2000-2010 approx.

Further information: BBC Media Management Policy: Overview

Initially a 10-year "preservation transfer" project, but becoming seen as part of regular preservation work. The project has a budget of £55 million, covering mainly analogue formats with small amounts only of 'born digital' material in the 10-year plan. Other issues (outside the 10 year planned work) include c. 300,000 'born digital' D3 video tapes, proving subject to deterioration after about 12 years, all eventually requiring transfer. All BBC transmission versions are now born digital.

Completed 2002

Project website:
PRESTO

See also:
PrestoSpace

A 5^th framework EU project, headed by the BBC, to develop a cost-effective approach to the preservation of broadcast archives, audio and video, through developing workflow efficiency and automation tools to achieve cost reductions in the region of 30% while maintaining quality. Starting with survey, scoping and definition of the issue, moving to developing new technology, integrating and testing and demonstrating that it works. The work of the PRESTO project is currently continuing under PrestoSpace.

Completed 2000

Further information:
JISC Project page

British Library Archival Sound Recordings Project

The transfer of ca 20,000 "acetate" direct cut audio discs to an off-line digital platform (CD-R) during the period 1995-2000. This was an internally funded BL project using external contract labour for the transfers.

October 2004 - June 2006

Further information:
DAAT: Digital Assessment Tool

This project will develop a digital preservation assessment tool for use within the UK HE/FE and research, learning and teaching communities. The proposal will provide those responsible for managing digital resources in a variety of institutional settings, including libraries, archives, data centres, computer services and research teams, with a valuable tool for identifying the preservation needs of their digital holdings. This project was funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

3 year project funding initially, from 2004

Website:
Digital Curation Centre

The initial three year project to develop a national Digital Curation Centre (DCC) is a key aim of the JISC Continuing Access and Digital Preservation Strategy 2002-05. The DCC will focus on research in data curation, file format information, tools, testbeds and certification and advisory services. Funded jointly by JISC and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's (EPSRC) e-Science Core Programme, to focus on the needs of UK FE and HE, but with the possibility of extending to, and developing additional funding from, other sectors.

Ongoing from 2004

Contact: Robin Smith

To use electronic files in Dorothy Dunnett archive as a pilot project to develop accessioning, appraisal, migration and descriptive processes for manuscript material in electronic format

Completed February 2004

Further information and full reports:
Data Curation for e-science in the UK

This consultancy aimed to establish the provision and future requirements for curation of primary research data being generated within e-science in the UK. The audit included the e-science core programme but extended beyond this to other e-science research and primary research data.

2004 - end of 2005

Contact: Lee Hibberd

To develop a system and policy for improving the permanence of object identifiers. Initial work will ensure that persistent ids exist for all digital images. Results will be applied to other digital objects.

Ongoing from 2004

Contact: Paul Cunnea

Pilot to investigate long-term preservation and access options for e-mail publications, using Scottish PPRs as case study.

14th June 2004 - 30th September 2006

Project website:
MOPARK

The CDLR is carrying out a metadata options appraisal for a project called MoPark. MoPark aims to encourage green tourism within the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park through the creation and population of a digital multimedia repository and management system.

1st June 2005 - 30th April 2006

Project website:
CMS Metadata Interoperability Project

A SLIC funded project aiming to establish, document, and disseminate guidelines for best practice in the choice and use of CMS metadata for the management of simple and complex digital objects in an interoperable Scottish Common Information Environment.

Ongoing

Project website:
OCLC: Digital Archive

The OCLC digital archive is an OAIS and METS based system providing services to state libraries, federal agencies and academic libraries for long-term access, management and preservation of important digital materials. Web archiving tools preserve assets such as HTML pages and PDFs from the Web and a batch archiving service is provided for multiple submissions of reformatted materials. The workflow is integrated with OCLC's Connexion service for creation of bibliographic and preservation metadata. Bibliographic records are then integrated into FirstSearch and local catalogues.

