Exploring the New World of Digital Preservation Initiatives: Digitizing for Preservation

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Exploring the New World of Digital Preservation
InitiativesDigitizing for Preservation

• AALL Session H-6
• Stephen Chapman
• Harvard University Library

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Mandates

• Access
• Masters
• source disposition
• quality control
• Registration and naming
• Deposit to repository
• administrative metadata
• preservation metadata
• object packaging

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Implications

• More products
• More work
• Need for efficiencies
• well designed tools and workflows
• bundled services

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Access of course!

• Specify attributes of good delivery objects
• easily identified
• searchable
• navigable
• viewable
• printable
• compatible with delivery infrastructure
• supported by your IT people your budget
• deemed acceptable by your users

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Access solutions sometimes application dependent

• Print to PDF
• Images and maps to .SID
• Sound to RealAudio
• Newspapers to Olive XML

• Acrobat Reader
• Luna Insight
• RealPlayer
• ActivePaper

format choices and standards for quality
important relevant to technologies, workflows,
costs
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Preservation solutions strive to be application
independent

• Have it both ways
• deliverables for today
• masters to generate future deliverables
• Specify attributes of good masters
• optimized for re-purposing, not delivery
• object unenhanced not rendered for final output
• lossy compression avoided
• saved in sustainable formats (LC framework)
• bounded by metadata to related objects
• stewarded by responsible entity
• registered and persistently named

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Production of masters

• Disposition of source key to workflow, especially
  if spec is to turn the pages once
• non-scanning activities rehousing, treatment
• handling policy disbinding, face-down scanning
  allowed for bound material?
• quality requirements replace original, serve as
  faithful surrogate, or as access surrogate?
• DLF Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions
  of Monographs and Serials

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Production of masters

• Quality control methods should logically follow
  requirements
• statistical sample or 100 evaluation?
• institute quantitative methods?
• apply checksums
• use JHOVE for format validation
• reference tones (audio), technical targets
  (images)
• institute qualitative methods?
• evaluation by trained observer with calibrated
  systems?

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Descriptive metadata and linking

• Extent of sharing/distribution is key
  publicizing commitment requires metadata
• particularly for published material, will others
  rely exclusively upon your copy?
• register content?
• DLF/OCLC Registry of Digital Masters
• register format(s)?
• DLF Global Digital Format Registry
• Persistent naming facilitates persistent access

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Metadata for deposit

• Without repositories, preservation unlikely
• Without additional metadata, deposit packages
  will be rejected
• Metadata requirements extensive
• Submission Agreement(s)
• administrative metadata
• ownership, rights, billing
• technical (preservation) metadata
• packaging metadata for object transfer

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Preservation metadata

• Documentation of integrity and provenance
• information necessary todocument, and evaluate
  the processes that support the long-term
  retention and accessibility of digital materials
  (OCLC)
• Emerging standards (XML)
• AES-X098 processHistory and audioObject
• NISO Z39.87 Technical Metadata for Images
• OCLC/RLG PREMIS
• Emerging tools and workflows
• custom tools, tailored to formats, e.g., JHOVE

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Packaging metadata

• Facilitates transfer of object that can be parsed
  and validated prior to deposit into digital
  repository
• key components manifest relationships
• Emerging standards (XML)
• METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission
  Standard)
• Emerging tools and services
• MIT Submission Services for DSpace
  http//libraries.mit.edu/dspace-mit/mit/services.h
  tml
• Harvards Dmart to submit preservation audio
  http//hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/drs/dmart/curre
  nt/
• OCLC Submission Builder for Digital Archive
  http//www.oclc.org/support/documentation/digitala
  rchive/da_batch_ingest_guide/ default.htm

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Summary

• Three key additions to standard digitization-
  for-access workflow
• production of masters
• registering (publicizing) and persistent naming
• compliance with repository policies for deposit
• production of administrative and technical
  metadata, as well as deposit packages
• Growing capabilities to bundle services is key
• expand service mission develop new tools
  broaden expertise

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Thanks

• Stephen Chapman
• Preservation Librarian for Digital Initiatives
• Weissman Preservation Center
• Harvard University Library
• stephen_chapman_at_harvard.edu