DIGITAL CURATION IN CONTEXT

CAROLYN.HANK@MCGILL.CA

Assistant Professor ▪ School of Information Studies

DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY ▪ 10 OCTOBER 2012 ▪ HALIFAX, NS

a little about me

history personal

OCLC 2004-2005

OCLC RESEARCH

- SENSE-MAKING THE INFORMATION CONFLUENCE

- MOVING FROM PRINT TO HYBRID JOURNAL

SUBSCRIPTIONS

MCGILL 2010-present

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES - TEACHING

- RESEARCH ETHICS BOARD II

- ARCHIVAL STUDIES STREAM

UNC - CAROLINA DIGITAL REPOSITORY

- DIGCCURR I (DIGITAL CURATION CURRICULUM)

- DIGCCURR II (PROFESSIONAL TRAINING)

2005-present

AT CHAPEL HILL

- DIGITAL CURATION/INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY

- HUMAN INFORMATION INTERACTION

- DIGITAL PRESERVATION, ACCESS & CURATION

- PI: (1) FACEBOOK & (2) BLOGS

- CONSULTANT, BLOGFOREVER.EU

disambiguation

WHAT IS DIGITAL CURATION

Image Credit: Tim Gough, New York Times, October 2, 2009 (All Rights Reserved).

Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/fashion/04curate.html

“ … the word archive has lost much of its traditional meaning and associations … archivists have literally lost control over the definition of archive.” (Hedstrom, 1991, p. 336) “…despite the recent appropriation of „archive‟ as a verb to mean „store‟ or „to preserve,‟ the traditional meaning of archives as a noun is narrower.” (CLIR, 2001, p. 85) “Traditionally, preservation and archiving have had two distinct definitions with preservation being a necessary component of, but not equivalent to, the totality of archiving.” (Tibbo, 2003, p. 11)

CURATE IS NOT ALONE

DIGITAL CURATION

DIGITAL PRESERVATION

Also, be aware of digital stewardship,

digital archiving, and data curation too …

OUTCOMES AND GOALS

YOU CANNOT “PRESERVE” IT IF YOU CANNOT …

1 GET IT

2

3

4

6

7

9

DESCRIBE IT

INTERPRET IT

SECURE IT

AUTHENTICATE IT

ACCESS IT

PERFORM IT

DIGITAL PRESERVATION (ALA) - Short/Medium

SHORT: “Digital preservation combines policies, strategies and actions that ensure access to digital content over time.”

MEDIUM: “… reformatted and born digital content regardless of the challenges of media failure and technological change. The goal of digital preservation is the accurate rendering of authenticated content

over time.”

LONG: Really long … breaks down digital preservation strategies and actions into three main areas: 1) content creation, 2) content integrity and content maintenance.

DEFINITIONS

SOURCE: http://www.ala.org/ala/alcts/newslinks/digipres/index.cfm

Digital curation, broadly interpreted, is about

maintaining and adding value to a trusted body of

digital information for current and future use.

The active management and preservation of digital

resources over the life-cycle of scholarly and scientific

interest, and over time for current and future

generations of users.

“What Is Digital Curation?”http://www.dcc.ac.uk/about/what/

DEFINITIONS DIGITAL CURATION (DCC)

– Creating durable digital objects

– Appraisal and selection

– Hardware and software obsolescence

– File formats

– Rights management and other legal and ethical issues

– Metadata (minimum/optimal/practical)

– Quality control and “trustworthiness”

– Commitment to the long-term

– Resource allocation, costing, and staffing

– Funding for development and sustainability

WHY THESE MATTER

A SAMPLE OF SELECT ISSUES

SOURCE: http://www.happyplace.com/10720/utterly-insane-job-opportunities-on-craigslist/page/1

WHY THESE MATTER

WHY THESE MATTER

… because it might be

something you are expected

to do in your professional life

(and that you might want to

do, in your personal lives).

• Applications Programmer

• Archivist

• Archival Engineer

• Archivist/Reference Librarian

• Assistant Archivist

SOURCE: Tibbo, Hank & Lee (2008)

A

WHY THESE MATTER

• Cataloger

• Content Management Analyst

C

sample of job titles doing “digital curation”

• Digital Archivist (2)

• Digital Collections Research Asst.

• Digital Imaging Librarian

• Digital Library Program Assistant

• Digital Preservation Researcher

• Digital Preservation Specialist (2)

• Digital Preservation System Admin.

