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Digital Preservation - Outline

Digital Preservation - Outline. Introduction - Definitions, Facts, Challenges Digital Archiving – A Life Cycle View Metadata Strategies RUL Projects Trusted Digital Repositories. Digital Dark Ages?.

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Digital Preservation - Outline

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  1. Digital Preservation - Outline • Introduction - Definitions, Facts, Challenges • Digital Archiving – A Life Cycle View • Metadata • Strategies • RUL Projects • Trusted Digital Repositories Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  2. Digital Dark Ages? • As we move into the electronic era of digital objects it is important to know that there are new barbarians at the gate and that we are moving into an era where much of what we know today, much of what is coded and written electronically, will be lost forever. We are, to my mind, living in the midst of digital Dark Ages; consequently, much as monks of times past, it falls to librarians and archivists to hold to the tradition which reveres history and the published heritage of our times. (Kuny, 1998) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  3. Preservation • “The urge to preserve is endemic to our roles as librarians.” • “The patent office, home to nearly 6.5 million patents dating to 1790, is converting to an electronic database and discarding a significant portion of its paper files after they have been scanned and digitized.” -Mitchell, A. (2001). Ingenuity’s Blueprints, Into History’s Dustbin. NY Times. December 30, 2001, p. A1. • A scenario: A truck loaded with hazardous waste is headed toward a dump site. Will our descendants know where we have buried the waste? (Bide, et al, 1999) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  4. Digital Preservation – Some Numbers • $20 Trillion loss of information expected over the next 20 years (Lysakowski and Leibowitz, 2000) • Within 10 years, the total number of electronic records could be doubling every 60 minutes. • From an economic model, the cost of converting from MS-Office95 to Office97 is estimated at 711,110 work years. • 80 Million books in the US are rapidly deteriorating Yale University states that 80% of their collection is endangered. • Print material • All print material (ascii text) published in the world each year could be stored in about 5 terabytes • Images • Over 80 billion photographs are taken each year which would take 400 petabytes to store. Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  5. Numbers – continued(from: http://www.ccsf.caltech.edu/~roy/dataquan/) • Megabyte – one million bytes • Gigabyte – 1000 megabytes • Terabyte – 1000 gigabytes • 10 terabytes: the printed collection of the US Library of Congress • Petabyte – 1000 terabytes • 2 petabytes: all the material in US academic research libraries • Exabyte – 1000 petabytes • 5 exabytes: all words ever spoken by human beings Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  6. Preservation in Digital Libraries • Preservation:“The managerial, financial, and technical issues involved in preserving library (or archive) materials in all formats - and/or their information content - so as to maximize their useful life” (Eden, 1997) • Digital preservation is defined as the managed activities necessary for ensuring: • 1. The long term maintenance of a byte stream and • 2. Continued accessibility of the contents thru time and changing technology. • Digital Libraries vs. Digital Archives: Archives make a commitment to long-term preservation of digital information. (Joint Task Force on Digital Archiving) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  7. Why Would You Digitally Preserve? • Protect original print artifact • Provide access by accurately representing originals • Preserve material that exists in electronic form only • Enhance research by “improving” originals • High resolution imagery to study details • Searchable text Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  8. The Challenges of Digital Preservation • Lack of standards (or too many standards) • Lack of documentation on production and use • Cost and rapid obsolescence of technology • Impermanence of the medium • Mutability of the content (easily changed – legal issues) • Version control • Need to guarantee integrity of digital information • Migration of information (driven by external factors) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  9. What to Archive – A Checklist • Historical and research value • Aesthetic and artistic merit • Uniqueness of an item • Subject content – relevant to Institution • Access – Restrictions and inventory • Condition • Frequency of use – frequency of change • Ownership • Redundancy – concern for loss or modification • Length of preservation • Is any other institution archiving the material? Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  10. Candidates for Preservation • Material created (not digitized) in digital format • Reference databases (online catalogs, subject specific indexes, etc) • Electronic journals • Digital maps • Data • Websites (e.g. research guides, web-based databases, documents) • Government information • Census data, international statistics (Do we rely on the government to preserve this material?) • Consortiums such as Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) have a role. • Print material/manuscripts that are digitized for access and/or preservation: • Original documents not retained (e.g. as in the NJ Environmental Digital Library) • Original document retained (as in Special Collections) • Electronic (analog) media that is digitized (audio, video tapes) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  11. Digital Archiving – A Life Cycle View • Creation • Acquisition and Collection Development • Identification and Cataloging • Storage • Preservation (incl. Metadata) • Access from (Hodge, 2000) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  12. Digital Preservation Strategies • Migration: transferring digital materials from one media or format to another because of obsolescence, failure in media, software updates, standards, etc. • Emulation: refers to the process of mimicking, in software, a piece of hardware or software so that other processes think the original equipment/function is still available in its original form. (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/17.html) • Encapsulation: A technique of grouping together a digital object and anything else necessary to provide access to that object. This technique aims to overcome the problems of the technological obsolescence of file formats because the details of how to interpret the digital bits in the object can be part of the encapsulated information. (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/topics/17.html) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  13. Migration of Digital Information Reasons for Migration: • Medium refreshing (e.g. rewrite a CD) • Medium conversion (diskette to CD) • Format conversion (ascii to pdf) • Version upgrade (Office97 to Office2000) • Migration of technical environment (W98 to NT) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  14. The Migration Process • Error Prone • Labor intensive and expensive • Governed by external factors • The only approach that works for now Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  15. RUL Projects – A Sampling • Medieval Early Modern Data Bank • Eagleton Public Opinion Polls • The Augustine Collection • REALITI – A Digital Preservation Framework Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  16. Medieval Early Modern Data Bank - MEMDB Characteristics: • At: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/memdb • Content: commodity prices in the medieval period • Access: public domain • Compiler: Co-directors of MEMDB • Owner: RUL? • Archiver: (who should archive?) • Type: Database on the web • Format: html, Active server pages, MS-Access, html • Metadata req’mts: numeric data Questions: What is the primary document? How long should it be preserved? Extent of “document”? Owner? Preserve look & feel? Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  17. Eagleton Public Opinion Polls Characteristics • At: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/eagleton_tst • Content: New Jersey public opinion (1970 - ) • Access: public domain • Compiler: Eagleton Institute • Owner: Eagleton/Star Ledger • Archiver: RUL/Scholarly Communication Center • Type: database on the Web • Format: html, MS-Access, portable spss files • Metadata req’mnts: Questionnaires & numeric data • Questions: Preserve “look & feel”, spss (proprietary software) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  18. The Augustine Collection Characteristics • At: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/augustine • Content: Photographs from 19th Century New Jersey Shore • Access: public domain • Compiler: William F. Augustine • Owner: RUL Special Collections • Archiver: RUL Special Collections • Type: image archive • Format: html, jpeg • Metadata req’mnts: original artifacts • Questions: image format, preserve digital archive, individual items/collection Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  19. REALITI – A Digital Preservation Framework(Rutgers Electronic Access to Library Information thru Technology Integration) Characteristics • At: http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/realiti • Content: Civil War period in New Jersey • Access: public domain • Compiler: RUL Special Collections • Owner: RUL • Archiver: RUL Special Collections/SCC • Type: Images on the Web • Format: html, ColdFusion, MS-Access, PDF, djvu,tiff • Metadata: Preservation, multiple formats • Questions: formats, compression, metadata, original artifact Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  20. Preservation Metatdata for Digital Collections* Collection Level • Persistent identifier: • Date of creation: • Structural type: (e.g. ascii text, jpeg images, etc) • Technical infrastructure: files, databases, html, etc. • File description • System requirements: • Installation requirements: • Storage information: • Access inhibitors: • Access facilitators: • Preservation action permission: • Validation: (information about validation mechanism) • Relationships (to other objects): • (continued) • Quirks: (any characteristic that may cause loss in funtionality) • Archiving decision (work): • Decision reason (work): • Institution responsible for archiving decision: • Archiving decision (manifestation): • Decision reason (manifestation): • Institution Responsible for Archiving Decision (manifestation) • Intention Type • Institution with preservation responsibility • Process • Record Creator • Other * (from National Library of Australia: http://www.nla.gov.au/preserve/pmeta.html ) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  21. Trusted Digital Repositories(http://www.rlg.org/pr/pr2001-attributes.html) A Proposed Framework for a Trusted Archival Agent: • Administrative – adherence to agreed upon standards • Organizational – commitment to management on behalf of depositors • Financial – adherence to good business practices • Technological – infrastructure in place with upgrade policies • Security – policies for security, auditability, and backup • Procedural – Repository practices will be in place and documented. Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  22. Possible Organizational Models(Who might be a digital repository) • Originators (e.g. individual researchers) • Publishers (What happens when the publisher goes out of business?) • Libraries, museums, and other conservator institutions • National libraries and archives • Cooperative service agencies (e.g. OCLC, RLG, ICPSR for social science research) • Segmented market providers (e.g. Bell & Howell for preserving dissertation literature and Early English Books) • Private storage providers • Computer centers • Scholarly associations (e.g. American Institute of Physics) • Indexing and abstracting services • Certified digital archives. Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  23. Institutional Efforts • OCLC and Web Document Digital Archive (WDDA) Project • Tools for libraries and archives to preserve and maintain access to digital content • At: http://www.oclc.org/digitalpreservation • RLG Cultural Materials • Cultural Materials is being developed through members to set the conditions for contributing and distributing their digital surrogates of valuable collections. • The goal is a growing, significant, online resource and service solution. • At: http://www.rlg.org/culturalres • LOCKSS – A permanent web publishing and access system • Addresses problem of material no longer available from the publisher • Modeled on distributed print libraries. Reich, et al, (2001). D-Lib Magazine, 7, (6). • OAIS – Open Archival Information System Reference Model • Requirements for any system responsible for preserving any type of information over a long period. • At: http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  24. Digital Preservation – Concluding Thoughts • Librarians and archivists are a key to the solution. • “A major academic scandal will have to happen first . . .” in order to focus attention and resources. (Graham, 2000). • A combination of solutions will be employed including migration and emulation. • Digital “archaeology” will be used to recover lost data. Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  25. Preservation Resources on the Web • Institutional Issues: • ARL Preservation Program (http://www.arl.org/preserv/index.html) Digital Preservation Needs and Requirements in RLG Member Institutions (http://www.rlg.org/preserv/digpres.html) • RLG DigiNews (http://www.rlg.org/preserv/diginews/) • Technical Information/Papers: • Avoiding Technological Quicksand (http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/rothenberg/contents.html) • PADI - Preserving Access to Digital Information - from the National Library of Australia (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/). • Background Papers and Technical Information - from LOC American Memories site (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ftpfiles.html) • Preservation of electronic information - a bibliography (http://homes.ukoln.ac.uk/~lismd/preservation.html) • Digital Imaging Tutorial - http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/tutorial/ Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  26. More Information on the Web • Technical Information/Papers (continued): • CLIR Publications (http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/reports.html) • Kuny, T. (1998/May). The digital dark dges? Challenges in the preservation of electronic information. International Preservation News, (17), At http://www.ifla.org/VI/4/news/17-98.htm#2 • Hodge, G. M. (2000). Best practices for digital archiving: An information life cycle approach. D-Lib Magazine, 6, (1), available at: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/janauary00/01hodge.html • Handbooks: • Hunter, G. S. (2000). Preserving Digital Information: A How-To-Do-It Manual, New York: Neil-Schuman Publishers • Sitts, M. K. (2000). Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access, Andover, Massachusetts: Northeast Document Conservation Center Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  27. References • Bide, M, Potter, E, &Watkinson, A. (1999) , Digital Preservation: an introduction to the standards issues surrounding the deposit of non-print publications. At: www.bic.org.uk/digpres.doc • Graham, P. (2000). RLG and Archiving at the heart of the research library mission. RLG News. Winter 2000. (50). P. 12 – 13. • Graham, P. (1998/February). Digital strategies for the Rutgers University Libraries: a white paper draft. DRAFT 4. • Hedstrom, M. & Montgomery, S. (1998). Digital Preservation Needs and Requirements in RLG Member Institutions: A Study Commissioned by the Research Libraries Group. Available at: http://www.rlg.org/preserv/digpres.html • Hodge, G. (2000). Best practices for digital archiving: An information life cycle approach. D-Lib Magazine, 6, (1). Available at: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january00/01hodge.html. • Lysakowski, R. & Leibowitz, Z. (2000). Looming information age crisis expected to cause trillion-dollar losses over the next 20 years: Titantic 2020 – a call to action. Available at: http://www.censa.org. • Rothenberg, J. (1998/January). Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation. Available at: http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/rothenberg/contents.html Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  28. Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  29. Client Server Pdf, doc, wpd, txt, gif, jpeg, tiff, eoo, por, ebx, mdb Formats (extensions) Adobe, Netscape Word, SPSS Servers: web, file, email, etc Application Software Network TCP/IP TCP/IP Unix/NT Operating System W95/98/2000 Server, storage, Network PCs, disks, CDs Hardware Migration & Complexity of the Technical Environment Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  30. Preservation in Digital Libraries • Preservation:“The managerial, financial, and technical issues involved in preserving library (or archive) materials in all formats - and/or their information content - so as to maximize their useful life” (Eden, 1997) • Digital preservation: The term refers exclusively to the preservation (whatever exactly that entails) of material which is available [solely?] in electronic form (Bide, 1999). • And the digital version is considered to be the primary archival item. (Hedstrom, 1998) • Digital Libraries vs. Digital Archives: Archives make a commitment to long-term preservation of digital information. (Joint Task Force on Digital Archiving) Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  31. Digital Archiving- Getting Started • Form an archiving working group • Prepare a preliminary policy statement • Trial the policy statement with several small, existing projects • Examine what others are doing and bring in best ideas. • Collaborate with others who are interested in digital in preservation. • Initiate forums on digital archiving; invite colleagues, students, researchers, etc. • Submit a recommendation for a digital archiving program and next steps. Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

  32. Trusted Digital Repositories(http://www.rlg.org/pr/pr2001-attributes.html) A Proposed Definition (from RLG document): • Technology Infrastructure • Auditability, security, and communication • Backup policies incl. avoiding, detecting and restoring corrupted data • Organization • Certification • Compliance • Reputation and performance • Agreements between creators and providers • Open sharing of what is being preserved and for whom • Balanced risk, benefit, and cost Digital Libraries, R. Jantz - Feb. 26, 2002

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