Digital life cycle management at the National Library of Scotland

1. Digital life cycle management at the National Library of Scotland Simon Bains, Digital Library Manager August 2005

2. What is digital life cycle management? • “It is one of those phrases that seems to have as many interpretations and meanings as ‘digital library’”[Helen Shenton, Life cycle collection management] • “actively to manage the resource at each stage of its life-cycle and to recognise the inter-dependencies between each stage and commence preservation activities as early as practicable”[Digital Preservation Coalition] • “Life cycle collection management is evidence-based stewardship that documents the relationship between all the stages in a collection item’s existence over time”[Helen Shenton, Life cycle collection management]

3. Why use it? • Economic reasons • Best value; resource allocation; benchmarking • Strategic reasons • Integrated policies and strategies; context for new areas • Access • Internal and external interoperability • Infrastructure • Digital Repositories: “collections management policies should cover: selection, acquisition, organisation, storage, access, de-selection, and preservation” [QA Focus Briefing Document, UKOLN] • Format-neutral collection management • Unified approach to care of hybrid library collections

4. The British Library • Application of approach used for paper-based materials to digital objects • Identifying the costs of each stage • Demonstrating the long-term consequences of decisions at the start of the cycle • Digitised masters: • €77 per object over 10 years • Purchased born digital: • €128 year 1 costs for a digital monograph • €51 year 1 costs for a traditional monograph • Unable to make long-term or complete costings at this stage

5. BL formula for the lifecycle of digital masters: K(t)=s+ipr+cons+r+cap+q+m+acs(t)+p(t) The British Library K(t) total cost over period of t yearss selection costipr cost of checking IPRcons conservation checkr retrieval and reshelvingcap capture of master q quality assurance/derivatives m metadata creationacs(t) access cost over timep(t) preservation/storage over time Helen Shenton (2003), Life Cycle Collection Management, Liber 13(3/4)http://liber.library.uu.nl/publish/articles/000033/article.pdf

6. Why use it at the NLS? • Growing quantity and complexity of digital collections: • Increased digitisation • Increased purchase of born digital resources • John Murray Archive • Hosted services (IRIScotland) • Legal deposit of digital publications (including web archiving) • Strategic commitment to collaborate/interoperate • Selection informed by stakeholders • Ability to provide multiple access points and experiences • LTScotland; Public libraries; BBC etc.

7. Why use it at the NLS? • Legal and cultural imperatives to establish a ‘Trusted Digital Repository’: • Scottish Executive digital media strategy • Cultural Commission report • Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 • Which will: • Be interoperable • Avoid duplication • Be usable and accessible • In order to: • Become a component of the Scottish Distributed Digital Library • Become a component of a shared legal deposit libraries infrastructure

8. Digital life cycle model (digitisation) Indexing Capture Access/preservation Indexing Selection Storage Delivery Access/preservation

9. Selection • NLS strategy to widen access • NLS strategy to expand digitisation • How do we know what non-users want? • Thinking bigger (3 years) • No limit on proposals • No limit on project scope • Unknown quantities • John Murray Archive • Funding

10. Selection Prioritised projects Selection panel Project proposals Curator consultation Stakeholder consultation Market research Cost

11. Indexing • Digital Images Database (DID) • Microsoft Access (migrating to SQLServer) • Dublin Core and RLG schemas, plus local fields • Bibliographic information (e.g. book) • Component information (e.g. page; image) • Additional indexing terms (e.g. people, places, keywords) • Image metadata (e.g. file format, size, colour palette, ppi, compression etc.)

12. Indexing 1. Record creator 2. Digital camera operator 3. DID Indexer DID Basic record Image metadata & image Complete record 4. Database Administrator • Desc. Metadata; rights; indexing terms • Image creation; match image files to DID records; Image metadata • Add authority controlled indexing terms; QA and sign off • Manage RDMS; export/import, design, backups

13. Indexing DID Basic record Image metadata & image Complete record Screengrab of DID record creation window

14. Delivery • Web features • Workflow bottleneck • Word on the Street • Exposed to Google • Version of DID • Aim to deliver generic infrastructure based on DID • DID migration • NLW Digital Mirror • Market research and selection supports: • Maps, treasures, photographs, treasures

15. DID Basic record Image metadata & image Complete record

16. Delivery • Descriptive metadata is key • Create once, use many times • JMA strategy – access content from: • Web pages • Interactive exhibition kiosks • Timelines • Topic maps • Teaching aids • “The strategy to maximise digital access…will mean the NLS investing at least 40% of the available funds for digitisation in descriptive metadata” [A Digital Access Strategy for the John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland]

17. I sat back in my chair, dumbstruck. I punched the air with both arms and shouted "Yahoo!" It was there, recorded in the National Library of Scotland's web site. As I read it, line after line came flooding back, familiar once more I had been looking for the full lyrics to this song for ten years…No one else had ever heard of it. You've got the only copy of the lyrics in print that I've been able to find. Thanks!!!!

18. Storage • Data storage on network servers • 19.5TB NAS storage servers • Incremental backups and complete snapshots to magnetic tape • Increasing data – lengthier backups • Automation, e.g. robotic tape system • Issues • File corruption – filesize and modification date no good; checksums too slow • Gap between creation and backup – risk of file loss; replication servers reduce gap but double the cost • BL DOM – replicating server architecture removes tape backup from the equation • Planning for a resilient and scalable mass storage system using a Storage Area Network (SAN)

19. Digital preservation planning • Work ongoing in a number of areas: • Back-up strategy • Implementation of unique IDs • File integrity (SHA1 checksum) • Automated metadata extraction (JHOVE/DAITSS) • Strategic commitment to develop a Trusted Digital Repository • Part of Legal Deposit Library planning to develop a digital infrastructure for non-print legal deposit materials

20. Digital Library Strategy • Holistic approach • Digitised and born digital • Analogue and digital • Coherent integrated set of policies and strategies • Selection • Management • Preservation • Delivery • Trusted Digital Repository

21. Digital communities • The NLS is part of the Scottish Distributed Digital Library • The NLS is part of the Scottish digital culture community • The NLS has a UK-wide responsibility as a legal deposit library • The NLS welcomes collaborative approaches to all elements of the digital lifecycle • Selection • Delivery • Preservation • Standards

22. Simon Bains Digital Library Manager s.bains@nls.uk 0131 623 3770