In the event of a zombie apocalypse : An investigation into policies of long-term preservation of digital media in the modern world of Open Access institutional repositories

Abstract: With the purpose to investigate policies within long-term preservation of digital media in the modern world of Open Access institutional repository, this two year's master thesis was conducted through a qualitative study with quantitative overtures. The main objectives of this thesis centre on the criteria for long-term digital preservation, preservation in relation to institutional repositories, the issues cropping up within the field of institutional repositories, and the essential components of a preservation policy. The theoretical framework is constructed around a model based upon scholarly communication, with its aspects of dissemination, acquisition, preservation, discovery and access, and with the facet of preservation at its centre. The methodology of this study is cued to content analysis and its in-depth investigative process, which was conducted on a sample of ten preservation policies within Open Access institutional repositories that were compared to a standardised expert set of policy categorisation. The results show that a perfect preservation policy does not appear to exist in the current world, based exclusively on the selected sample. This gives a strong indication of a need for further research within the field of Open Access institutional repositories preservation policies.