Ongoing

Full policy document:
OCLC Digital Archive Preservation Policy and Supporting Documentation [PDF, 266Kb]

The policy outlines OCLC's basic approach to the preservation of objects and metadata in the OCLC Digital Archive. The policy is one result of the activities of OCLC's preservation planning entity and is dynamic in nature with frequent updates. OCLC encourages comments on and questions about their preservation processes.

Ongoing from July 2001

Website:
Oxford Digital Library

The Oxford Digital Library (ODL) is a digitisation project which aims to develop an overarching infrastructure with planned content creation, management, and delivery. It has developed standards for ensuring long-term access to the digital content created through its programmes. Operational from July 2001, the project is undergoing continuous development and has been funded from within Oxford University and from the Mellon Foundation.

Ongoing from 2001

Further information:
The National Archives Digital Archive

The Digital Archive at the National Archives offers secure storage for selected electronic government records and provides access to them via linked PCs in the Public Reading Rooms at the Kew site.

Completed
October 2003

Full report:
Archiving E-Journals Consultancy - Final Report [PDF, 342Kb]

Archiving E-Journals Consultancy - Final Report, October 2003, by Maggie Jones. The consultancy explored issues associated with implementing the archiving clauses of the JISC/NESLI Model Licence
Report Commissioned by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Full report available via the JISC website.

Completed January 2004

Project information:
Long-Term Retention and Reuse of E-Learning Objects and Materials

Full report:
Long-Term Retention and Reuse of E-Learning Objects and Materials [DOC, 609Kb]

A feasibility study to assess long-term retention and re-use of e-learning objects and materials, part of the the JISC Continuing Access and Digital Preservation Strategy 2002-5. Undertaken by the Institute for Computer Based Learning (ICBL) at Heriot-Watt, with support from AHDS.

Ongoing from 1999

Project website:
LOCKSS

LOCKSS ("Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe") is open source software that provides librarians with an easy and inexpensive way to collect, store, preserve, and provide access to their own, local copy of authorized content they purchase. Currently, more than 80 libraries and 50 publishers from around the world are using the software. In addition, the Stanford LOCKSS team is collaborating with institutions through the LOCKSS Alliance to further collection, technical, and community development.

Completed 2004

Final report:
Electronic Records: A Workbook for Archivists (ICA Study 16)

International Council on Archives (ICA) workbook on electronic records management (ERM) is a practical handbook aimed at archivists, primarily in government, and also for IT staff. The handbook has been created via ICA funding together with volunteer effort from members.

Ongoing from 2001

Project website:
PRONOM

PRONOM was developed by the National Archives for managing information about the file formats used to store electronic records, and the software applications needed to render these formats. It is intended for free use by anyone needing to preserve electronic records over the long term and is under continuous development. PRONOM release 3 is publicly available on the Internet and the database contains over 250 software products, 550 file formats and 100 manufacturers (as of 2003) and is growing.

Completed
February 2004

Full report:
Survey and assessment of sources of information on file formats and software documentation

File Format Representation and Rendering Project, which aimed to develop tried and tested technologies, conceived by the Cedars and CAMiLEON projects. Survey and assessment of sources of information on file formats and software documentation, Final report produced by the Representation and Rendering Project, University of Leeds, (undated)

Completed July 2005

Contact: Lee Hibberd

To prioritise the efforts of the library's digital preservation activities on the groups of digital/electronic information that is most at risk of loss. This will involve an assessment of formats, carrier media, reader devices, complexity and other issues that affect all types of files across the library including CAD drawings, library records, corporate information, digitised assets and web pages.

28th October 2005 - 28th May 2006

Project website:
STARGATE

Stargate: Exploring Static Repositories for Small Publishers Ariadne, 47

The STARGATE project will explore the use of static repositories as a means of exposing publisher metadata to OAI-based disclosure, discovery and alerting services within the JISC IE and beyond.

