DigitalKoans

The Preservation and Reformatting Section of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association, has published its formal definition of digital preservation.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The definition was developed to promote an understanding of digital preservation within the library community, as well as our allied professions and the user communities we exist to serve. This definition is presented to mark our current understanding of digital preservation and encourage further development of these ideas.

This definition grew out of a conversation held at the Digital Preservation Discussion Group at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in 2007. An ad hoc task force crafted language that was shared with a number of constituencies during the spring and early summer of 2007. The definition was discussed and approved by the PARS Executive Committee during the 2008 Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia. The ALCTS Board of Directors approved it during Midwinter, and the definition was presented to and accepted by Council as an informational document. The definition is being incorporated into the forthcoming revision of the current ALA Preservation Policy currently being undertaken by PARS.

The working group studied a number of resources to familiarize itself with the critical elements of digital preservation identified by a broad selection of individuals and agencies. These ideas were cast into language that speaks to a wide variety of stakeholders while also being consistent with the core preservation concepts that have developed in the library and archival communities.

The core concepts are presented in a short, medium and long version to accommodate a variety of needs. The long version includes a number of currently accepted best practices but is not intended to be an exhaustive list. As more is learned about implementing digital preservation programs, the definitions should be reviewed and revised on a regular basis.

The definition will be reviewed and updated as needed.

OCLC has announced the availability of a Digital Archive service.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

The service provides a secure storage environment for libraries to easily manage and monitor master files and digital originals. The importance of preserving master files grows as a library's digital collections grow. Libraries need a workflow for capturing and managing master files that finds a balance between the acquisition of both digitized and born-digital content while not outpacing a library's capability to manage these large files. . . .

The Digital Archive service is a specially designed system in a controlled operating environment dedicated to the ongoing managed storage of digital content. OCLC has developed specific systems processes and procedures for the service tuned to the management of data for the long term.

From the time content arrives, the Digital Archive systems begin inspecting it to ensure continuity. OCLC systems perform quality checks and record the results in a "health record" for each file. Automated systems revisit these quality checks periodically so libraries receive up-to-date reports on the health of the collection. OCLC provides monthly updated information for all collections on the personal archive report portal.

For users of CONTENTdm, OCLC's digital collection management software for libraries and other cultural heritage institutions, the Digital Archive service is an optional capability integrated with various workflows for building collections. Master files are secured for ingest to the Digital Archive service using the CONTENTdm Acquisition Station, the Connexion digital import capability and the Web Harvesting service.

For users of other content management systems, the Digital Archive service provides a low-overhead mechanism for safely storing master files.

Presentations from the JISC/British Library/Digital Preservation Coalition What to Preserve? Significant Properties of Digital Objects Workshop are now available.

TAPE (Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe) has published Audiovisual Research Collections and Their Preservation.

Here's an excerpt from the introduction:

Digital technology has conquered audiovisual production, post-processing, and archiving. Audio has totally become part of the IT world, and video is about to follow the same way. All dedicated audio formats are dead, and soon the same will be the case for video formats. The pace by which dedicated audio and video formats are becoming obsolete is breathtaking. The problem is not so much the survival of the original documents, but the availability of highly specialised replay equipment which disappears from the market soon after a format has been abandoned commercially. Today audiovisual archives associations estimate the time window still open for the transfer of dedicated analogue and digital carriers into digital repositories to be not more than just 20 years.

The PREMIS Editorial Committee has released PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata, Version 2.0. A draft XML schema, which will be reviewed for a month before being released in final form, is also available.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

This document is a revision of Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final report of the PREMIS Working Group, issued in May 2005. The PREMIS Data Dictionary and its supporting documentation is a comprehensive, practical resource for implementing preservation metadata in digital archiving systems. Preservation metadata is defined as information that preservation repositories need to know to support digital materials over the long term.

This document is a specification that emphasizes metadata that may be implemented in a wide range of repositories, supported by guidelines for creation, management and use, and oriented toward automated workflows. It is technically neutral in that no assumptions are made about preservation technologies, strategies, syntaxes, or metadata storage and management. Members of the PREMIS Editorial Committee revised the original data dictionary based on comments and experience from implementers and potential implementers since its release. The Editorial Committee kept the preservation community informed about issues being discussed, solicited comments on proposed revisions, and consulted outside experts where appropriate. . . .

