The UNESCO (2003), Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Materials,
defines Digital Materials as Resources of human knowledge or expression,
whether cultural, educational, scientific and administrative, or embracing
technical, legal, medical and other kinds of information, created digitally, or
converted into digital form from existing analogue resources. Where resources
are born “born digital”, there is no other format but the digital original. Digital
materials include texts, databases, still and moving images, audio, graphics,
software, and web pages, among a wide and growing range of formats. They are
frequently ephemeral, and require purposeful production, maintenance and
management to be retained. Many of these resources have lasting value and
significance, and therefore constitute a heritage that should be protected and
preserved for current and future generations. This heritage may exist in any
language, in any part of the world, and in any area of human knowledge or expression.
The UNESCO (2003), guideline further highlighted different types of digital materials and arranged them in these groups:
Electronic publications, being information that is made available for wide
readership. Publications are distributed in various ways including online
via the World Wide Web, or on portable carriers such as CDs, DVDs,
floppy disks and various electronic book devices. Some publications
manage to combine both online and portable carrier access to different
parts of the publication. As well as their means of distribution, digital
publications may be classified by genres, some familiar from traditional
publishing formats like monographs and serials, and others less easily
defined like websites and e-zines. Some publications are released as
complete items, but others evolve over time, their creators taking
advantage of the interactive potential of the Internet. Print publishing
continues to grow, but increasingly publications are appearing in digital
versions, increasingly in digital-only versions. Both commercial and
non-commercial publishers produce digital publications, as do millions of other
people who would not see themselves as publishers at all.
„Semi-published‟ materials such as prprint papers and theses held in e-print and other archives available for restricted use within specific communities such as universities and scholarly societies
Organisational and personal records of activity, transactions, correspondence, etc. A very large part of the world‟s business and government records now exist in electronic record keeping systems. Email, messages to discussion lists and bulletin boards, web diaries, „blogs‟ and
„cams‟ – dynamic, informal interactions enabled by digital technology - may also include important digital records amongst a tidal wave of data
Datasets collected to record and analyse scientific, geospatial, spatial, sociological, demographic, educational, health, environmental and other phenomena
Learning objects used in technology-assisted education
Software tools such as databases, models, simulations, and software applications
Unique unpublished materials that may include research reports, oral history and folklore recordings
Electronic „manuscripts‟ such as drafts of works and personal correspondence
Entertainment products from the film, music, broadcasting and games
industries, both commercial and non-commercial
Digitally generated artworks and documentary photographs
Digital copies of images, sound, text and three-dimensional objects from non-digital originals.
Many of these materials exist only in a digital form (even if carried on a physical carrier of some kind). With no equivalent non-digital version, their content is especially vulnerable to the influences that threaten digital materials. There are also rapidly growing collections of digital copies. Having originally been generated from non-digital sources, these might appear to be less vulnerable, but many of them are the only surviving version of originals that have since been damaged, lost or dispersed.
Nevertheless, no library exists without some enabling facilities and equipment
upon which the resources hang on for effective service delivery. The library is
made up of book and digital materials. This is what Nwalo (2003) called library
facilities. According to the Hornby (2013), facilities are buildings, services,
equipment, etc that are provided for a particular purpose. They are enabling
features that make any particular programme to be possible. These equipment no
doubt enable digital contents in the library to function well. Similarly, in order to
acquire, organize, service, and preserve digital collections in the library, Tiwari
(2008) highlighted that some breadth, dept, and value need to be developed like
an infrastructure of systems, policies, procedure and skilled staff equivalent to the
infrastructure. The infrastructure is to support a wider set of heterogeneous digital resources from a wide variety of sources. For instance, if a library is to pursue the collection and preservation of web-based publishing, then, certain specific skills and facilities need to be built in order to harvest and validate such data.
Consequently, by the implication of the term “digital” which means the application of electronics or electro-mechanical energy, Rosenberg (2005) stated that an adequate Information and Communication technologies (ICTs) infrastructure with a sufficient number of networked and internet-connected workstations is essential if a library is to offer access to e-resources and develop e-services. Alam (2003) stated some of the equipment needed for a digital library to exist. They are:
