Archival Perspectives in Digital Preservation An Advanced Seminar

Transcription

1 Archival Perspectives in Digital Preservation An Advanced Seminar Syllabus The idea of digital preservation remains a rather ill-defined concept and one fraught with multiple perspectives, from building systems from a preservation perspective, dealing with born digital materials that come into an archives on various media and in various formats, to understanding and using emerging national and international standards. This seminar is an opportunity to focus for two days on a set of ideas, now beginning to be implemented in a variety of concrete projects, about how to select, organize, store, and maintain digital assets that have long term archival value and that need to be managed in ways that are true to archival principles. Participants will make the connection between fundamental archival principles and the idea of digital preservation as it has evolved since Participants will consider the technical, organizational, and economic implications of digital preservation in a planning context. In the seminar, they will: learn how at least four fundamental archival principles (value, integrity, authenticity, trust) underlie present ongoing efforts to define digital preservation requirements; review at least three specific digital preservation programs, including the Open Archival Information System (emerging international standard), the international InterPARES project on authentic digital records, and efforts by OCLC and RLG to define the idea of preservation metadata ; and, through case studies or exercises, apply digital preservation concepts to specific digital archives collections, either those supplied by participants or by the instructor. 9:00 9:30 Introductions Day 1 9:30 10:30 Definitions and overview of key ideas This session first will provide definitions of terms, ranging from the mundane (bitmap, dynamic range) to the complex (metadata, digital preservation). It will then focus on the connections between archival theory and the emerging concepts of digital preservation. Finally, the session will review the structure of the workshop highlight the specific archival concepts that underlie the five major components of the seminar.

2 Required Advance Reading: Conway, Paul. Overview: Rationale for Digitization and Preservation. In Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access. Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, Follow-up Readings: Beagrie, Neil. National Digital Preservation Initiatives: An Overview of Developments in Australia, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom and of Related International Activity. Washington, D.C.: CLIR, Borgman, Christine. From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Conway, Paul. Digital Imaging Made Simpler. In Preservation of Library & Archival Materials, 3 rd Edition. Edited by Sherelyn Ogden. Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, Digital Asset Management Systems for the Cultural and Scientific Heritage Sector. DigiCult (UK), Thematic Issue 2, December Gilliland-Swetland, Anne J. Enduring Paradigm, New Opportunities: The Value of the Archival Perspective in the Digital Environment. Washington, D.C: Council on Library and Information Resources, Hedstrom, Margaret, Understanding Electronic Incunabula A Framework for Research on Electronic Records. American Archivist 54 (Summer 1991): Hunter, Gregory S. Digital Preservation: A How To Do It Manual. New York: Neal Schuman, The Long Now Foundation. Millennium Clock. Lougee, Wendy Pradt. Diffuse Libraries: Emergent Roles for the Research Library in the Digital Age. Washington, D.C.: CLIR, Macaulay, David. Motel of the Mysteries. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, O Toole, James. On the Idea of Permanence. American Archivist 52 (Winter 1989): [digitization required] Waters, Donald J. What Are Digital Libraries? CLIR Issues 4 (July/August 1998). Yakel, Elizabeth, Digital Preservation. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) 25 (2001). Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2001, pp

3 10:30 10:45 Break 10:45 12:00 Archival value and creating digital archives The idea of archival value is complex and has evolved over time to encompass intrinsic and extrinsic to archives and manuscripts. This session will serve, first, as a review of the definition of archival value, anchored in appraisal theory and practice. A brief presentation will describe how the existing values of archival records may be enhanced through the processes and procedures of digital reproduction and digital collection development. Discussion will draw out how quality and value in digital archives are interrelated and are now embedded best practices and standards. This session will lay the groundwork for understanding of digital preservation as a continuum from creation to ongoing maintenance. Required Advance Reading: Williams, Don. Debunking of Specsmanship. RLG DigiNews 7 (15 Feb 2003). Follow-up Readings: American Memory, Library of Congress. Conversion Specifications. Links to RFPs for text conversion and SGML encoding; microfilm scanning; and conversion of pictorial images to digital images. Chapman, Stephen, Paul Conway, and Anne R. Kenney. Digital Imaging and Preservation Microfilm: The Future of the Hybrid Approach for the Preservation of Brittle Books. Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources, Guides to Quality in Visual Resource Imaging. Council and Library and Information Resources, Digital Library Federation, and Research Libraries Group, July Grout, Catherine, Phill Purdy, and Janine Rymer. Creating Digital Resources for the Visual Arts: Standards and Good Practice. Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS), Visual Arts Data Service. AHDS Guides to Good Practice, 1999, Kenney, Anne R. and Oya Y. Rieger. Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives. Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries Group, Morrison, Alan, Michael Popham, and Karen Wikander. Creating and Documenting Electronic Texts: A Guide to Good Practice. Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS). AHDS Guides to Good Practice, 1999,

