Archival policy of digital preservation: a study on its applicability in federal public institutions

Abstract This article presents part of the results obtained in a master's research on the preservation of the archival documentary heritage of the Southern Spiritist Federation (FERGS), which has developed in the Professional Postgraduate Program in Cultural Patrimony of the Federal University of Santa Maria (PPGPPC/ UFSM). The general objective of the research is to analyze the application of preservation strategies for the elaboration of a Plan of Preservation of the FERGS Archival Documentary Heritage. In order to subsidize this research, it was decided to carry out a data survey that identified archival policies on digital preservation and how it would be effective in the institutions, so that it would be possible to analyze the universe of said institution, FERGS. The result of this data collection, carried out in fifty-five Brazilian public institutions, showed that a good part of them, or about ninety-one percent, does not have an archival preservation digital policy and none of them has a Digital Preservation Plan To implement this policy. This shows that the public policies on digital preservation emanated by the National Archives are not being effectively implemented within the federal public institutions, corroborating the development of actions to improve this scenario.