Digital archives differ from paper archives but can still learn valuable lessons from the years of experience built up.

The processes for paper archiving have been established over many years and are embedded into archivist thinking. These can be summarised as:

• Bring the paper under management, and enter a proper description into an information system
• Put it somewhere safe for storage, usually a large safe location with regulated access
• Maintain descriptive information about the collection safely using an approach of your choosing
• Ensure access to the information is straightforward for the consumer so they can find what they want and get access to what they are allowed to see
• Ensure the paper is properly conserved and, if appropriate, copies are made

This is a good description of a digital archival system as well and indeed maps neatly onto the OAIS Reference Model. There are however some differences that will require a change in thinking for archivists and their choice of information system should allow them to make this change:

• The process of ingesting the digital information tends to be much more automated mainly due to the larger volumes of information ingested by fewer staff. The system should make this as painless as possible.
• Safe storage is a constant concern with IT systems and without a proper policy the risk of a catastrophic data loss remains
• IT systems tend to be rather fixed and difficult to customise. The archive should allow you to have your own processes and your own descriptive data
• Expectations of use for access speeds and simplicity have grown in the post-Google age and it is critical to provide fast access to appropriate information
• Digital conservation is a complex, emerging discipline that is outside the experience of most archivists and requires specialist systems

In moving from paper to digital it is also important to maintain a single integrated catalogue and to choose a system that allows this to be maintained. Also, the system should allow scanned paper to be stored alongside the “born-digital” material that will increasingly dominate the collection.