An Open Archival Repository System for UT Austin

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An Open Archival Repository System for UT Austin

• Preparing the Way for the Next Generation of
  Scholars and Information Seekers

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Knowledge Gateway

• We will provide access for every citizen, via a
  personalized Internet window, into the resources
  of our libraries, collections, museums and much
  more.
• Larry Faulkner

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UT Austin Owns an Abundance of Content

• We have print and analog content that can be
  digitally re-formatted
• We have a growing abundance of born digital
  material that only exist in digital formats

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And much of it is already on the the Web.
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Not just about how to publish anymore

• It is about how to keep publishing and keep
  maintaining
• Its about what to keep and how to keep it

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What to keep publishing

• Librarians refer to the process of continuing to
  maintain something as PRESERVATION

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When it was just paper

• Most people didnt care that much because paper
  (even the highly acidic kind) outlived the people
  who produced it
• Plus, libraries were around and you could just
  dump all the paper you wanted to keep into the
  library and they would worry about it.

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Information (Especially Digital Information)
Doesnt Outlive People Without Lots of Work and
Planning
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• The University wants a great deal of the
  knowledge it produces and the information it
  makes available to persist over long periods of
  time

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Quick Review

• We have lots of information
• We will continue to produce lots more information
• Some of it we need to keep for a long time
• Some of it we dont

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So, whats the problem?
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Long-term Preservation

• Implicit in the Knowledge Gateway concept is
  continued access to the riches of content we hold
  in our collections, laboratories, museums,
  lectures, classrooms, etc

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Hardware required to consume digital information
Client
This is all post-production
Network
Storage Systems
Storage Media
Backup System
Server
Information Content
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Cant just preserve media, information content,
disk drivesmust focus on all components of the
systems that provide digital content
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Back in the day

• THE content was catalog records that described
  library materials

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Today

• The digital content is the actual research data
  and scholarship itself-books, journals, software,
  datasets, music, video, still images, all manner
  of digitized and born digital content

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Yesterday

• We needed systems that were designed optimized
  for producing and managing electronic catalog
  records that described print and analog materials

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Today

• We need systems designed optimized for
  producing and managing the actual material to
  which the metadata refer

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Yesterday

• The content that libraries produced was catalog
  records

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Today

• Libraries are producing digital collections AND
  catalog records

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Need a new model for working in this environment

• We still have authors/producers
• We still have libraries/archives
• We still have end-users

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We are not the only ones facing this challenge

• Harvard Librarys Digital Initiative
• MITs Dspace

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The Digital Library community is adopting a new
ISO Standard

• Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
• A conceptual framework to assist organizations
  who have material they want to preserve

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Origins of OAIS

• In 1995 the International Organization for
  Standardization (ISO) and the Consultative
  Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
  initiated a planning process to develop a
  reference model for the long term preservation of
  digital materials obtained from observations of
  the planetary space

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Purpose 1

• Framework for understanding and applying concepts
  needed for long-term digital information
  preservation
• Long-term is long enough to be concerned about
  changing technologies

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Purpose 2

• Ascribes a set responsibilities to an OAIS that
  distinguish it from other archives
• Conceptual framework useful for comparing
  archives and benchmarking

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Purpose 3

• Basis for development of additional standards
• Metadata and encoding scheme for example
• Identifies a full range of archival functions
• Ingest, archival storage, data management,
  access, preservation planning, administration

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OAIS

• Information
• Any type of knowledge that can be exchanged
• Data are the representation forms of information
• Archival Information System
• Hardware, software, and people who are
  responsible for the acquisition, preservation,
  and dissemination of the information

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OAIS is not an implementation plan.
Implementation is based on the concepts in the
reference model.
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OAIS Role

• Assumes information is produced outside of the
  archives and is intended for delivery to users
  who are outside the system
• Describes functions of a long-term archive
• Distinguishes content management from content
  production and development

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Just as a vocabulary for discussing content
production has taken root

• Digitization
• Graphics design
• Markup language
• User interface design
• Usability
• Accessibility
• Layout
• Development

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So we need a common vocabulary for discussing the
archival

• Librarians/archivists and content producers will
  need to be able to communicate more effectively
  about content than they have in the past
• To facilitate this OAIS offers definitions

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Functions of the Archive

• Accessioning of information content
• Storage
• Data Management
• Access
• Preservation Planning
• Administration

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OAIS Definition for Information

• Information always expressed or represented by a
  data type
• Data yields information

Interpreted using
Yields
Data Object
Representation Information
Information Object
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Primary roles in OAIS Reference Model
Provides information to be preserved
Sets overall OAIS policy and Manages content
Consumer
Producer
Archive
Seeks and acquires Preserved information
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Information Package Definition
Content Information
Preservation Information
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Information package
Dissemination Information package DIP
Archival Information package AIP
Submission Information package SIP
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Content Information

• The information that is the original target of
  preservation
• This may not be obvious and may require
  negotiation with producer

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Preservation Description Information (PDI) 1

• Reference Information
• Identifiers by which content information may be
  uniquely identified
• Provenance Information
• Description of the source of the Content
  Information, who has had custody, its history

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Preservation Description Information (PDI) 2

• Context Information
• Describes how the Content Information relates to
  other information outside the Information Package
• Fixity Information
• Protects the Content Information from
  undocumented alteration

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Examples of PDI

• Reference
• Bibliographic description, persistent Ids (URN,
  PURL)
• Provenance
• Metadata on preservation process
• Context
• Pointers to related collections
• Fixity
• Digital signature, check sum

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Submission Information Package

• Negotiated between Producer and OAIS
• Sent to OAIS by Producer
• Consists of metadata and additional information
  about the producers content

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Archival Information Package

• Information Package used for preservation
• Holds complete set of Preservation Description
  Information for the Content Information

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Dissemination Services
C O N S U M E R
Metadata registry Workbench tools Access
control Security
A R C H I V E
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Producers must identify content for long term
preservation and negotiate agreement for
ingestion and dissemination
M E T A D A T A
Producers Audio Video Text Still Images
OAIS
Decision
Temp -local -shared
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President Faulkner did not say

• That we would make some content available one
  day, then other content the next
• Or that we would simply make the most currently
  digitized or produced content available

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Library as metaphor

• Libraries dont produce books or journals or
  Computer Science Technical Reports - but they
  serve as the repository for those materials
• The Library represents a broad array shared
  systems - systems shared by faculty, students,
  staff and public