Major changes in this revision include:

• Expanded rights metadata
• More extensive significant properties and preservation level information
• Mechanism for extensibility for a number of metadata units

DigitalPreservationEurope has released Repository Planning Checklist and Guidance.

Here's an excerpt from the "Executive Summary and Introduction to Platter":

The purpose of this document is to present a tool, the Planning Tool for Trusted Electronic Repositories (PLATTER) which provides a basis for a digital repository to plan the development of its goals, objectives and performance targets over the course of its lifetime in a manner which will contribute to the repository establishing trusted status amongst its stakeholders. PLATTER is not in itself an audit or certification tool but is rather designed to complement existing audit and certification tools by providing a framework which will allow new repositories to incorporate the goal of achieving trust into their planning from an early stage. A repository planned using PLATTER will find itself in a strong position when it subsequently comes to apply one of the existing auditing tools to confirm the adequacy of its procedures for maintaining the long term usability of and access to its material. . . .

The PLATTER process is centred around a group of Strategic Objective Plans (SOPs) through which a repository specifies its current objectives, targets, or key performance indicators in those areas which have been identified as central to the process of establishing trust. In the future, PLATTER can and should be used as the basis for an electronic tool in which repositories will be able to compare their targets with those adopted by other similar (suitably anonymised) repositories. The intention is that the SOPs should be living documents which evolve with the repository, and PLATTER therefore defines a planning cycle through which the SOPs can develop symbiotically with the repository organisation.

The Association of Research Libraries has released a PDF version of ARL Preservation Statistics 2005–06, which is freely available.

Here's an excerpt from the "Introduction":

Among the significant developments that took place in research libraries in the 1980s was the emergence of preservation programs as distinct administrative units, separately staffed, funded, and administered. There were 66 such programs reported in 1988, as many as 80 reported in recent years, and 77 in 2005-06.

These rapidly shifting trends have made themselves evident in many categories. Preservation expenditures for ARL’s 111 reporting member libraries were $107,937,836 in 2005-06, which reflects an inflation-adjusted increase of 27% since the survey’s revision in 1996-97.3 Total preservation staff increased to just under 1,800 FTEs in 2005-06, 5.4% more than in 2004-05. Level 1 conservation treatment decreased from 2004-05 levels, while the number of items treated at Levels 2 and 3 increased; total conservation has increased by more than 50,000 volumes in the past year, bringing it higher than it has been in the last four years. . . .

Digitizing bound volumes is gradually emerging as a viable preservation option. In 2005-06, 54 ARL libraries reported more than zero bound volumes digitized. The amount of items digitized varies widely, from one volume at the University of Delaware to 25,121 volumes digitized by the University of Florida.

The Sound Directions: Digital Preservation and Access for Global Audio Heritage Project of Indiana University and Harvard University has released FACET (Field Audio Collection Evaluation Tool), an open-source tool for evaluating preservation issues related to audio works.

Here's an excerpt from the FACET web page:

The Field Audio Collection Evaluation Tool (FACET) is a point-based, open-source software tool that ranks audio field collections based on preservation condition, including the level of deterioration they exhibit and the degree of risk they carry. It assesses the characteristics, preservation problems, and modes of deterioration associated with the following formats: open reel tape (polyester, acetate, paper and PVC bases), analog audio cassettes, DAT (Digital Audio Tape), lacquer discs, aluminum discs, and wire recordings. This tool helps collection managers construct a prioritized list of audio collections by condition and risk, enabling informed selection for preservation. Using FACET provides strong justification for preservation dollars.

The Digital Curation Centre has published DCC Case Study—PrestoSpace: Preservation towards Storage and Access. Standardised Practices for Audiovisual Contents in Europe.

Here's the "Executive Summary":

Explicit strategies are needed to manage 'mixed' audio visual (AV) archives that contain both analogue and digital materials. The PrestoSpace Project brings together industry leaders, research institutes, and other stakeholders at a European level, to provide products and services for effective automated preservation and access solutions for diverse AV collections. The Project’s main objective is to develop and promote flexible, integrated and affordable services for AV preservation, restoration, and storage with a view to enabling migration to digital formats in AV archives.