The two services, which have gained an international readership, were launched in 1997 "as a service to the digital preservation community and ... in order to collocate selected information on digital preservation. The PADI gateway currently includes links to around 3,000 resources over 60 topics.
The NLA statement indicates that -
As is to be expected with any portal to Web based documents maintenance of web links becomes progressively more demanding over time. Websites are redesigned, migrated to new platforms, URL's are changed, projects and their websites cease, so called persistent identifiers are not, and even when web documents or pages are archived in a web archive, questions arise as to which version of an archived page to link to (which date or even which archive as copies may be held in multiple web archives with different levels of completeness). The current structure of PADI requires the Library to commit around 0.5 of a fulltime staff member to locate, describe and enter links to new information sources and to maintain links to existing resources. Although originally conceived as a cooperative contribution model, increasingly the burden of adding material to PADI has fallen to the NLA as input from elsewhere has almost ceased.That statement reflects the reality that although 'information wants to be free', its collection, assessment and presentation often involves costs that are not eliminated by uttering the magic word 'wiki' or '2.0', much to the amazement of digital fundamentalists and pundits who emoted about the Engage: Getting On With Government 2.0 report (aka 'Getting It Off With Blogs, Wikis and Buzzwords').
The NLA statement continues ...
The information-seeking and information-providing mechanisms of a community also change over time. After reviewing the gateway service the Library has concluded that the existing website, database and list no longer meet the current needs and that the Library's resources are best invested elsewhere. While there may be more efficient ways of building a service like PADI today, using Web 2.0 tools, the Library is unable to make the investment in converting the existing service.The NLA has traditionally shown an ability to play hard ball in seeking funds or justifying its spending, and 0.5 of a person is presumably less than the organisation's spending on refurbishment of its executive suites. Having said that, given the useful of spreading information about digital preservation I can't help wondering whether the Government's enthusiasm for online openness and innovation - the 'e-government revolution' and so forth - questioned in past posts of this blog should be substantiated through funding for that 0.5 of a body ... even 0.75 of a body. Assisting preservation of a digital present for a digital future is a worthy way to invest government funds, irrespective of who occupies The Lodge in six months time.
Reluctantly - because we still find PADI useful ourselves - we believe we cannot sustain PADI, and have decided to cease maintaining it.
In the interim the NLA has indicated that -
A copy of the website has been archived in PANDORA, Australia's Web Archive. The existing live website will remain available until the end of 2010; however no new resources have been added since the start of July 2010 and the existing links will not be actively managed. The archives of the padiforum-l list will continue to be available, however no new postings will be accepted from 30 September 2010.
