The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has released a new report on Preserving Email, authored by Chris Prom, Assistant University Archivist, University of Illinois. The report (available as a PDF at http://dx.doi.org/10.7207/twr11-01 provides a comprehensive advanced introduction to the topic for anyone who has to manage a large email archive in the long term and offers practical advice on how to ensure email remains accessible.

Email is a defining feature of our age and a critical element in all manner of transactions. Industry and commerce depend upon email; families and friendships are sustained by it; government and economies rely upon it; communities are created and strengthened by it. Voluminous, pervasive and proliferating, email fills our days like no other technology. Complex, intangible and essential, email manifests important personal and professional exchanges. The jewels are sometimes hidden in massive volumes of ephemera, and even greater volumes of trash. But it is hard to remember how we functioned before the widespread adoption of email in public and private life.

The report is published by the DPC in association with Charles Beagrie Ltd.

A colleague of mine (Sarah Jones) from the Digital Curation Centre has pointed out a presentation she gave last year entitled ‘Getting Started in Digital Preservation’. The presentation slides are available on Slideshare and are also embedded below. They provide an excellent introduction for people just starting out in this area.