DPE - Digital Preservertion Europe

Digital Preservation Europe (DPE) is a Coordinated Action funded by the European Commission as part of the Sixth Framework Programme – Information Society Technologies: access to and preservation of cultural and scientific resources.
This action, launched in April 2006 and with a duration of 36 months, saw the involvement of 9 institutions from 8 European countries, and is coordinated by Professor Seamus Ross of the University of Glasgow:

  • Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATII), University of Glasgow – United Kingdom
  • Vienna University of Technology (TUW) - Austria
  • State and University Library (Statsbiblioteket) and National Media Archive, Aarhus (SB) - Denmark
  • Het Nationaal Archief (NANETH) – The Netherlands
  • Czech Republic National Library - NKP – Czech Republic
  • Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Directorate for Libraries, Cultural Institutes and Copyright - Italy
  • Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale - FRD - Italy
  • Vilnius University Faculty of Communication (VUFC) - Lithuania
  • FernUniversität in Hagen (FUH) - Germany
Digital Preservation Europe (DPE) promotes collaboration and synergies between the many existing initiatives, encouraging cooperation, coordination and the exchange of experiences so as to ensure effective preservation of digital resources.
Building upon the activities launched by ERPANET, the project pursues three main goals:
  • facilitating the exchange of information and experiences among academies, cultural institutes, research bodies, public administrationsand the private sector within the field of preservation of digital objects;
  • incrementing services related to the conservation, diffusionand knowledge of issues concerning the preservation and management of digital material;
  • improving awareness, skills and availability of information, guidelines, methodologies and professional tools.
Specific goals:
  • helping digital preservation issues emerge
  • providing incentives for member states to act together
  • using cooperation to prevent redundancy and the duplication of efforts
  • ensuring that vetted and certified standards are applied  in digital preservation processes
  • facilitating the development of skills through training products
  • promoting important  coordination and exchange research efforts
  • identifying and reporting the most important ongoing research efforts on digital preservation 
  • helping citizens and specialists acknowledge the central role of digital preservation in everyday’s life and work
ICCU and the General Directorate for Libraries, Cultural Institutesand Copyright are involved in the project, in particular with regards to the dissemination of information, experiences and results achieved by the various project partners and by other bodies interested in the conservation of digital objects.
It is also available an English Newsletter where it’s possible to have a detailed overview of all aspects of DPE .

More detailed information is available on the project website: www.digitalpreservationeurope.eu