1st September 2005 - 31st of August 2007

Project website:
IRIScotland

IRI Scotland is seeking to develop an internationally interoperable framework for a distributed institutional repository infrastructure for Scottish research. This will entail experimenting with a collective hosting repository and a cross-repository search facility capable of accommodating a wide range of research and research-related digital objects. IRI Scotland will also investigate strategies designed to facilitate the cultural and organisational changes needed to underpin institutional repositories.

Due to complete December 2005

Project website:
DSpace@Cambridge Project

The DSpace@Cambridge project is a 3-year collaboration between CUL and MIT Libraries, funded by the DTI-sourced Cambridge-MIT Institute (CMI), to establish a digital institutional repository for Cambridge University. Expected deliverables include the development of improved digital preservation functionality in the DSpace software platform.
CMI is funding a complementary CUL-MIT Libraries project, LEADIRS (www.lib.cam.ac.uk/
UKseminars/), to promote digital institutional repository strategies in UK HE/FE. This will include coverage of preservation issues.

Completed
October 2003

Full report:
Feasibility and Requirements Study on Preservation of E-Prints [PDF, 1,018Kb]

Feasibility and Requirements Study on Preservation of E-Prints. Report Commissioned by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), AHDS as lead partner. Report published October 29, 2003, by Hamish James, Arts and Humanities Data Service, Raivo Ruusalepp, Estonian Business Archives, Sheila Anderson, Arts and Humanities Data Service, Stephen Pinfield, SHERPA.

October 2004 - October 2006

Project website:
PARADIGM

Featured DPC Members'
Project No. 5

The Universities of Oxford and Manchester have established collecting profiles in modern political papers. The papers of contemporary politicians - that will become the research materials of tomorrow - are being comprehensively created in electronic form. The exemplar strategies that this project will develop with political papers will be of use for any institution which collects, preserves, and maintains access to private papers. This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

October 2004 - September 2006

Further information:
PRESERV (PReservation Eprint SERVices)

Featured DPC Members'
Project No. 4

PRESERV aims to implement an ingest service based on the OAIS reference model for institutional archives built using Eprints software. Working with the National Archives, the project will link Eprints through a Web service to PRONOM software for identification and verification of file formats. The project will emphasise automation, will provide modular tools for capturing metadata and will enable the identification and verification of file formats. The project will scope a technology watch service to populate and update PRONOM where full automation is not feasible for file format recognition. This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

October 2004 - October 2006

Project website:
SHERPA Digital Preservation

Featured DPC Members'
Project No. 1

The SHERPA Digital Preservation (DP) project aims to create a collaborative, shared preservation environment for the SHERPA institutional repositories project framed around the Open Archiving Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model. The project will bring together the SHERPA institutional repository systems with the preservation repository established by the Arts and Humanities Data Service to create an environment that fully addresses all the requirements of the different phases within the life cycle of digital information. This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

October 2004 - December 2005.

Project website:
LIFE

Featured DPC Members'
Project No. 3

The LIFE project aims to apply the theory of life cycle collection management to digital collections. The project provides practical information for all institutions who have an interest in collecting and preserving digital material. LIFE examined the life cycles of key digital collections at UCL and the British Library and established the individual stages in the cycle. These stages were then costed to show the full financial commitment of collecting digital materials over the long term.The project culminated in the international *LIFE conference*, held at the British Library on 20th April 2006. Full details of the conference are available from this link:
http://www.life.ac.uk/1/conference.shtml
This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions
(4/04) programme.

Completed. February 2004

Further information:
Revision of the Study of the Records Lifecycle

Revision of the Study of the records lifecycle, in line with the records management code of practice under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The original study was first published in 1999.

Ongoing

Further information:
BL Digital Object Management
Update 20-Nov-07
Original link broken - replaced

The British Library's overall programme to put in place systems and processes to manage all the types of digital material received and created by the BL. It will deal with issues of digital preservation indirectly - e.g. consideration of appropriate formats and metadata in the collection / creation of material - and directly in that preservation requirements will be assessed and functionality planned. Includes a risk analysis of digital materials in the Library's collections to meet any urgent preservation needs.

