Izolo, the planned UCT Libraries digital preservation service, aims to ensure that digital files created today can be found and used tomorrow. In recognition of imperatives around the safeguarding of digital data, UCT Libraries are outlining a commitment to Digital Preservation.

Digital Preservation is concerned with providing long-term access to digital objects, preserving continuity in form as well as functionality. It is not simply a backup of data, because long-term digital preservation must consider format, software and hardware obsolescence, among other issues. Although it is possible for anyone to read a page from a book written 100 years ago, the same is not true of (e.g.) a floppy disk containing WordPerfect files from twenty years ago. 

All items from UCT's data repository ZivaHub will also be preserved on Izolo.