ARA Project Targets Long-Term Preservation of High-Risk Records

The project focuses on adoption and care records, which often need to be retained for 75 to 150 years but are frequently locked within complex systems that make extraction and preservation difficult. With systems typically replaced multiple times over a record’s lifespan, the risk of data loss or inaccessibility is significant.

To address this, the initiative will develop a practical specification for extracting archival information packages (AIPs) from operational systems into trusted digital preservation environments. While centred on children’s records, the outcomes are expected to provide a scalable model for other high-value records held in similar systems.

For Records and Information Managers, the message is clear: long-term preservation must be designed into systems from the outset. As reliance on line-of-business platforms grows, so too does the need for defensible, future-ready approaches to extraction, retention and accessibility.

Backed by sector collaboration and funding from The National Archives (UK), this project reinforces the critical role of information professionals in safeguarding records that underpin identity, accountability and long-term organisational memory.

Click here to find out more about this project