Digital preservation isn’t just about storing files; it is about safeguarding knowledge, culture, and history for generations to come. In our recent webinar, Dr. Arif Shaon, Head of Digital Curation, Preservation, and Access at Qatar National Library (QNL), and Dr. Alicia Wise, Executive Director of CLOCKSS, shared journeys, challenges, and visions for the future of global digital preservation.
Dr. Shaon highlighted QNL’s strategic efforts to safeguard Qatar’s cultural and intellectual heritage through large-scale digital repatriation and long-term preservation. Aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030, the library has been at the forefront of digitizing, repatriating, preserving, and providing sustained public access to historical materials dispersed across global archives. Since the launch of the Digital Repatriation Program in 2014, initially in partnership with the British Library and later expanded to institutions such as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Library has repatriated and made openly accessible an increasingly large and diverse range of digitized heritage material, including over two million digitized pages and over ten thousands aerial photographs, relating to Qatar and the wider Gulf region. This repatriated content is made available primarily through the Qatar Digital Library, a leading Open Access digital archive for Middle Eastern history that documents Qatar’s historical development and transformation.
QNL’s preservation journey has evolved rapidly, moving from locally managed infrastructure to a scalable, cloud-based environment. The library initially implemented an open-source digital preservation solution based on Archivematica, building in-house expertise and workflows, and later engaged Artefactual Systems, the official vendor of Archivematica, to further optimize, stabilize, and mature the service. With well-defined digital preservation policies, file format action plans, and risk assessment frameworks inspired by PRONOM and the Library of Congress, the library has built a resilient, future-ready digital preservation ecosystem.
“Close, transparent communication with partners ensures preservation is a mutually beneficial endeavor, restoring cultural history while contributing to the global knowledge base,” Dr. Shaon emphasized.
Dr. Wise shared how CLOCKSS safeguards scholarly content from nearly 80 countries. Eschewing cloud storage, CLOCKSS operates a dark archive, keeping content secure in vaults at 12 universities worldwide and making it accessible only if a publisher disappears. Governed jointly by libraries and publishers, CLOCKSS ensures trust, resilience, and the integrity of the scholarly record.
“Digital content is most robust when stored in multiple trusted archives. Facilitating connections between national libraries, data archives, and publisher archives is increasingly important,” Dr. Wise noted, highlighting the value of collaboration.
Both institutions acknowledged the ongoing challenges of standardizing metadata, ensuring discoverability, and navigating licensing and copyright complexities. Dr. Shaon described QNL’s innovative approaches, including AI-assisted metadata enrichment, while Dr. Wise shared how inspired she was by efforts by the British Library and others to reconnect dispersed collections such as the Dunhuang manuscripts from the silk road, making culturally significant materials accessible globally.
The webinar ended on an optimistic note. Both QNL and CLOCKSS emphasized the importance of regional networks, champions, and gatherings to promote digital preservation across the Middle East and North Africa. As Dr. Shaon put it, “The National Library cannot do it alone. Collaboration with regional and international partners is essential for a sustainable digital preservation ecosystem.” Dr. Wise added, “Partnership ensures that the voices and perspectives of underrepresented regions are preserved in the global scholarly record.”
This conversation showcased how Qatar National Library and CLOCKSS are leading the way in digital preservation, demonstrating that collaboration, innovation, and shared expertise are the keys to safeguarding our collective knowledge. The future of preservation looks bright, with partnerships bridging cultures, countries, and technologies.
About Qatar National Library: Qatar National Library (QNL) serves as a host to Qatar’s national heritage by collecting, preserving and making available the country’s recorded history. In its role as a research library with a preeminent heritage library, the library fosters and promotes greater global insight into the history and culture of the Gulf region. As a public library, QNL provides equal access for all of Qatar's residents to an environment that supports creativity, independent decision-making, and cultural development. Through all these functions, QNL provides leadership to the country’s library and cultural heritage sector. Learn more about the library.