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As national library, the British Library (BL) has the ethical and legal responsibility to acquire, preserve and make available all printed material published in the UK. In recent years the national published output has included an increasingly digital component. Therefore, projects such as those on collection and management issues that focus on any part of the lifecycle of digital materials, are important for the development of essential steps toward their long term preservation. This can be seen in the range of projects at the BL, including small projects focussed on the initial acquisition in the life cycle through to major programmes intending to incorporate exploration of long‐term digital preservation strategies.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the challenges imposed on libraries by the presence of digital resources.

The paper reviews the main challenges and key issues of digital archiving from the point of view of librarians.

Information technology and the presence of the web are challenging the role of librarians in preserving library materials for future generations. Preserving digital resources is not going to be the same as preserving traditional resources and is absolutely a new responsibility for digital librarians. They are facing many new issues and concerns in digital preservation. These issues can be divided into three areas: technical issues, organisational issues and legal issues.

The paper provides insights into the current issues and challenges in digital archiving.

On August 26, 1971, OCLC introduced the online union catalog and shared cataloging system. During the 1970s, OCLC focused its efforts on creating and expanding the online cataloging system and telecommunications network. It added an online interlibrary loan system in 1979. In the 1980s, OCLC began adapting distributed computing and microcomputing technologies as its product and service lines expanded to some 60 offerings. The organization also began looking at ways to move beyond bibliography by furnishing information not only to library staffs, but also to library patrons. In the 1990s, OCLC launched a new core business in reference services. (Smith, 1998, pp. 251–252). Now, in the 21st century, OCLC is introducing tools, services and infrastructure to manage the life cycle of digital content in libraries.

“A knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.” Jose Marti, Cuban writer, poet and statesman.