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ERPANET is pleased to release the programme of its workshop on the 'Long-term Preservation of Databases'. It will be held on the 9-11 April 2003 and is co-hosted by the Swiss Federal Archives.

*** Programme ***

Wednesday 9 April
09:00 Registration
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
09:45 Welcome (Christoph Graf, Swiss Federal Archives; Seamus Ross, ERPANET); Introduction (Peter Keller, Swiss Federal Archives);
SESSION ONE: Practical experiences with database preservation
11:00 Centre des Archives Contemporaines, France (presented by Jean-Pierre Teil); other projects to be confirmed
12:15 Lunch
13:30 Testbed Digitale Bewaring, Netherlands (speaker to be confirmed); National Digital Archive of Datasets, UK (speaker to be confirmed)
15:45 Breakout session
16:30 Finish
Workshop Dinner on Mount Gurten

Thursday 10 April
SESSION TWO: Practical experiences with database preservation (continued)
09:00 National Archives, Norway (Terje Pettersen-Dahl); Software Independent Archiving of Relational Databases at the Swiss Federal Archives (Stephan Heuscher, Stephan Järmann)
11:30 Breakout session
12:15 Lunch
SESSION THREE: Archival methods
13:30 Extraction (Niklaus Bütikofer, ERPANET); Description (Elizabeth Shepherd, University College London, UK); Appraisal (Thomas Zürcher Thrier, Swiss Federal Archives)
16:30 Finish
Walking tour of the historic city centre

Friday 11 April
SESSION FOUR: Access, Use, Adding Value
09:00 Value-Adding, Access, and Use (Rolf Apweiler, European Bioinformatics Institute, UK)
10:15 Breakout session
CONCLUSIONS
11:00 Mariella Guercio and Hans Hofman (ERPANET)
12:00 End of Workshop

*** Focus ***

Databases have been, and continue to be, a key technology for the storage, organisation, and interrogation of information. While the value of other types of digital information has been highlighted in recent years, databases and the information they contain have been sidelined. Their preservation is of great concern as they are often either irreplaceable or of such value that replacement would be prohibitively expensive.

The workshop will cover the entire process of database preservation: selection, appraisal, preservation, description, and access. Technical solutions will occupy an important place in the workshop and archival requirements will also be addressed.

Various institutional approaches will be presented and key areas of difficulty and success offered. Breakout sessions will focus on some of these identified areas, and attempt to posit solutions and strategies for this difficult challenge.

*** Who Will Benefit From Attending? ***

Erpaworkshops are expert meetings to promote and develop new approaches to preservation challenges. Participation is encouraged from specialists in the archival, scientific, and IT spheres, and those with theoretical and/or practical experience in the field of database preservation. Our speakers will present experiences in order to facilitate discussion and the furtherance of knowledge on database preservation.

*** The Venue ***

The Workshop will take place at the conference hall of the Swiss Federal Archives (www.bundesarchiv.ch) in Bern. See www.bundesarchiv.ch/webserver-static/docs/e/situationsplan.pdf for a map of the area.

*** Travel Information ***

by plane: Bern Airport (www.alpar.ch, German-only website) features only a small number of direct European flights and transfer connections through Basel, Zurich, and other airports. In most cases it may be more convenient to fly to Zurich (www.unique.ch), Basel (www.euroairport.ch), or Geneva (www.gva.ch), and to reach Bern by train from there. Zurich and Geneva offer convenient changes at their respective airport railway stations; the journey will take 90 (ZRH) or 120 minutes (GVA). EuroAirport Basel has frequent bus connections to Basel main station, from where the train to Bern takes approximately one hour. Train tickets are available at vending machines and counters at the stations; timetable info at www.rail.ch. (There is a possibility to have your luggage checked through to Bern directly, see www.sbb.ch/pv/fly_e.htm.)

by train: Participants from neighbouring countries may consider travelling to Bern by train. There are convenient connections from France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and Belgium to Bern main station. For timetable information look at www.rail.ch.

*** Accommodation Information ***

Arrangements and reservations have been made with selected hotels for the ERPANET Workshop. These are mostly located in the historic city centre of Bern and are within walking distance of both the train station and the Federal Archives. Taxis and buses are available at the station. The registrations are being taken care of by the Bern Tourist office. Please find the registration form on the ERPANET website. Special hotel fares apply for those who book their room until the 1st March 2003.

*** Workshop Dinner ***

ERPANET is pleased to invite you to the workshop dinner that will be held on Wednesday evening at Mount Gurten near Bern.

*** Registration ***

The registration fee is 220 CHF. This includes workshop materials, refreshments, and the workshop dinner. Please register at www.erpanet.org.