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Digital Preservation and Curation of InformationTEAM 9: NELL BUTLER, BRANDON HOWARD, CHARI SANDERS, EMILEE WHITEHILL
A Wealth of Information
"According to a recent study by market research
company, IDC...the size of the information universe is
currently 800,000 petabytes...but it's just a down
payment on next year's total, which will reach 1.2 million
petabytes or 1.2 zettabytes" (Harvey, 2012,).
Harvey, D. (2012). Preserving Digital Materials. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter Saur, p9.
Preservation in a Digital Age
The rapid growth of technology and the innovation
which accompanies it has given rise to an explosion of
information requiring preservation which can withstand
the tests of time.
However, the knowledge needed to create effective,
reliable practices has not yet been developed.
Library and recordkeeping practices are transitioning
from collection-based models, where preservation
principles have been cultivated over hundreds of years,
to environments in which collections are becoming
secondary to information resources.
Hybrid Libraries
It matters little whether information resources are managed at local or remote locations.
The idea of non-custodial collections has been examined, and in some cases, implemented, simply because the prodigious increase in digital records demanded new library services which would provide users with access to a broad array of options.
Thus, librarians are managing composite resources that include physical collections, digital information, and digital libraries.
Harvey, D. (2012). Preserving Digital Materials. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter Saur, p7.
The Need for a New Preservation
Model
Library, archive, and recordkeeping conventions are moving from a preservation model, where the priority has been on safeguarding physical objects (books, manuscripts, CDs) to one in which no such articles exist.
This raises the question of how preservation is to be understood in digital settings.
Harvey, D. (2012). Preserving Digital Materials. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter Saur, p7.
Preservation Practices for a Digital
Age
Fundamental elements of preservation programs in digital environments should incorporate these considerations:
Although many archival items benefit from minimal handling, digital information must be aggressively maintained from the moment it is created.
Without consistent attention to the technology that houses it, a collection may disappear.
In addition to technical issues, political and social concerns may also pose challenges.
arvey, D. (2012). Preserving Digital Materials. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter Saur, p12.
Digital Curation
Digital Curation in its most simple form is the collection
and preservation of digital resources to be used by
future users.
But why?
To understand digital curation one could first review the
importance of physical curation.
Why Physical Curation?
Because some things can be easily viewed as vital and
representative of a generation or of importance, for
example:
Journals of world leaders
Works of popular and influential writers
Paintings and sketches of artists and inspirational people
Items that represent an important event
Digital Data
Information in the present age is stored in the Internet in
various forms. Social media, journals, artist pages, and
Vlogs all represent a generation.
This information is fleeting and stored on various servers
controlled by a single corporation.
What happens if the information is not viewed as
important?
What happens if the corporation has a server failure?
What happens if the information is deleted?
Principles of Digital Curation
Digital curation is a new and growing field of study for
librarians and archivist that is taking advantage of all the
new technology in its field.
Because of this, the field is broad in objectives.
Despite this broadness, some objectives overlap.
According to Elizabeth Yakel’s work, Digital Curation, published in the OCLC Systems & Services, there are five
similarities or important concepts.
Principles of Digital Curation
Lifecycle/ Continuum management of the materials perhaps even reaching back to the creation of the record keeping system
Active involvement over time of both record creators and potentially digital curators
Appraisal and selection of materials
Development and provision of access
Ensuring preservation and usability and accessibility of the objects
Yakel, E, Digital Curation. OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspective, 23(4), 335-340.
Orphan Technology
Technology that is outdated, potentially unusable,
and/or the last of its kind.
An example would be discovering an old computer with
distinct file formats that would require a specialized team
to carefully extract the data. This may sound like a
James Bond Film, however, it is much closer to reality
than you think. . .
What Will Digital Preservation Do?
This very incident happened not long ago and was
reported on by Wired.com (Link to outside page).
An old computer was found in the Andy Warhol Museum
that no one had chosen to investigate. The file formats
were old, but contained unique art the world had never
scene.
A team came together and carefully extracted the
information and new works were displayed to the world.