• Digital Projects Librarian

• Digital Services Librarian

• Digital Technologies Manager

• Digitization Assistant

D

SAMPLE TITLES

• Research Programmer (2)

• Research Data Specialist

R

SAMPLE TITLES

• Electronic Records Manager

• Head of Preservation

• Information Technology Specialist

• Multimedia and Metadata Librarian

• Project Archivist for Special Collections

• Senior Advisor, Electronic Records

• Technical Manager (2)

ETC.

digital curation in context

repository digital

Disclaimer

ME

ME

ME

O’Meara, E., & Tuomala, M. (2012).

Finding balance between archival

principles and real-life practices in

an institutional repository.

Archivaria, Spring 2012(73).

JUST PUBLISHED

Archivaria article 2012

2010 Carolina Digital Repository - “soft launch”

2009 Author’s experience with project began

THEIR PERSPECTIVE

2011 Curator’s Workbench debuts

Archivaria article 2012

2010 Carolina Digital Repository - “soft launch”

2009 Author’s experience with project began

2011 Curator’s Workbench debuts

2007

2005

2003

2004

Systems & Service Coordination Council Report

Minds of Carolina (Tibbo and Jones)

Digital Assets Assessment Team Report

Scholarly Communications in a Digital World

Digital Curation/Institutional Repository

Committee (DC/IRC) formed

Carolina Digital Library and Archives formed

My experience with project ended

MY PERSPECTIVE AND SOME REPOSITORY HISTORY

charge to the

DC/ICR

Develop a feasible plan

to serve Carolina's

curation needs and

place us in the forefront

of such efforts locally,

nationally, and

internationally.

charge

Design a pilot IR and

digital preservation

program in partnership

with ITS, the University

Library, and SILS that will

support ongoing

research.

charge

Develop policies,

procedures, and long-

term digital preservation

strategies to benefit the

entire campus, including

strategies to educate

the campus community.

charge

No centralized or federated

system for identifying,

acquiring, describing and

storing the digital assets

produced and/or maintained

by the Carolina community …

WHY?

… the University‟s unique

scholarship is at risk of being

“lost,” at one end of

a continuum, to simply

undiscoverable at the

other.

Since the University invests in

the manufacture of

these intellectual and

institutional digital assets …

… then it would only follow

that the University invest

in strategies and mechanisms

to ensure these

unique, rich digital assets are

safe, durable, and useable,

into the future.

anatomy

of an IR

planning

project

anatomy

of an IR

planning

project

1965

anatomy

of an IR

planning

project

2005-

2009

POLICY CRAMP

FUNDS REQUIRED

CONTENT

MANAGEMENT

STAFFING

ENGAGEMENT

SERVICES &

FEATURES

SYSTEMS

• … a university-based IR is a set of services

that a university offers to the members of its

community for the management and

dissemination of digital materials created by

the institution and its community members.

• … most essentially an organizational

commitment to the stewardship of these

digital materials, including long-term

preservation where appropriate, as well as

organization and access or distribution.

Source: Lynch (2002)

LYNCH ON IRs

• While operational responsibility for these

services may reasonably be situated in

different organizational units at different

universities, an effective IR of necessity

represents a collaboration among librarians,

information technologists, archives and

records managers, faculty, and university

administrators and policymakers.

LYNCH ON IRs (cont.)

Source: Lynch (2002)

• At any given point in time, an IR will be

supported by a set of information

technologies, but a key part of the services

that comprise an IR is the management of

technological changes, and the migration of

digital content from one set of technologies

to the next as part of the organizational

commitment to providing repository services.

• An IR is not simply a fixed set of software and

hardware.

LYNCH ON IRs (cont.)

Source: Lynch (2002)

• Initially a two-year term (2005-2007)

• September 16, 2005: 1st DC/IRC meeting

• 23 meetings in total over 2 year initial

appointment

• Extended to 3-year term (thru 2008)

• Advisory role with introduction of CDLA

DC/IRC OPERATIONS DC/IRC OPERATIONS

• University Library, inc.:

– Library Systems

– University Archives

– DocSouth

• Health Sciences

Library

• School of Information

and Library Science

(SILS)

• Renaissance

Computing Institute

(RENCI)

• Information Technology

Services (ITS)

• The Odum Institute

• Ibiblio.org

• UNC Press

• Kenan-Flagler School of

Business

• Department of Romance

Languages

• Department of

Anthropology

• Department of Art

13 to 27 members

DC/IRC MEMBERSHIP

WORKING GROUPS

INITIALLY INFORMED BY:

1) RLG/NARA (2005): Taskforce on Digital Repository Certification, Audit Checklist for Certifying Digital Repositories: Draft for Public Comment.