Ongoing

Website:
CCLRC

Launched in 1983, the data storage facility serves CCLRC and some research councils and external organizations. Objective is to provide a data archive facility to users which disconnects them from technology or data storage formats - they always have access to their data. Funding is part PPARC and partly funded by users of the service. All CCLRC data centres and the Neutron spallation source (ISIS) are involved in ongoing active data preservation. The CCLRC is also a member of the Persistent Archiving Research Group of the Global Grid Forum.

2004 -end of 2005

Contact: Lee Hibberd

To assess the use of replicating servers as potential replacements/companions to tape back-ups. This will lead to a cost/benefit analysis for using replicating servers for safeguarding digital objects.

Ongoing from October 2003

Further information:
BL Code of Practice
Update 20-Nov-07
Original link broken - replaced

See also:
Legal Deposit Libraries Act
Update 29-Aug-06
Original link broken - replaced

Preservation activities to support the collection of voluntary deposit material, ahead of the passage of legal deposit legislation for electronic items (the Legal Deposit Libraries Act became law in October 2003). Using the Ex-Libris product DigiTool to secure this material. This is now being used to temporarily store and manage the VDEP material until the larger, long-term DOM store has been developed and installed. See also British Library DOM above.

Ongoing from 2003

Project website:
Domesday Community

Between 1984 and 1986 the BBC Domesday Project created a modern version of the original Domesday book in the form of text and photographs recorded onto two 12" LV-ROM videodiscs using a BBC Master computer as part of an EU co-funded £2.5 million project. The 2003 rescue project was to migrate the now obsolete 1986 BBC Domesday Community disc data onto a Microsoft Windows PC platform, to preserve it and make it accessible with a new user-friendly interface for searching and browsing. Visitors to the National Archives at Kew can use the system to view data.

Completed March 2005.

Further information: JISC web page

Final report: Assessment of UKDA and TNA compliance with OAIS and METS standards [PDF, 1.62MB)]

This short project aimed to map the systems and metadata currently in use by UK Data Archive (UKDA) and The National Archives (TNA) against those in the OAIS (Open Archival Information System) Reference Model, and the METS (Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard) standards, to assess how the two institutions operational structure can be informed by OAIS (and vice versa); and to explore the potential for interaction between existing metadata standards utilised within the two institutions and METS. This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

2004 - early 2006

Contact: Lee Hibberd

To integrate automatic metadata extraction into the digitisation workflow. This will involve assessment of existing and emerging extraction tools and preservation metadata schemas. Results will be applied to other digital objects.

October 2006 -March 2008

Website: http://cairo.paradigm.ac.uk

This project will develop a tool for ingesting complex collections of digital archives (which consist of several types of digital object) into preservation repositories by supplying digital objects with preservation metadata extracted from existing tools and packaging this in METS files. The tool will also add relationship metadata to these METS files to ensure that important contextual relationships expressed in the hierarchy of the digital archive are not lost during the ingest and preservation process.

Begun 2001-2, completion 1-3 years

[no url]

Working in collaboration with Edinburgh University Library to procure a digital object management system (DOMS) to bring all digital resources together through a single accessible interface. Aim to create an AIP or SIP using METS. Proposals discussed with the National Library of New Zealand and Getty Research Institute.

2004 - early 2006

Contact: Lee Hibberd

To integrate a content checksum into the digitisation workflow and automatically perform periodic checks to ensure that file contents haven't changed. This will involve assessment of existing tools vs. in-house programming. Results will be applied to other digital objects.

