Convergence and Preservation in the Digital Age *

Abstract

Today’s libraries exist in an environment of convergence as the traditional boundaries between libraries, museums, and archives (LAMs) are disappearing. Preservation is a core function that intersects LAMs, yet, paradoxically, the world of preservation is currently divided into the largely disparate fields of digital and physical preservation. Now, just as institutional boundaries are dissolving, it is timely to develop an integrated or ‘converged’ approach to preservation.