If the team had hurried quickly and just accessed the
data, the world may have never seen those digital
paintings.
How Can You Help?
There are many Digital Curation projects available to be
a part of. Check your local, museum, or university club
to be a part of something exciting.
One may also use their ALA membership to join the
Digital Curation Interest Group located on their website.
Educate patrons about donating potential orphan
technology and being cautious of deleting digital
treasures.
Hold library programs that excite and educate patrons
about digital archiving and curation.
Short Term Preservation Technologies
Backup
Redundancy Configuration in Content Delivery Systems
Byte Replication
Backup
Many times the content can only be retrieved via the
software with which it was originally backed up
Redundancy Configuration in
Content Delivery Systems
The entire system is running over two or more computers
in two or more data centers
Online at the same time, or one of the systems is held in
reserve to be brought online quickly if the other system
fails
Byte Replication
Creation of identical copies of files, file systems, or
websites
Different copies held in different locations to ensure the
likelihood that should one become unavailable, access
to another is probable
No file format updates
Discoverability can be extremely difficult
Technical Strategies
Migration
The process of transforming digital content from its
existing format to a different format that is usable and
accessible on the technology in current use
Emulation
Involves developing software that imitates earlier
hardware and software that can be used to read
older file formats
Three Organizational Models
Government Funded National Libraries
Community-Supported Independent Preservation
Libraries
e.g. Portico
Networked Library Efforts
Groups of libraries that have pooled their resources to
share the responsibility and costs of preservation
e.g. LOCKSS and CLOCKSS
Portico
Focus on preserving e-journals, e-books, digitized
newspapers, and libraries’ locally created or
digitized content
Publishers provide digital files
Both libraries and publishers give annual financial
contributions
Libraries audit the archive and make sure content is
being added to the archive for preservation
Uses the migration-based preservation strategy
Portico Content Availability
Accessible by faculty, staff, and students at participating
libraries when a publisher
Ceases operations
Stops publishing a title
No longer offers back issues
Suffers catastrophic and sustained failure of its
delivery platform
Or in the case of a post-cancellation access request
by the publisher
Portico Services
Preservation planning
Analyzed and given a plan of action
Receipt and inventory management
Supplied to Portico via
Portable media
Standard transfer protocol
Software developed by Portico
Processing and archival deposit
Given multiple formats and kept in many geographical locations
Monitoring and management
Performs regular fixity and completeness checks
LOCKSS and CLOCKSS Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS)
Digital archiving system in which content is collected in the
system as it gets published
Content continuously compared between all different member
libraries, and differences are corrected
If for any reason the content a user is looking for is not retrieved
from the publisher, the LOCKSS copy is provided
Transparent format migration: involves a change of format to
match the needs of the user as the content is viewed
Controlled LOCKSS (CLOCKSS)
An offshoot of LOCKSS
Content is only provided in the advent of a trigger event
Content is preserved in the publisher’s original format, not an
archival format
Roles-Repositories and Curators
Repositories- archives, special collections libraries,
museums, research centers, etc.
They maintain “stewardship of digital materials.”
Curators- keepers and custodians of collections
Two groups- resource creators and resource managers
Resource creators “create well formed and sustainable
resources using open and standard file formats wherever
possible.”
Resource managers provide information or resources,
correctly manage them and make them accessible to
users
Responsibilities
Sustainability
How long will the resource last?
What infrastructure and policies
must be established to provide continuous development and
care?
Proper care and maintenance
to ensure resources long-term
viability
Protect against obsolescence
Appraisal and Identification
What information or resources
should be chosen to preserve?
What identifier (unique label) should be used for cataloging
and indexing?
How many digital records
should be retained?
Responsibilities
Selection
Complementary to Appraisal
What records are most
important to preserve? Which records to discard?
Which records provide the
most comprehensive view of
modern society?
Create a wide range of criteria to select these resources
Authenticity
Allows digital resources to be
reliably reused
Is the resource free from corruption, alteration or
manipulation?
Keeping resources as close to
their original form as possible
and retaining the most vital
elements
Responsibilities
Accessibility & Use
Who can use or access this information?