Completed May 2005

Further information:
PREMIS

The PREMIS working group, jointly sponsored by OCLC and RLG, was composed of international experts from institutions that had developed or were currently developing digital preservation capacity. PREMIS membership included representatives from a variety of domains interested in digital preservation, including libraries, museums, archives, government, and the private sector. The objectives of PREMIS were to i) develop a core preservation metadata set, supported by a data dictionary, with broad applicability across the digital preservation community; ii) identify and evaluate alternative strategies for encoding, storing, and managing preservation metadata in digital preservation systems. The PREMIS working group follows on the activities of the Preservation Metadata Framework Working Group, also sponsored by OCLC and RLG.

Completed 2003

Further information:
Preservation Metadata Framework Working Group

OCLC and RLG jointly sponsored the formation of a working group, composed of international experts from a variety of institutional backgrounds, to address metadata requirements for digital preservation. The group produced a white paper which defined the scope and role of preservation metadata, and reviewed and synthesized a number of existing preservation metadata schema. The group also produced a comprehensive preservation metadata framework articulating the types of information needed to support the long-term preservation of digital materials, along with a set of "prototype" metadata elements.

1st December 2004 - 31st March 2006

Project website:
mandate

Mandate is to develop a toolkit to support the creation and implementation of digital asset management and preservation in the further education setting, and demonstrate its application in the setting of John Wheatley College (JWC).

Completed Autumn 2003

Project website:
DELOS Digital Archiving and Preservation

Final report:
Report and Recommendations [PDF, 123Kb]

The project aimed to survey current research activities, identify gaps, and propose future research directions in the area of digital preservation. These include repository architectures and inter-operability among digital archives; automated tools for capture, ingest, and normalization of digital objects; and harmonization of preservation formats and metadata. Also opportunities for development of commercial products for mass storage systems, repositories and repository management systems, and data management software and tools.

June - November 2005

Further Information:
Digital Images Archiving Study

A six month study to scope the archiving of image files. The study will scope the preservation of digital image files as well as determining archiving methodologies and future research possibilities. The study will include both born digital and digitised image files. The aim of the study are (i) to inform the JISC community on current practice and views with regard to the long-term retention of digital image files, including an audit of JISC-funded digital image materials, highlighting the key preservation challenges (ii) to report research and experience that will serve as a basis for future development in this area, while identifying gaps in current research; (iii) to investigate possible models for preservation techniques and lay out a clear methodology for long term preservation in a manner that will provide an understanding of how long future projects demonstrating their implementation might take, and the infrastructure required to implement such projects (iv) to identify an optimum metadata schema for image preservation, based on an examination of existing metadata schemas and (v) to disseminate findings in a clear and effective manner.

Completed January 2005

Project website and documents:
Hybrid Archives Project

This JISC funded project aimed to '...develop and test a hybrid model for depositing institutional assets that provides a bridge between the complexity (and burdens) of full 'traditional' deposit of institutional collections and the more simplified approach embodied in harvesting methodology. The Hybrid Archives model takes elements of both traditional deposit methodology and harvesting methodology and re-works them to produce an integrated and cohesive deposit model...'. Also described as '...an extensible and sustainable 'partial deposit' model...'.

June-November 2005

Further Information:
Moving Pictures and Sound Archiving Study

A six month study to scope the preservation of digital sound and moving pictures files, as well as determining archival methodologies and future research possibilities. The study will include both digitised and born digital materials. The aims of the study are (i) to inform the JISC community on current practice and views with regard to the long-term retention of sound and moving pictures files, including an audit of JISC-funded moving pictures and sound materials, highlighting the key preservation challenges; (ii) to report research and experience that will serve as a basis for future development in this area, while identifying gaps in current research; (iii) to investigate possible models for preservation techniques and lay out a clear methodology for long term preservation in a manner that will provide an understanding of how long future projects demonstrating their implementation might take, and the infrastructure required to implement such projects; (iv) to identify an optimum metadata schema for the material in question, based on an examination of existing metadata schemas and (v) to disseminate findings in a clear and effective manner.

