NOF-Digitise Sustainability Workshop:

Preservation

London, 16th May

Alastair DunningArts and Humanities Data Service

Sustainability and Preservation:

“The first line of defence against loss of valuable digital information rests with the creators … of digital information.”

US Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information (1996)

Responsibilities…• Creators of digital objects have the initial

and in some cases a continuing role in preserving access to them. They are they the first ‘managers’ of preservation

• Most individual creators are not expected to take on the long-term commitment to preserve the digital content they create.

“Unless creators take initial steps to facilitate ongoing access to their material, access may be lost or the ability of another body to take responsibility for preserving access may be severely inhibited.”

National Library of Australia: statement of principles for the preservation of and long-term access to Australian digital objects

Technology not the problem

• Avoid fetishisation of technology

• Choosing hardware is part of a larger process

• Technologies may change, but so do staff and organisational memory

• Hence need for good documentation

What does it mean for me? (1)

• Many NOF projects may be working in larger organisational framework

• They may have preservation strategies in place

• Is their strategy watertight?

• Still requires discussion of rights and responsibilities of various

What does it mean for me? (2)

• Creators who are unable or unwilling to accept the responsibility of long-term preservation will need to negotiate with collecting institutions or archives to provide this service for them

•There may be specific ingest criteria with which they need to comply

•There may be rights issues to settle•It will cost

What does it mean for me? (3)

• Establishing dialogue with other stakeholders to examine the issue of access, use and re-use of the digital resource over time

• Whatever the strategy and institution selected, key questions will be raised

Questions to be asked• What exactly needs to be

preserved … and at what level of functionality?

• Quality-assured?• IPR implications? • Importance of accompanying

contextual information• Negotiated cooperation of all

involved in essential

What does it mean for me? (4)

• Employing open standards and formats

• Generating robust metadata and keeping careful documentation

• Good management of media and systems

• Possible importance of migration and refreshment

Life after NOF…• “Many digitisation

projects cite enhanced access as [a] major objective…but unless due care and attention is given to how that access can be maintained over time, it may well be short-lived.”Jones & Beagrie Preservation Management of Digital Materials Handbook

An holistic approach

• Life cycle management • Positive benefits of

forward thinking • Establish responsibility• Preservation leads to

access, but does not equal access

Some URLs• Newham Case Study –

http://ahds.ac.uk/newham.htm • PADI – Preserving Access to Digital

Information - http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/

• CEDARS – Curl exemplers in digital archives - http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/

• Preservation Management of Digital Materials – Neil Beagire and Maggie Jones http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/preservation/workbook/