Introduction:
Archives are often portrayed as quiet rooms filled with manuscripts, inked ledgers, and fragile maps, things that one could call “echoes” of a distant past. While the National Records of Scotland (NRS) continues to care for these treasures, the nature of our national memory is changing. Today, Scotland’s identity is increasingly shaped by digital footprints: born-digital correspondence, government policies, datasets, websites, and registers. The records of our time are dynamic, complex, and rooted in everyday life. Preserving them is not an easy task, or just about keeping data; it’s about safeguarding the story of a nation in constant motion.
Today, Thursday 6 November 2025 we mark the World Digital Preservation Day with this year’s theme “Why Preserve?”. At NRS, our answer is clear: we preserve because today’s decisions become tomorrow’s history, and our work matters for the people of Scotland, now and for generations to come.
What Preservation Means
Preservation is a deeply human instinct. Across civilizations and centuries, people have carved symbols into stone, pressed script into clay, woven stories into fabric, and inscribed meaning onto papyrus, parchment, and paper. From Sumerian tablets to Egyptian scrolls, from Pergamon’s refined parchments to the spread of Chinese paper through Europe, each medium reflects our timeless desire to document life.
Whether carved, inked, or stitched, these records helped future generations understand who we were, how we lived, and what we valued. Therefore, preservation means honouring the human desire to be remembered, to leave behind traces of thought and experience that transcend time.
At NRS, this instinct lives on. Preservation here means ensuring that tomorrow’s generation can open, read and trust what we keep today. It means working with our public‐authority partners to make sure records are created in ways that facilitate long-term preservation. It means selecting and describing digital files; checking integrity and authenticity; migrating from ageing formats; storing in secure, future-aware systems; and making sure we can link records with context, so they carry meaning, not just bits.
Each step is a promise: the promise that someone years from now will still be able to discover not only a photograph of a place, but understand who took it, when and why. That someone will still be able to trace changes in communities, to support accountability, to engage with heritage, to ask new questions of the past. NRS does this work because we believe Scotland’s story is still being written and belongs to everyone and preserving that story is a service to the people. The people of Scotland deserve to hold onto their memory, to ask bold questions, and to build a better future from what we leave behind.
Digital Preservation: Building Trust Through Access and Accountability
Preservation is accessibility enabling accountability. Our commitment to public access is central to our mission. We preserve digital records so that people can engage with them: to understand decisions, trace family histories, hold institutions accountable, and explore Scotland’s evolving identity.
This is why our Public Access Policy emphasises outreach, learning, and digital services. We work to ensure that records are not locked away, but discoverable and usable. Whether through our online catalogues, web archives, or partnerships with schools and researchers, we make preservation visible and valuable.
Digital preservation also supports transparency and trust. When citizens can access authentic records, whether minutes from a council meeting or a historical birth register, they gain confidence in public institutions. They see and understand that Scotland’s story is not just preserved but shared.
A Real-World Example: Preserving Scotland’s Web Presence
One of the most visible ways NRS preserves digital heritage is through our Web Continuity Service, which captures and archives websites from Scottish public authorities. These sites often contain policy updates, public consultations, announcements, and guidance that reflect the government’s interaction with citizens.
When we preserve these websites, we ensure that future researchers, journalists, and citizens can trace how decisions were communicated, how services evolved, and how Scotland responded to key moments in history. For example, snapshots of COVID-19 guidance pages or climate policy consultations offer a window into how government adapted and engaged with the public during times of uncertainty and change.
This work is guided by our Selection Policy for Web Continuity, which ensures that we archive content with long-term public value. We collaborate with partners like The National Archives (TNA) and National Library of Scotland (NLS) to advise website owners on design and archiving best practices, ensuring that digital preservation is built into the lifecycle of public information
Looking Ahead: Preservation as a Living Practice
For everyone here at NRS, digital preservation is a living practice. Technologies change, formats evolve, and new types of records emerge. We respond by adapting our systems, developing new guidance, and collaborating across sectors.
Our Digital Preservation Policy outlines this proactive approach. We don’t just react to risks, we anticipate them. We train staff, invest in infrastructure, and engage with global networks like the Digital Preservation Coalition to stay ahead of the curve.
This future-facing mindset ensures that our work remains relevant. It means that when a new generation of archivists steps into our shoes, they inherit our records, but also a robust framework for keeping them alive.
Final Thoughts: Why Preserve
So, why preserve? We preserve because we believe every record is a thread in the fabric of Scotland’s story. Because the people of Scotland deserve to understand their past, question their present, and shape their future. Because memory is power, and preservation is how we protect it.
We preserve not just for today, but for tomorrow. For the child who wants to know where they come from. For the citizen who wants to understand how decisions were made. For the communities who want to see themselves reflected in the archive.
Digital preservation is our way of saying: your story matters. And we’re here to keep it safe.
Open Book 