Ensure all users access in accordance with repositories access policies
Does not deny access or bestow privileged access to users
Enable continued access to digital resources
Make certain any restrictions are appropriate
Security & Protection
How should the information
and resources be stored?
Must ensure safety from damage, vandalism, theft and
disasters
Create and implement policies
that protect resources
Work with colleagues, IT staff and law enforcement to
protect against threats and
dangers digital and physical
Copyrights
As stated by Hirtle (2003), “Digital preservation and
access is all about copying.”
The exclusive rights of copyright holders are in conflict
with the needs of curators and repositories
Copyrights holders control (1) the ability to reproduce,
(2) the ability to publicly display information, (3) the right
to adapt information
Digital rights management software embedded in
resources control how they are used and for how long
What rights do curators and repositories have to preserve
digital information and resources?
Copyright Act:
Section 108(b) & 108(c)
Section 108(b)- allows libraries and archives right to reproduce
unpublished resources as long as they own them
May make maximum three copies for “preservation, security and deposit.”
Have the authority to create maximum three copies of published
resources if damaged, deteriorating or lost. Cannot make copy
unless this occurs
Section 108(c)- allows libraries and archives narrowed reproduction
rights
Have the authority to create maximum three copies of published
resources if damaged, deteriorating or lost. Cannot make copy unless this occurs
The Fair Use Provision
Gives repositories and curators the right to copy and
preserve resources that they may not own and digital
resources that they legally own
Must fulfill the four factors (PNMA) as stated by Mary
Minow (2006)
1) Purpose of use- socially beneficial? Non-commercial?
2) Nature of work- what is being copied?
3) Amount of Substantiality used- how much is being
copied?
4) Market impact- monetary compensation for the
copyright owner?
US Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DCMA)
Libraries and archives are able to make a maximum of
three copies of digital resource for preservation.
Many formats can be copied.
Copies cannot be accessed outside of the repository
Copies cannot be digitally distributed
Digital Preservation and the Three-Legged Stool
The frameworks associated with digital preservation
have been compared to a three-legged stool.
Nancy McGovern, who began working with the
preservation of digital information at the U.S. National
Archives thirty years ago, describes the three-legged
stool, as consisting of “organizational infrastructure (the
"what"), technological infrastructure (the "how") and a
resources framework (the "how much") of building an
organization's digital preservation program.
Nancy McGovern, Digital Preservation Pioneer. Library of Congress: Digital Preservation. Retrieved April 2015, from:
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/series/pioneers/mcgovern.html
Information as Power
From a philosophical perspective, power is central to the infrastructure of the organization, and is the means through which resources are generated.
Knowledge has traditionally been wielded by elites who recognized the power of intelligence.
In fact, “Problems of government secrecy and the dangers of political influence on recordkeeping have ancient origins” (Jimerson, 2007).
Jimerson, R. (2007). Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice. The American Archivist, Vol. 70, p261.
Archives as Power
“Written texts entrenched theocratic tyranny over vast
reaches of monotheistic time and space,” according to
David Lowenthal. “Most archives originated as
instruments of landowners’ and lawgivers’ control. . .
Archives confirmed and certified rights to land, labor,
rents, and produce. Entry to archives was confined to
princely, and scribal elites” (2006).
Lowenthal, D. (2006). Archives, Heritage, and History. Archives, Documentation, and Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar. Editors:
Francis X. Blouin, Jr. and William G. Rosenberg. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), p194.
Archives and Advocacy
Archivists, recordkeepers, and information professionals hold the positions once reserved for princely and scribal elites, for they control access to the material for which they are responsible.
Randall Jimerson, former President of the Society for American Archivists, refers to archives as “sites of power.”
He believes archivists should embrace their power in ascertaining “what records will be preserved…..for the benefit of all members of society (and that) archivists can use the power of archives to promote accountability, open government, diversity, and social justice” (2007).
Jimerson, R. (2007). Archives for All: Professional Responsibility and Social Justice. The American Archivist, Vol. 70, p252.
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