Metadata for preservation: the Cedars perspective

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Metadata for preservation the Cedars perspective

• Michael Day
• UKOLN UK Office for Library and
• Information Networking
• University of Bath
• http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/
• m.day_at_ukoln.ac.uk
• Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

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Presentation Outline

• Digital preservation issues
• The Cedars project
• Preservation metadata initiatives
• OAIS - an ISO reference model for an Open
  Archival Information System

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Digital preservation (1)

• Preservation
• All strategic considerations relating to the
  survival of library and archive materials and the
  information contained in them
• However
• A growing reliance upon digital information
  resources - both surrogates and information 'born
  digital'
• No formal mechanisms ensure that digital
  resources are preserved for long-term use
• No universal legal-deposit for digital
  (networked) publications

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Digital preservation (2)

• A definition
• "... the planning, resource allocation, and
  application of preservation methods and
  technologies necessary to ensure that digital
  information of continuing value remains
  accessible and usable."
• Margaret Hedstrom (University of Michigan)
• FromDigital preservation a time bomb for
  digital libraries. Computers and the Humanities,
  31, 1998, pp. 189-202.

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CPA/RLG Task Force

• Task Force on the Archiving of Digital
  Information
• Report published May 1996
• Commissioned by the Commission on Preservation
  and Access (CPA) and the Research Libraries Group
  (RLG)
• Report was a sign that the digital preservation
  problem was being taken seriously at the highest
  levels

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UK responses

• JISC/BL/NPO
• Warwick strategy workshops (1995, 1999)
• Digital Archiving Working Group
• Arts and Humanities Data Service
• Strategic Policy Framework (July 1998)
• Public Record Office
• Electronic Records in Office Systems (EROS)
• National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD)
• Consortium of University Research Libraries
• Cedars project (JISC eLib)

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Cedars - CURL exemplars in digital archives
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The Cedars project

• The Consortium of University Research Libraries
  (CURL) interested in the roles and
  responsibilities of research libraries
• JISC eLib Phase 3 - Hybrid Libraries, Large
  Scale Resource Discovery and Digital
  Preservation
• Cedars project funded by JISC through the CURL
  Libraries from April 1998 for 3 years

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Cedars project partners

• Project led by universities of Cambridge, Leeds
  and Oxford
• Collaboration with
• Arts and Humanities Data Service
• Research Libraries Group
• British Library
• National Preservation Office
• UKOLN
• Publishers
• etc.

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Cedars project objectives

• To promote awareness
• To identify and disseminate
• appropriate strategies for collection management
• appropriate strategies for long-term preservation
• Based on a realistic sampling of current digital
  resource collections

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Cedars metadata report

• AIW01 Metadata for preservation
• Identified and described relevant projects and
  associated issues (August 1998)
• Foundation for metadata implementation within the
  Cedars project
• http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cedars/
  AIW01.html

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Four metadata roles

• 1. Technical metadata
• Recording technical details about the original
  hardware and software environment to support
  preservation strategies (emulation, migration,
  post hoc rescue, etc.)
• 2. Rights management metadata
• Recording intellectual property rights ownership,
  deposit agreements, access agreements, etc.
• 3. Intellectual preservation metadata
• Preserving the integrity and authenticity of
  digital resources (context and cryptography)
• 4. Resource discovery metadata

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Metadata initiatives

• Digital Rosetta Stone (DRS) model
• Pittsburgh University
• Functional Requirements for Evidence in
  Recordkeeping
• University of British Columbia
• The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic
  Records
• National Library of Australia
• PANDORA project
• Digital Services Project

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RLG Working Group

• RLG Working Group on the Preservation Issues of
  Metadata
• Report published May 1998
• Limited to a consideration of data elements that
  describe digital image files
• Sixteen metadata elements
• Three experimental implementations extended
  Dublin Core, USMARC and XML

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The OAIS model (1)

• Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
• ISO initiative
• Co-ordinated by the Consultative Committee for
  Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
• An OAIS is defined as an
• ... Archive that has accepted the
  responsibility to preserve information and make
  it available for one or more Designated
  Communities

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The OAIS model (2)

• The reference model
• establishes a common framework of terms and
  concepts which comprise an Open Archival
  Information System - from the Foreword
• Facilitates the description and comparison of
  archives
• A basis for further standardisation
• A basis for conformance

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OAIS functional model
Data Management
Descriptive info.
Descriptive info.
Access
requests
Ingest
CONSUMER
PRODUCER
other info.
SIP
Archival Storage
AIP
DIP
AIP
Administration
MANAGEMENT
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Information Packages (1)

• The OAIS reference model defines a generic
  Information Package
• Further subdivided into
• Submission Information Package (SIP) -used by the
  producer
• Archival Information Package (AIP) - used
  internally
• Dissemination Information Package (DIP) - used by
  the consumer

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Information Packages (2)

• An Archival Information Package (AIP) comprises
  two separate objects
• 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
• other metadata which will allow the
  understanding of the Content Information over an
  indefinite period of time

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Information Packages (3)
Package Descriptor
Archival Information Package
Packaging Information
Derived from
Delimited by identifies
Content Information
Preservation Description Information
Further described by
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Preservation DescriptionInformation (PDI)
Preservation Description Information
Reference Information
Provenance Information
Context Information
Fixity Information
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Packaging Information
Content Information
Preservation Description Information (PDI)
Packaging Information
Package 1
Descriptive Information about Package 1
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Conclusions

• Digital Preservation is increasingly becoming an
  important issue for libraries, archives and other
  organisations
• The creation and maintenance of relevant metadata
  can contribute to the solving of some digital
  preservation problems
• The OAIS reference model provides a common
  framework of terms and concepts

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Relevant Web pages

• UKOLN Metadata Web pages
• http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/
• Cedars Web pages
• http//www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/
• OAIS reference model
• http//ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/
  ref_model.html

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UKOLN

• UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information
  Commission (formerly the British Library Research
  and Innovation Centre), the Joint Information
  Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK Higher
  Education Funding Councils, as well as by project
  funding from the JISCs Electronic Libraries
  (eLib) Programme and the European Union. UKOLN
  also receives support from the University of
  Bath, where it is based.
• http//www.ukoln.ac.uk/