Released on: April 24, 2008, 3:09 am

Press Release Author: The National Archives

Industry: Computers

Press Release Summary: Good news the already popular PDF file format adopted by
consumers and business alike is one of the most logical formats to preserve today's
electronic information for tomorrow.

Press Release Body: According to the latest report released today by the Digital
Preservation Coalition (DPC), Portable Document Format (PDF) is one of the best file
formats to preserve electronic documents and ensure their survival for the future.
This announcement will allow information officers to follow a standardised approach
for preserving electronic documents.

Information management and long-term preservation are major issues facing consumers
and businesses in the 21st Century. This report is one of a series where The
Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) aims to think about and address the challenges
facing us.

This report reviews PDF and the newly introduced PDF/Archive (PDF/A) format as a
potential solution to the problem of long-term digital preservation. It suggests
adopting PDF/A for archiving electronic documents' as the standard will help
preservation and retrieval in the future. It concludes that it can only be done
when combined with a comprehensive records management programme and formally
established records procedures.

Betsy Fanning, author of the report and director of standards at AIIM, comments, "A
standardised approach to preserving electronic documents would be a welcome
development for organisations. Without this we could be walking blindly into a
digital black hole."

The National Archives works closely with the DPC with issues surrounding digital
preservation and will continue to do so. Adrian Brown, head of digital preservation
at The National Archives said: "This report highlights the challenges we all face in
a digital age. Using PDF/A as a standard will help information officers ensure that
key business data survives. But it should never be viewed as the Holy Grail. It is
merely a tool in the armoury of a well thought out records management policy. "

The report is a call to action, organisations need to act now and look hard at their
information policies and procedures to anticipate the demand for their content
(documents and records) in the future. Everybody has different criteria, types and
uses for documentation so you need to find one that works for your organisation.

If you would like to read the full report please go to the Digital Preservation
Coalition website. This can be accessed here,
http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/reports/index.html#twrpdf.


Web Site: http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/reports/index.html#twrpdf.

Contact Details: Tim Matthews,
Press Officer
The National Archives,
Email: tmatthews@nationalarchives.gov.uk
Tel: 0208 392 5277 ext 2578