Author: Government recordkeeping
Digital preservation at PROV
Since the launch of our digital preservation strategy—the Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) in 1999, PROV has been a frontrunner for archiving and preserving digital records.
During the past year, we have been busy undertaking a range of VERS initiatives including refreshing our strategy to set new, current goals for digital preservation in Victorian Government.
We are also into the final stages of implementing new systems and technical infrastructure at PROV and are about to start a stage-two project to use machine-learning technologies to appraise email records.
In the spirit of World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD2019), a snapshot of these digital preservation projects are provided below.
New Victorian Electronic Records Strategy
During 2018/19 we published our new Victorian Electronic Records Strategy: Digital Forever 2018-2021.
The new strategy outlines a set of goals and actions for PROV to help achieve the creation, capture and preservation of authentic, complete and meaningful digital records by the Victorian public sector.
See our Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) page for further information.
Machine-assisted email appraisal pilot project
In 2017/18 PROV undertook a Proof of Concept (PoC) project to test an e-discovery tool across a sample set of Victorian Government Lotus Notes emails to see how well it could perform disposal tasks.
During 2019/20, we are continuing work with emails and the e-discovery tool, as well as other tools—this time with a focus on appraisal.
Emails are a vital part of doing business and considered public records under the Public Records Act 1973. A key aim of the project is to try and identify the permanent email records, those with ongoing value, so that they can be transferred to PROV as archives. That way, key government information and evidence is preserved over time.
See our Machine assisted email appraisal projects page for further information.
Digital archive program
We are also continuing to progress with our Digital Archive program of work which includes implementing a new Archivial Management System and Digital Archive to manage, preserve and facilitate access to our rich collection.
See our most recent Annual Report for updates on the program.
Happy World Digital Preservation Day!
Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples should be aware the collection and website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.
PROV provides advice to researchers wishing to access, publish or re-use records about Aboriginal Peoples