Queens 3Rs of Stewardship Seminar

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The 3 Rs of Digital Stewardship
WPC/PI Brownbag Presentation Stephen Chapman
Weissman Preservation Center Harvard University L
ibrary 14 March 2007
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One in an ongoing series of presentations
Digital Repository Service An Introduction
OIS open meeting, May 24, 2001
OCLC Digital Preservation Cooperative Meeting
Report OIS/WPC brownbag, July, 2003 Digitizi
ng Images, Digitizing Texts WPC/PI brownbags, Se
ptember October, 2003 3Rs talk today DRS2, DRS
updates Upcoming, probably FY08, watch HULINFO
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The three Rs
Risk management Identify and monitor threats to s
ustainability present and advocate strategies to
minimize or eliminate threats Repository Safe pl
ace for objects and object management
Rolesreciprocal roles responsibilities
Strategies for life-cycle management require
collection and technology specialists, as well as
communities of expertise
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1. Risk management

• Security and access control
• Preventing unauthorized use, tampering, or theft
• Protecting interests of rights holders
• Data obsolescence
• Mechanical failure
• media incompatible with players and device
  drivers
  
• formats incompatible with software
• Functional obsolescence
• Format(s) incompatible with user needs and
  preferences
  
• static images made obsolete by dynamic
  delivery?

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Managing costs essential to managing risk
Minimize number of conservation and reformatting
interventions over entire life-cycle
Optimize materials for longevity upon
acquisition Maximize intervals between interventi
ons reformat infrequently and wisely
Manage the storage environment
Media longevity not independent of associated
environment Geography is preservation destiny.
(Reilly, 2004) Sustainable business model for cos
t recovery Collection management costs (including
interventions) Repository storage costs (e.g.,
5.00 per GB/year at Harvard) All other digital li
brary infrastructure costs (staff, systems)
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2. Repository
A repository ...is understood to mean any organ
ization or system charged with the task of
preserving information over the long term and
making it accessible to a specified class of
users (known as the designated community)
Brian Lavoie, OCLC Research, 2000
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Trusted repository
Building ArtSTOR into a trusted repository
will require not only time and resources, but
also collegiality and the active participation of
individuals from academic institutions, museums,
libraries, and research centers specialists in
imaging and in building databases others
experienced in the creation of digital resources
experts in intellectual property rights and wise
generalists. One clear conclusion is that working
on this project inspires humility!
William G. Bowen, President Andrew W. Mellon Foun
dation, 2001
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Appropriate venues
A major question we face in the coming years is
Who should be responsible for saving material
in electronic form? Should individuals carry this
responsibility themselves? Or should social
entities (such as businesses, libraries,
archives, and professional societies)
aggressively intervene to save material?
Howard Besser, 2000
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Where are preservation repositories today?
National archives and libraries
Koninklijke Bibliotheek (e-Depot)
Library of Congress (NDIIPP) National Library of
Australia (PANDORA, web archive)
UK National Archives (NDAD) Research libraries C
alifornia Digital Library (CDL Digital
Preservation Repository) Harvard University Libra
ry (HUL DRS) Collaboratives Arts and Humanitie
s Data Service (AHDS), UK national service
Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA),
Florida Digital Archive OCLC Digital Archive Por
tico
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Preservation repository compliance
Long-term storage strategy for masters
OAIS (ISO 147212003) compliance
- ingest - archival storage - dat
a management - administration - preser
vation planning - access - common serv
ices accountable, auditable, and fiscally sus
tainable entity - RLG-NARA Trustworthy Repos
itories Audit Certification Criteria a
nd Checklist (TRAC) Key principle active (ong
oing) oversight of total environment
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OAIS functional entities
Simplified diagram from AHDS, Moving Images and
Sound Archiving Study, June 2006
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OAIS information packages
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Repository infrastructure and services
Integrated systems Acquisition (ingest), storage,
backup, database, dissemination
Centers of expertise System and database administ
rators, format experts, metadata analysts,
preservation planners, digital librarians
Auditors? Possible 3rd party implementors of TR
AC (see CRL report)
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Digital preservation quid pro quo service
Metadata Formats Money
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Metadata
Metadata automates preservation administration,
file and object validation, and data processing.
Standards, best practices and tools emerging
around XML.
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Lots of required metadata
Identification and discovery (descriptive)
Impossible to preserve what you dont know that
you have Impossible to sustain use for items that
cannot be identified Co-location, organization (
structural) Encoding of relationships facilitates
management, use Governance (administrative) O
wnership, rights of access, provenance
Preservation (technical) Format attributes for
validation and to anchor transformations
Documentation of significant properties and
preservation intention to inform preservation
strategy(ies)
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Metadata containers (example still images)
Directory and file names File headers TIFF, JP2
XML XMP (e.g., within JP2), EXIF, NISO MIX,
METS Database tables Printed manifests, rep
orts
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Formats
The concept of digital representation format
permeates all technical areas of digital
repository architecture and operation. Policy and
processing decisions regarding ingest, storage,
access, and preservation are frequently, if not
uniformly, conditioned on a format-specific
basis. Abrams and Seaman, 2003
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Attributes of normative formats for preservation
masters
Open with widely available tools for encoding
and decoding Inherently flexible processible to
generate many (user-preferred) renderings,
ideally in automated fashion
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(No Transcript)
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Format standard one of many (e.g., still image)
Standards Notes Archival OAIS (ISO
147212002) Reference model,
System RLG-NARA TRAC Trust
criteria/audting, ANSI/NAPM IT9.21 and 23
Electronic media Image TIFF (Adobe standard)
Global Digital Format
Formats JPEG 2000 (ISO/IEC Registry in
develop- 15444-12000) ment (DLF i
nitiative) Image NISO Z39.87-2002 Tech
nical metadata Metadata METS (DLF initiative)
for preservation
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3. Roles it takes a village to provide
stewardship
Rights holders Entities controlling scope of pres
ervation, dissemination Collection managers Cont
ent owners or designees proxies for users
Preservation professionals Repository team Cent
ers of expertise (industry and research
associates) - develop standards, practices, res
earch agendas (DCC, DPC) Auditors Designated c
ommunities Content users or advocates
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Organisation to Engage Collaborate
a centre of expertise in data curation and
preservation
curation organisations eg DPC
communities of practice users
community support outreach
service definition delivery
management admin support
Associates Network
research collaborators
research
development co-ordination
testbeds tools
Industry
standards bodies
OCLC October 2006
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Reciprocal responsibilities at Harvard

