Metadata for digital preservation: a review of recent developments

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Metadata for digital preservation a review of
recent developments

• Michael Day
• UKOLN, University of Bath
• m.day_at_ukoln.ac.uk
• ECDL2001, 5th European Conference on Research
  and Advanced Technology for Digital
  Libraries,Darmstadt, Germany, 4-9 September 2001

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Presentation overview

• Digital preservation strategies and metadata
• Recordkeeping approaches
• The OAIS model
• Some recent projects

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Digital preservation strategies and metadata
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Digital preservation (1)

• The problem
• ... ensuring that digital information of
  continuing value remains accessible and usable -
  (Hedstrom, 1998)
• about access, not just long-term storage
• is a technical problem
• but is also a huge organisational and managerial
  problem

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Digital preservation (2)

• Preservation strategies
• Technology preservation - museums of hardware and
  software
• Emulation
• Migration
• All strategies depend to some extent on the
  creation and maintenance of metadata

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Preservation metadata (1)

• Metadata is an important part of any digital
  preservation strategy
• Within a digital repository, metadata
  accompanies and makes reference to each digital
  object and provides associated descriptive,
  structural, administrative, rights management,
  and other kinds of information. (Lynch, 1999)
• http//www.dlib.org/dlib/september99/09lynch.html

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Recordkeeping metadata
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Recordkeeping metadata (1)

• Projects
• Functional Requirements for Evidence in
  Recordkeeping
• Metadata requirements for evidence
• Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic
  Records
• reliability and authenticity
• identify necessary components of records
• InterPARES
• typology of electronic records

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Recordkeeping metadata (2)

• Australian initiatives
• Recordkeeping Metadata Schema (RKMS) - Monash
  University
• Recordkeeping Metadata Standard for Commonwealth
  Agencies - NAA
• NSW Recordkeeping Metadata Standard
• Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS)

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Recordkeeping metadata (3)

• Archiving Metadata Forum (AMF)
• Set-up at the Recordkeeping Metadata Working
  Meeting held in the Netherlands in June 2000
• http//www.archiefschool.nl/amf/

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Reference Model for an Open Archival Information
System (OAIS)
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The OAIS model (1)

• Reference Model for an Open Archival Information
  System (OAIS)
• Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems
  (CCSDS)
• Red Book, Issue 2 (June 2001)
• Establishes a common framework of terms and
  concepts which comprise an OAIS
• Facilitates the description and comparison of
  archives
• A basis for further standardisation (ISO)
• A basis for conformance
• http//ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.ht
  ml

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The OAIS model (2)
Preservation Planning
CONSUMER
PRODUCER
Descriptive info.
Data Management
Descriptive info.
Access
queries
Ingest
result sets
SIP
orders
Archival Storage
AIP
AIP
DIP
Administration
MANAGEMENT
OAIS Functional Model (Figure 4-1)
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The OAIS model (3)

• Archival Information Package (AIP)
• Content Information
• The information that is the primary object of
  preservation. Containing a Digital Object and any
  Representation Information (technical metadata)
  needed to transform this object into meaningful
  information
• Preservation Description Information (PDI)
• other information (metadata) which will allow
  the understanding of the Content Information over
  an indefinite period of time
• Terms defined in CPA/RLG report

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The OAIS model (4)
Preservation Description Information
Preservation Description Information
Reference Information
Provenance Information
Context Information
Fixity Information
OAIS Information Package Taxonomy (Figure 4-14)
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The OAIS model (5)

• OAIS Model - taxonomy
• Content Information
• Digital Object
• Representation Information
• Preservation Description Information
• Reference
• Context
• Provenance
• Fixity

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Digital preservation projects
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NLA (1)

• National Library of Australia
• Experience with PANDORA project
• practically based, a proof-of-concept
• Preservation metadata for digital collections
  (October 1999)
• information that a digital storage system would
  need to generate in order to facilitate
  preservation management
• 25 high level elements, applied to three separate
  levels of granularity (collection, object file)

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NLA (2)

• NLA metadata schema
• e.g., Persistent Identifier, Date of creation,
  Structural type, Technical Infrastructure of
  Complex Object, File description, Known System
  Requirements, Installation Requirements, Storage
  Information, Access Inhibitors, Finding and
  Searching Aids, and Access Facilitators, Quirks,
  etc.
• Metadata also records the administrative process
  of preservation, e.g. Institution Responsible for
  Archiving Decision, Institution with preservation
  responsibility, Process, etc.
• http//www.nla.gov.au/preserve/pmeta.html

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NEDLIB project (1)

• NEDLIB (Networked European Deposit Library)
• Funded by European Unions Telematics
  Applications Programme
• Consortium of national libraries, publishers, IT
  organisations and a national archive
• Led by the National library of the Netherlands
• http//www.kb.nl/coop/nedlib/

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NEDLIB project (2)

• NEDLIB Metadata schema
• Lupovici Masanès (2000)
• adopted the OAIS models terminology and broad
  structure
• 18 elements, 38 sub-elements, e.g.
• Representation Information
• e.g. Specific Hardware requirements, Operating
  system, Object format, Application, etc.
• PDI and Descriptive Information
• e.g. Reference Information, Assigned Identifier,
  URL, Checksum, Change History, etc.

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Cedars project (1)

• Cedars
• Led by the Consortium of University Research
  Libraries (CURL)
• Funded by the Joint Information Systems
  Committee, initially as part of phase 3 of the
  eLib Programme
• Main partners Universities of Cambridge, Leeds
  and Oxford support from UKOLN for metadata work

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Cedars project (2)

• Metadata
• Review of preservation metadata initiatives
  (1998)
• Draft metadata schema (2000)
• Adopted OAIS as framework
• Included Content Information (including
  Representation Information) and PDI
• http//www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/

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Cedars project (3)

• PDI
• Reference Information
• Resource Description
• Title, Creator, etc.
• Reference labels
• Existing metadata
• Context Information
• Reason for Preservation
• Related Information Objects

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Cedars project (4)

• Provenance Information
• History of Origin
• Management History
• Use History
• Known Operating Environments
• Rights Management
• Fixity Information
• Checksum

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Cedars project (5)

• Continued project developments
• Project extension
• practical focus
• dissemination
• guidance documents on various topics (including
  preservation metadata)
• workshop
• CAMiLEON
• JISC/NSF International Digital Libraries
  Programme
• testing emulation strategies

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OCLC/RLG working groups

• Preservation Metadata Working Group
• White Paper - Preservation metadata for digital
  objects a review of the state of the art (March
  2001)
• Group currently looking in more detail at
  definitions of Content Information and PDI
• Digital Archive Attributes Working Group
• Draft paper - Attributes of a trusted digital
  repository - (August 2001)
• http//www.oclc.org/digitalpreservation/

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To conclude ...

• Several different traditions
• Recordkeeping
• Digital libraries
• There are others ... sound and video archives,
  geospatial data, datasets, etc.
• Importance of OAIS model
• Development of metadata models and schemas
• Not much practical implementation
• No clear idea of required expertise and skills
  (potential costs)

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Acknowledgements

• UKOLN is funded by Resource the Council for
  Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint
  Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK
  higher and further education funding councils, as
  well as by project funding from the JISC and the
  European Union. UKOLN also receives support from
  the University of Bath where it is based.
• http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/