4 National Archives and Records Administration. Electronic Access Project Scanning and File Format Matrix. January [Steve Puglia] _digitizing_archival_materials.pdf National Archives and Records Administration. NARA Guidelines for Digitizing Archival Materials for Electronic Access. January 1998 [undergoing revision, Steve Puglia]. materials.pdf Ogden, Sherelyn, ed. Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access. Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, Thomas, Timothy. Archives in a New Paradigm of Scientific Publishing: Physical Review Online Archives (PROLA), D-Lib Magazine, May Smith, Abby. Why Digitize? Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, Waters, Donald J. Digital Preservation? CLIR Issues 6 (November/December 1998): 1, Western States Digital Imaging Best Practices. Western Trails: A Collaboration of Cultural Heritage Institutions from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, & Wyoming. January [IMLS funded] 12:00 1:30 Lunch on your own 1:30 3:00 Archival integrity and the Open Archival Information System This session will review the multi-faceted definition of integrity proposed in the 1996 report of the RLG/CPA Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, including a critique of the report by David M. Levy. A brief presentation will highlight the concepts of the OAIS reference model, which is an emerging international standard undergoing close scrutiny in the archival community. Discussion will focus on the tension between a general model and the need for concrete specifications. Required Advance Reading: Lavoie, Brian. Open Archival Information System: Introductory Guide. Technology Watch Report Digital Preservation Coalition, January Waibel, Gunter. Like Russian Dolls: Nesting Standards for Digital Preservation. RLG DigiNews 7 (15 June 2003).

5 Follow-up Readings: Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (1999) "Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Red Book Issue1" Lavoie, Brian. Meeting the Challenges of Digital Preservation: The OAIS Reference Model. OCLC Newsletter (January/February 2000): Available at: Levy, David M. Heroic measures: Reflections on the Possibility and Purpose of Digital Preservation. Proceedings of the Third ACM Conference on Digital Libraries, 1998, Pages [Permission required; will be handled by instructor] Levy, David M. Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age. New York: Arcade, Waters, Donald and John Garrett. Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information. Washington, D.C.: Research Libraries Group and Commission on Preservation and Access, May :00 3:15 Break 3:15 4:30 Archival trust and preservation metadata initiatives Archival organizations have existed for centuries to imbue archival records and manuscripts with the quality of trust. Archives document the chain of custody of information sources and institute control procedures that increase the confidence of users in the reliability of original and reproduced documents. This session will explore how the idea of archival trust may be embedded in the metadata included in a digital repository. Seminar participants will explore the work of the RLG-OCLC Digital Archive Attributes Working Group, whose report draws on the OAIS Reference Model but specifies a certification process to improve trust. Participants will also review the work of several important international initiatives that are defining the requirements for preservation metadata in digital repositories. Required Advance Reading: Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and Responsibilities. An RLG-OCLC Report (Digital Archive Attributes Working Group). Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries Group, May Follow-up Readings: Day, Michael. Resource Discovery, Interoperability and Digital Preservation: Some Aspects of Current Metadata Research and Development. VINE 117 (2000):

6 Lagoze, Carl, and Sandra Payette. Metadata: Principles, Practices, and Challenges. In Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives, edited by Anne R. Kenney and Oya Y. Rieger, pp Lynch, Clifford A. Metadata Harvesting and the Open Archives Initiative. ARL Bimonthly 217 (August 2001). Making of America II Testbed Project White Paper. Version 2.0 September 15, METS: Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard. Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects: A Review of the State of the Art. OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata. Draft for Final Review and Comment, January 15, 2001 Available at: A Recommendation for Content Information. OCLC/RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata. October A Recommendation for Preservation Descriptive Information. OCLC RLG Working Group on Preservation Metadata. April <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Day 2 9:00 10:30 Archival authenticity and the InterPARES project Authenticity and reliability are the two lynchpins of the idea of integrity that Luciana Duranti outlined in This session will explore the idea of authenticity as it has been articulated by the InterPARES Project and then extend the idea to cover a broader range of digital resources than electronic records. The purpose of the session is not to provide an extensive tutorial on the InterPARES Project, but rather to use the definitions, conceptual framework, and workflow and assessment tools from the project as a mechanism for achieving a greater understanding of authenticity as it may relate to the development of digital preservation strategies. Required Advance Reading: Cullen, Charles T. et al. Authenticity in a Digital Environment. Washington, D.C.: CLIR, Smith, Abby. Authenticity in Perspective. In Authenticity in a Digital Environment. Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources,

