The digital frontier has come and gone. What was once a promising future has become the all-encompassing reality of today. Digital preservationists are charged with the duty of ensuring that tremendous amounts of information created in this new digital environment are not lost in the transition.

This code of ethics for digital preservationists presents four maxims that provide a framework, not prescriptions, for ethically navigating the stewardship of digital information resources. Digital preservationists inherit much from traditional archivists and librarians. This code of ethics reflects the debt owed to those traditions, and builds on the duties of those traditions with careful attention to the prospect of future technological frontiers.

As digital preservationists, we…

Strive for excellence in selection, acquisition, and access. 

Practice loyalty, not obedience, to our institutions and users.

Promote cooperation and collaboration for the betterment of the world.

Live in the future to preserve the past and present.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Jason Kucsma, 2007