THEN RESTRUCTURED IN CONSIDERATION OF:

2) DRAMBORA (2007): Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment.

3) OCLC, CRL, and NARA (2007): Trusted Repositories Audit and Certification: Criteria and Checklist.

WORKING GROUPS

5+1

restructured to 4

1) Governance and Policy (GP)

2) Guidance, Engagement and Training (GET)

3) Communities and Digital Assets Management (CDAM)

4) Technical Planning Infrastructure Group (TPIG)

WORKING GROUPS

KEY ACTIVITIES

1 state of the art literature review on IR deployment

2 months planning TRLN IR Forum

3 expert speaker talks hosted

4 working groups formed

6 semi-structured needs assessment interviews completed

7 IR policies drafted and vetted

9 months installing/configuring/testing IR beta

10 presentations at local/national conferences

11 repository applications reviewed

18 deposit and use case scenarios drafted and vetted

23 meetings held (2005-2007)

66 page IR ingest survey devised and tested

KEY ACTIVITIES

management

policies services

collaboration

technologies engagement

content

CONTINUED FOCUS ON …

1) Dedicated staffing, particularly programming

2) Open, flexible and extensible technologies

3) Informed, timely engagement

4) Structured, strategic content recruitment

5) Partnership, collaboration and relationship

building

6) Top-down and grassroots promotion

SPECIFICALLY …

but first, what about doing …

staffing?

SO, WHO (OR WHAT) IS

A DIGITAL CURATOR

“Traditionally, curators are responsible for acquiring material for a collection, preserving these materials for future generations, helping users locate items from the collection and providing contextual information so they can better understand them, and designing exhibits for the benefit and enjoyment of the public.”

“What is a Digital Curator?”

Doug Reside, Digital Curator of Performing Arts,

Library for the Performing Arts April 4, 2011. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/04/04/what-digital-curator

“As digital curator, I will do most of these things as well, but I have specifically made it my mission to:

1) make as much of our collection available online as copyright law, professional ethics, and our budget permits 2) provide both contextual information and software tools to make our digital collections as useful as possible 3) improve methods for preserving and providing access to the "born digital" materials (word processor files, digital musical scores, 3d set designs, etc.) that are now part of the creative history of most contemporary works of art”

“What is a Digital Curator?”

Doug Reside, Digital Curator of Performing Arts,

Library for the Performing Arts April 4, 2011. http://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/04/04/what-digital-curator

SOURCE: SHERPA

JOB POSTINGS ANALYSIS

206 LISTINGS (2006-12) RESEARCH DATA & DIGITAL CURATION OFFICER DSpace@Cambridge

CURATION SERVICES OFFICER

Digital curation Centre, U of Edinburgh

NOT A COMMON TITLE

• Develop and implement policies

• Analyze digital content to determine what services can be provided from it

• Provide advice to producers and consumers

• Support ingest of deposits to a repository

• Enable use and reuse

• Enable discovery and retrieval

• Develop and implement preservation planning

• Promote interoperability

SOURCE: Harvey (2010)

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES

To do digital curation is to …

• 24 high-level functional categories across six activity areas:

– Technical infrastructure

– Information resource treatment

– Metadata treatment

– Human interaction

– Strategies, prioritization, and judgments

– Administration

Source: Lee (2009). Matrix of Digital

Curation Knowledge and Competencies

DC FUNCTIONS & SKILLS

WHAT ABOUT

IF LESS THAN

1 FTE?

7.2 STAFF

Markey et al. (2007) Matthies (2011)

A DEPT. OF ONE? staffing institutional repositories

TECHNICAL

INFRASTRUCTURE

ADMINISTRATIVE

ACTIVITIES

TREATMENT OF

INFORMATION

RESOURCES

TREATMENT OF

METADATA

STRATEGIES,

PRIORITIES &

JUDGMENTS

HUMAN

INTERACTIONS

TECHNOLOGIST I (System Administrator &

Principle Programmer)

TECHNOLOGIST II (Metadata Technologist &

User Support Specialist) PROJECT

MANAGER

DC/IRC STAFFING PLAN

HOW DO WE ENGAGE OUR STAKEHOLDERS CONTENT PRODUCERS, CO-PRODUCERS & MANAGERS,

CONSUMERS & DESIGNATED COMMUNITIES,

FUNDERS AND ADMINISTRATORS …

AND OURSELVES?

