Infrastructure for Sustaining Digital Preservation: A Study of VTU-Affiliated Engineering Colleges

This study investigates the infrastructure for digitization and digital preservation across VTU-affiliated engineering colleges, highlighting critical gaps and advancements in ensuring long-term accessibility and sustainability of digital resources. Based on the collected data through questionnaire with 169 librarians and staff working in the library, 88.8% of institutions have instigated digitization process, with 42.7% fully digitized and provided that access, 52.7% still in progress, and 4.7% digitized but inaccessible. Necessary tools like scanners and computers are available to all, but differentiation also exist, with only 76.7% equipped with servers and 26.7% lacking advanced multimedia kits. DSpace software as the ideal preservation software for digital content, used by 80.7% of respondents, the other softwares which are used by the institutions are Greenstone (8.7%) and E-Print (10.7%) have minimal adoption. Cloud computing is used by 55% of institutions, though traditional backup media like CDs and DVDs are now a days not used by the people, with usage percentage is 18.3% and 15.4%, respectively. Regional disparities are evident: 51.5% of respondents are centered in urban Bangalore, while rural institutions less centered as compared to Bangalore i.e at 23.7%.