Public sector readiness for digital preservation in New Zealand: The rate of adoption of an innovation in records management practices

Recent legislation in New Zealand has placed statutory obligations on its government organizations to introduce sound records management practices and to ensure long-term access to their digital records. To obtain a base level of knowledge on current digital preservation practices and on awareness of digital preservation issues, an online survey was conducted of the nation's government organizations in March 2006. The survey, which achieved a response rate of 42.4%, found that most organizations were knowledgeable about basic aspects of their digital resources but their awareness of digital preservation was generally low, and digital preservation activity was modest overall. To identify possible reasons for this situation, Rogers' (Diffusion of innovations. 5th ed. New York: Free Press. 2003) Diffusion of Innovations model is used to discuss digital preservation as an innovation and the level of readiness for digital preservation as the innovation's rate of adoption. The paper concludes by using Rogers' model as the basis for making recommendations aimed at helping the government's lead agencies to increase New Zealand's public sector readiness for digital preservation.