A digital repository can be many things to many people,

depending on 1) _____________; 2) ____________; and

3) __________. A digital repository is ________ ____________.

It does ___________; ___________; and ___________.

A digital repository contains __________ and __________.

MAD LIBS

DIGITAL REPOSITORIES

(PERSON)

(DIGITAL ASSET)

(PLACE)

(ADVERB)

(ADJECTIVE)

(VERB)

(VERB)

(VERB)

(NOUN)

(NOUN)

Image Credit: Vin Hank, age 7.

Image Credit: Patrick Donovan (15 Apr 2010) http://www.flickr.com/photos/21843970@N00/4529711937/

sell digital

curation in

seconds

or less

30 Image Credit: James Malone (29 May 2009)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmalone/3579227077/

SOURCE: http://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/CURATE-Game

CURATE:

The Digital

Curator Game

just a plug …

SOURCES SOURCES Council on Library and Information Resources. (2001). The evidence in hand: Report of

the Task Force on the Artifact in Library Collections. (CLIR Publication No. 103).

Washington, DC: Author. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub103/contents.html

Caplan, P. (2008). The preservation of digital materials." Library Technology Reports, 44

(2).https://publications.techsource.ala.org/products/archive.pl?article=2614

Digital Curation Centre and DigitalPreservationEurope. (2007). Digital Repository Audit

Method Based on Risk Assessment, V. 1.0. http://www.repositoryaudit.eu/

Hank, C. (2008). A Progress and recommendations report from the Digital

Curation/Institutional Repository Committee, 2005-07: Informing a successful institutional

repository deployment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (195 pp.). Chapel

Hill, NC: University Libraries.

Harvey, R. (2010). Digital curation: A how-to-do-it manual (#170). New York: Neal-Schuman.

Hedstrom, M. (1991). Understanding electronic incunabula: A framework for research on electronic records. American Archivist, 54(3), 334-354.

Lee, C.A. (2009, June 17). Matrix of digital curation knowledge and competencies (overview), version 13. http://www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr/digccurr-matrix.html

Center for Research Libraries and OCLC Online Computer Library Center. (2007).

Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist, V. 1.0.

http://www.crl.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/pages/trac_0.pdf

SOURCES SOURCES

Markey, K., Rieh, S.Y., St. Jean, B., Kim, J., & and Yakel, E. (2007). “Chapter Two: The

Institutions and the People Involved with IRs.” In Census of institutional repositories in the

United States: MIRACLE project research findings. Washington DC: CLIR.

Matthies, B. (2011). "Staffing the Repository: How to Build Your Team and Use it Effectively"

Research on Institutional Repositories: Articles and Presentations. Paper 26.

http://digitalcommons.bepress.com/repository-research/26

OCLC. (2003 ).Environmental Scan: A Report to the OCLC Membership.

http://www.oclc.org/reports/escan/appendices/collectiongrid.htm

SHERPA (UK): SHERPA maintains listings of jobs in areas related to digital curation, including

digital repositories, scholarly communication and open access. For previously advertised

posts, see: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/jobs/old-jobs.htm; for “current posts, see

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/jobs/index.html.

Tibbo, H.R. (2003). On the nature and importance of archiving in the digital age. In M.

Zelkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Computers: Information Repositories, 57 (pp. 1-67). San Diego,

CA: Elsevier.

Tibbo, H.R., Hank, C., & Lee, C.A. (2008). Challenges, curricula, and competencies:

Researcher and practitioner perspectives for informing the development of a digital

curation curriculum. In Archiving 2008: Final Program and Proceedings (pp. 234-238).

Springfield, VA: Society for Imaging Science and Technology.

Lynch, C. (2002) Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the

Digital Age. ARL Bimonthly Report 226. http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/br/br226/

/br226ir.shtml

THANK YOU

CAROLYN HANK Email: carolyn.hank@mcgill.ca

Phone: (001)514.398.4684

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/carolynhank/

Slideshow:

QUESTIONS?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT … DIGITAL CURATION PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE, an

initiative of (www.ils.unc.edu/digccurr/)

Also, check out Curator’s Workbench @

https://github.com/UNC-Libraries/Curators-Workbench