Current State of Play in Digital Preservation
Peter B. Hirtle
Cornell University Library
Society of American Archivists
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Outline
Brief history Overview of some current US initiatives Summary of some consensus conclusions Questions for the future
Brief History of Digital Preservation
Relatively new concept
Theatre Crafts, 1992:
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Digital Preservation as Reformatting
1990: Cornell begins “digital preservation” research on reformatting
Original documents that are of concern for library preservation purposes are not normally encoded in
a digital electronic medium. Stuart Lynn, Preservation and Access Technology. A Structured Glossary of Technical Terms, 8/1990
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Preservation’s 2nd Face: Electronic Information
1960s: Data centers appear 1994-1996: CPA/RLG
Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information
1997: “Born digital” preservation identified
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Digital Preservation Today
Focus is on “born digital”– “Reborn digital” is a subset
– In government…
Broad public interest– In the popular press…
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“Strategies to assure long-term preservation of digital records constitute another particularly pressing issue for research…”
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Some Current US Initiatives
National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP)<http://
www.digitalpreservation.gov>
An initiative of the Library of Congress
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NDIIPP
Mission:Develop a national strategy to collect, archive and
preserve the burgeoning amounts of digital content, especially materials that are created only in digital formats, for current and future generations.
Funding: $150 million (half private, half Federal match)
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NARA’s Electronic Record Archive Vision:
“The Electronic Records Archives will authentically preserve and provide access to any kind of electronic record, free from dependency on any specific hardware or software, enabling NARA to carry out its mission into the future.”
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ERA at work
Concerned with volume, authenticity, access Heavily focused on technology and infrastructure
– Partnerships with SDSC, US Army Research Lab, NIST, NASA
Special interest in developing hardware and software independent digital objects
$38 million dollars in FY2003 budget
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Other Initiatives
National Science Foundation– Research agenda workshop– Specific projects, including international
collaborations RLG and OCLC
– “Attributes of Trusted Digital Repositories”– New work on preservation metadata
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More initiatives
Mellon Foundation E-Journal project
University-based research projects
Growth of institutional repositories
Industry-based projects NISO Still Image standard
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What have we learned?
Technological approaches:– Combination of migration, emulation, and
encapsulation– Need to select the proper method for the object
Technology itself is not an answer
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Organizational Requirements
RLG/OCLC definition:
Digital preservation refers to the series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to and preservation of digital materials.
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Need to address issues of
Organization– Economics– Authenticity – Permanence
Answers are likely to evolve Digital preservation is continuous obligation
Diagram by Nancy Y. McGovern based upon the RLG-OCLC Attributes of a Trusted Repository
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Collaboration Needed
Scope of need means no one institution can do it all
Multiple copies are the best way of preserving digital information
–Stanford’s LOCKSS project
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Intellectual Property Issues
Copyright and other IP laws challenge our ability to preserve
Digital Rights Management (DRM) and license agreements further complicate
Unclear what the legal and economic answers are
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Issues awaiting answers What is “usable and interpretable”?
– Do we keep content readable?– Maintain the “look and feel?”
What do we select for long-term preservation? How long is “the long term”? What technologies can be employed? What standards should be followed? How will we pay for everything?