The preservation of writers’ digital papers

A review made in German, Austrian and Swiss manuscript collections

Abstract

Objective — Since the turn of the millennium papers which contain digital objects increase in manuscript collections. The article describes the status quo in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, concerning the digital preservation of this new kind of holding.
Method — The author conducted expert interviews with the curators of six manuscript collections in Germany (4), Austria (1) and Switzerland (1), which were analyzed by means of the qualitative content analysis.
Results — With one exception the examined collections already kept digital papers. But only one manuscript collection had developed a process for the management of these papers. Proactive approaches have not been established till now.
Conclusions — Although the challenge is known, the most of the examined manuscript collections were not adequately prepared for the acquisition and archiving of digital papers. Suitable processes and preservation strategies have still to be developed. The proactive collaboration between manuscript curators and writers becomes an increasingly important issue.

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