• Collection managers
• Digital stewardship Cooperate with DRS staff in
  exercising appropriate digital stewardship
  
• Intellectual property rights Manage legal
  rights necessary for DRS services, including
  rights to make one or more faithful copies of
  objects for backup purposes, the right to make
  derivative copies, and the right for public
  redistribution.
• Metadata Provide appropriate administrative,
  technical, and structural metadata about their
  objects.
  
• Discovery Ensure that descriptions of their
  objects are publicly available in online
  discovery systems.
  
• Access Ensure that access to a version of their
  objects' content is available to members of the
  Harvard community.
  
• Financial considerations Arrange payment for
  DRS service
  
• HUL DRS Policy Guide

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Reciprocal responsibilities at Harvard

• DRS (staff)
• Digital stewardship Cooperate with collection
  managers in exercising appropriate digital
  stewardship.
  
• Preservation of usability Preserve the
  usability of stored objects over time.
  
• Delivery services Deliver content to desktop
  client applications via standard web protocols.
  
• Professionalism and sustainability Manage DRS
  in a manner that is administratively,
  financially, and technically sustainable.
  
• Responsiveness and transparency Be responsive
  to the needs and concerns of the collection
  manager community and conduct DRS policy setting
  and planning activities in an open and
  transparent manner.
• HUL DRS Policy Guide

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Summary observations
Preservation repositories are safe harbors
Digital preservation depends and relies upon ext
ensive, well-managed metadata
Lifecycle management is a collective enterprise
Stewardship and digital preservation require
active oversight of content, technologies, and
user expectations Business models are needed to
capitalize new infrastructure and to sustain
content over time