To date, research on digital preservation has focused on records in the context of archives or on publications in the context of digital libraries, to the exclusion of mixed content environments, which constitute a serious challenge also because reproduction for preservation is never conducted item by item but involves the entire environment. Moreover, such research has focused on practice over theory, while it has become quite obvious to the information community that the development of new theory is necessary to address the challenges presented by IRs. Therefore, the outcomes of this research will be:

• A preservation plan for cIRcle. Extant research has shown that any long-term digital preservation plan must be able to control the material that is the object of its care from even prior to its acquisition. Therefore, this plan will include an acquisition and a maintenance policy that will include sub-policies related to metadata to be attached to the various types of materials, acceptable document types and file formats, types of access to be provided, external contributors, privacy, licensing, charging for services, withdrawal of content, etc.;
• A model preservation plan for university IRs having the same components as the plan for cIRcle, but presented in a de-contextualized way and with removable components so that it can be adapted to different situations; and
• A white paper on the necessary changes to copyright legislation that will allow the adoption of the most advanced digital preservation strategies for the maximum protection of the material and of its authenticity through time.