Gateways

GatewaysHeather BrownProject Officer, State Library of S.A, for Business Information Program, University of S.A.

and

Assistant Director, Paper, Artlab Australia

Gateways for digital preservation

The challenges

'Information stored in digital form is as delicate as archaeological remains of flora and fauna...

Preservation of digital information requires active intervention; left unsecured it is susceptible to loss through the physical breakdown of the media, rendered inaccessible by technological advances, or left meaningless through lack of or insufficient contextual evidence.' Seamus Ross 2000

Construction phase

Construction phaseWe have to start now…

Start planning

…Use Cornell University’s

• Online digital preservation tutorial www.library.cornell.edu.iris/tutorial/

• Survey of Institutional readiness

plans

Construction phase

• Gateways being constructed by variety of stakeholders

• Likely to be built and sustained by stakeholders with interest in or responsibility for preserving knowledge for future

• Gateways need to be active and open early in digital ‘life cycle’

What to preserve

• We cannot preserve everything• Link with collection management policies• Challenges - sheer volume, varying quality, new emerging genres, need to act quickly

• How much to select in web archiving –PANDORA selectiveInternet archive - whole domain

• UNESCO Guidelines• Decision Tree DPC Handbook

What to preserve

• Example – decades old remote sensing data

Australian Government

Geoscience Australia

Australia’s Remotely Sensed Data Archive:

The Next 25 Years

Stuart BarrGeospatial and Earth Monitoring Division

Strengthening gateways - technological

Cornell Digital Preservation model - 3 interrelated parts

technological organisationalresourcing

refreshing

migrating

emulating

Strengthening gateways - technologically

Hybrid solutions - microfilm

A low risk option for text-based content

‘Hybrid’ option: mf for long term preservation; digital copy for flexible access


Standards, guidelines & trusted frameworks

•The foundations – ensure quality and trustworthiness

•Good progress with particular formats e.g. TIFF

•ISO standards for preservation of digital materials

•UNESCO Guidelines http://www.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001300/13007le.pdf

OAIS model

•Provides common framework for describing & comparing digital archives


Preservation metadata

Underpins OAIS framework

• Records info. needed to manage preservation

….PREMIS model

Unique identifiers & encapsulation

• Help provide access to trusted digital objects• Also digital watermarking, digital time stamping etc.


TRAC Checklist

• Guide for determining trustworthiness www.crl.edu/PDF/trac.pdf

• Uses risk management framework

• Draws on OAIS model

Flexibility

• New gateways need to be flexible to adapt to future changes

Strengthening gateways - resourcing

• Finding ongoing funding $R is challenging

• Overall volume of data will continue to grow - the ‘digital black hole’

• Start up costs easier

• Ongoing costs mean reallocation

•

resourcing

Strengthening gateways - organisational

•Reflected through the policies, procedures & plans

• Getting ‘buy in’ right from the top.

• Without this high level commitment, gateways will collapse

• e.g. ‘elevator pitch’ approaches of Cornell and DSpace.

• e.g. of high level policyNLA Digital Preservation Policy

commitment


• Way of sharing expertise

• Formal agreements & collaborations - sharing costs e.g.

RLG The Internet Archive

PADI UNESCO

International Internet Preservation Consortium

• Collaborations cost & need commitment

collaboration


• Organisational infrastructure involves …

• W e need whole new skill sets

• Not only technological knowledge - also generic skills that relate to organisation & resourcing

Challenge

• for universities & educators of librarians to provide relevant foundation of knowledge & skills

• for all to develop our knowledge & skills as part of life-long learning.

Skills, education & training


• Formal training e.g. - Business Information

Management (BIM) Course - University of S.A.

• India - DELNET, ICDL Conference on Digital libraries,

ISI’s International Workshop on digital preservation of heritage etc.

• Online courses – e.g. Cornell Tutorial

• PADI

Skills, education & training

Conclusion

• Combination of features

• Still under construction No ‘readymade’ kit

• Include the whole range of features…

• For maximum leverage – collaborate with parallel gateways

• Integration determines whether

gateways will remain viable

organisationalresourcingtechnological

Conclusion

• Right combination is a dynamic

• ‘Good library management’

• Assess the preservation readiness of your organisation’s digital resources

• You can no longer afford to delay…

Gateways

Documents

Transcript of Gateways