Completed 2003

Final report:
Incentives to Preserve Digital Materials [PDF, 758Kb]

This project produced a white paper entitled: "The Incentives to Preserve Digital Materials: Roles, Scenarios, and Economic Decision-Making"
Abstract: Economic issues are a principal component of the research agenda for digital preservation. Economics is fundamentally about incentives, so a study of the economics of digital preservation should begin with an examination of the incentives to preserve. Securing the long-term viability and accessibility of digital materials requires an appropriate allocation of incentives among key decision-makers in the digital preservation process. But the circumstances under which digital preservation takes place often lead to a misalignment of preservation objectives and incentives. Identifying circumstances where insufficient incentives to preserve are likely to prevail, and how this can be remedied, are necessary first steps in developing economically sustainable digital preservation activities.

Ongoing

Further information:
Education and Planning
Update 12-July-06
Original link broken and replaced

Consultative, educational and outreach services for digital preservation. Includes workshops, grants and funding aids, and consulting services.

Ongoing

Project website:
Registry of Digital Masters

The purpose of the Registry is to provide a place for institutions that have created (or are otherwise responsible for) digitized versions of traditional printed monographs and serials to record: what specific items have been (or are about to be) digitized; where they can be accessed; the specifications followed in digitization.

Ongoing

Website:
UK Data Archive

Featured DPC Members'
Project No. 6: DARP

The UK Data Archive (UKDA) at the University of Essex was founded in 1967 and is a centre of expertise in data acquisition, preservation, dissemination and promotion and curates a large collection of digital data in the social sciences and humanities in the UK. The UKDA has a staff of approximately 50 and provides services to the research community which include data acquisition, processing and dissemination, information services and data-use workshops and seminars.

Ongoing

Website:
ULCC

The University of London Computer Centre (ULCC) was established in 1968, and provides computing facilities, as well as a range of other services including microform, typesetting and training. Its National Data Repository provides for safe storage and network access for very high volumes of digital data.

October 2004 - October 2006.

Project website:
DPTP

This project aims to develop a modular training programme in digital preservation, with class-taught, online and off-line components. It meets the needs identified in the recent JISC-funded study, carried out by Cornwell Management Consultants, into training needs in digital preservation. It builds on existing exemplars of training and information provision, including the NEH-funded Cornell University digital preservation course, the DPC's travelling 1-day workshop, the "Preservation Management of Digital Materials" handbook, and training from existing JISC-funded services such as AHDS. This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

October 2004 - July 2007

Project website:
METS Awareness Training Programme

The Oxford Digital Library has developed some introductory training materials on METS, primarily intended for internal use. This project will develop the existing materials further by making them less institutionally specific. The training materials will be delivered at six locations in the UK. The training programme aims to: raise general awareness of METS and other closely related emerging standards both within the Programme and among the wider community served by JISC; provide attendees with sufficient information to assess how METS and related standards might contribute to their institutions' current and planned digital preservation and asset management activities; enable attendees to find out more about METS for themselves, and to prepare them for the METS tutorial workshops. This project has been funded under the JISC Supporting Digital Preservation and Asset Management in Institutions (4/04) programme.

Completed 2002

Project website:
Domain UK
[LINK: ]

See also the UKWAC website

Completed British Library pilot project to investigate viability of selective web archiving. The deliverables included a small collection of 100 web sites, captured a number of times, and some focused experience in the issues surrounding web archiving. The project ran from 2001-2 and was funded from existing resources.

Due to complete December 2005

Project website:
netpreserve

Project led by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France with partners including national libraries from Europe, North America and Australasia and the Internet Archive. The consortium aims to develop an automated web crawler to search the web for sites relevant to an agreed collection development policy. Other issues addressed will include the definition of a basic crawler, the minimum functionality required for larger libraries such as the BL to crawl their entire country domain and developing intelligent selective collection.

Ongoing from 2003

Project website:
UKWAC

Featured DPC Members'
Project No. 2