7 Follow-up Readings: Duranti, Luciana. Reliability and Authenticity: The Concepts and Their Implications. Archivaria 39 (Spring 1995): Duranti, Luciana. The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records. School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, University of British Columbia, Gilliland-Swetland, Anne J. and Philip B. Eppard. Preserving the Authenticity of Contingent Digital Objects: The InterPARES Project. D-Lib Magazine 6 (July/August 2000). InterPARES Project. Appraisal Task Force Final Report. 31 October InterPARES Project. Authenticity Task Force Final Report. 28 October InterPARES Project Preservation Task Force Final Report. 31 October InterPARES Project. Preservation Task Force. How To Preserve Authentic Electronic Records. Draft for Public Comment, July 25, [Now included as an appendix to the Preservation Task Force Final Report, see below.] 10:45 12:00 Exercise on assessing digital preservation readiness This exercise will utilize a worksheet developed specifically for the SAA seminar. Each participant will be given guidelines to develop a scenario that is appropriate for their particular institutional context. Based on the scenario, seminar participants will work through a checklist/questionnaire that will help them assess their readiness to engage with digital preservation issues, either as independent organizations or in a collaborative framework. 12:00 1:30 Lunch on your own 1:30 3:00 Media refreshing, migration & emulation This session focuses on the preservation of digital media systems, including the handling and refreshing of digital storage media, the migration of data from system to system, and research on the emulation of digital systems. The session serves as an introduction to key concepts and the critical research literature. Discussion will center on the choice of media and data management strategies, on the present limitations of digital preservation strategies, and on the role of the individual archivist in planning for future digital preservation activities.

8 Required Advance Reading: Besser, Howard. Digital Longevity. In Handbook for Digital Projects: A Management Tool for Preservation and Access. Andover, MA: Northeast Document Conservation Center, Byers, Fred R. Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, Follow-up Readings: Dead Media Project. Granger, Stewart. Emulation as a Digital Preservation Strategy. DLib Magazine October Hariharan, P. C. Media. In Preservation Task Force Final Report, draft appendix. InterPARES Project, 31 October Hedstrom, Margaret. Research Issues in Migration and Long-Term Preservation. Archives and Museum Informatics 11 (1997): Kodak Imaging. Permanence, Care, and Handling of CDs, including CD-ROM, Writable DC, and Kodak Photo CD. Rothenberg, Jeff. Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital Preservation. Washington, DC: Council on Library and Information Resources, Rothenberg,Jeff. An Experiment in Using Emulation to Preserve Digital Publications. The Hague: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Van Bogart, John W. Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives. Washington, D.C.: Commission on Preservation and Access, Wheatley, Paul. Migration: A CAMiLEON Discussion Paper. Ariadne 29 (2 October 2001). 3:00 3:15 Break

9 3:15 4:15 Economics of Digital Preservation This session will tie together the themes of the seminar by focusing on the development of a digital repository capability in a collaborative planning context. A brief presentation will highlight the state of the art of repository development on an international level and identify the most pressing research issues. Discussion will highlight the implications of a new report on incentives to preserve and on the costs of digitization and preservation. Required Advance Reading: Lavoie, Brian F. The Incentives to Preserve: Roles, Scenarios, and Economic Decision- Making. Dublin, OH: OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc., April Follow-up Readings: Chapman, Stephen. Counting the Costs of Digital Preservation: Is Repository Storage Affordable? Journal of Digital Information 4 (7 May 2003). Conway, Paul. Production Tracking. In Moving Theory into Practice: Digital Imaging for Libraries and Archives. Edited by Anne R. Kenney and Oya Rieger. Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries Group, Digital Library Federation. Minimum criteria for an archival repository of digital scholarly journals, Version 1.2, May 15, Hendley, T. Comparison of Methods and Costs of Digital Preservation. British Library Research and Innovation Report 106, ISBN Library of Congress, National Digital Library Program. NDLP Project Planning Checklist, January 1997, National Library of Australia. PADI: Preserving Access to Digital Preservation. Costs. [annotated bibliography on digital preservation costs]. O Toole, James, On the Idea of Uniqueness. American Archivist 57 (Fall 1994): Price of Digitization: New Cost Models for Cultural and Educational Institutions. NINCH Symposium 8 April Price-Wilkin, John. Moving the Digital Library from Project to Production. Presented at DLW99 in Tsukuba, Japan, March html Puglia, Steve. The Costs of Digital Imaging Projects. RLG DigiNews 3 (15 Oct 1999).

10 Van der Werf, Titia. The Deposit System for Electronic Publications (DSEP): A Process Model. Nedlib Report Series 6. The Hague: Koninklijke Bibliotheek, :15 4:30 Wrap up and evaluation