the librarian is required to perform digital preservation strategy that suits. In a nutshell, there should be a continuous monitoring of the EIRs formats that is done by librarians who are experts in preserving EIRs. PROBLEM STATEMENT Managing electronic information is very vital within any given library but it is becoming more and more challenging of the duration over which information is needed to be preserved (Paper, 2008). …