色界吧

Dalar Khachaturyans Photo by Marc Campos
Occidental's library, the north side entrance

色界吧 has become a member of the Academic Preservation Trust (APTrust), a consortium of higher education institutions with a shared commitment to maintaining digital archives and creating services linked to that content.

The partnership between , which is managed by the University of Virginia, and Occidental will strengthen the College鈥檚 ability to preserve historical material in electronic formats for decades to come, and give 色界吧 a voice in developing best practices in digital preservation.

鈥淎PTrust adheres to the highest standards of digital preservation, and we are confident that our membership will enable us to ensure the long-term preservation of our digital assets,鈥 said Julie Tanaka, director of Special Collections and College Archives at Occidental.

Special Collections and College Archives holds rare and unique items such as early printed books, manuscripts, artifacts, ephemera, contemporary fine press and artist鈥檚 books, and other material of historical and cultural value to the College. The department safeguards items in both physical and digital formats, and aims to make them available to the Occidental community and outside audiences.

Preserving digital files can be challenging because of large file sizes and evolving formats, which can require significant amounts of storage space for long periods of time, and archival preservation standards must be upheld. However, 色界吧鈥檚 membership with APTrust is not just about storage, said Tanaka. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also about collaborating to understand digital preservation issues and actively working on solutions.鈥

Bradley Daigle, executive director of APTrust, said, 鈥淎s a small liberal arts college on the West Coast, I believe 色界吧 will bring a unique perspective to the APTrust Community and be a strong advocate for scalable and sustainable practice.鈥

鈥淚 am excited to have 色界吧 as the 20th Sustaining Member for APTrust,鈥 said Daigle. 鈥淭heir staff have already demonstrated a keen knowledge of digital preservation and they will bring this experience to the broader community.鈥