This section is about how the organization engages with and contributes to the wider digital preservation community in order to advance its own capabilities and those of the community as a whole. Examples typically include a reference to external communities the organization will collaborate with, as well as a mention of internal collaboration within the organization itself. The two-way nature of this colleaboration is often mentioned, with organizations not only intending to gather information through collaboration but also to share their own knowledge and experience back.

Library and Archives Canada

University of St Andrews

Penn State University

Wellcome Collection

National Archives of Australia

This section focuses on procedures for the assessment of current digital preservation capabilities, the definition of goals and the monitoring of progress.

Policy statements may include commitments to certification, or to supporting FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data, etc.

British Geological Survey

The Postal Museum

This section includes principles around ensuring that Information Technology capabilities are sufficient for supporting digital preservation activities. Aspects covered in the examples below include investment in infrastructure, use of open source software and maintaining an appropriate level of IT security.

Bodleian Libraries

University of St Andrews

University of Cambridge

Wellcome Collection

This section is about the management of legal social and cultural rights and responsibilities, compliance with relevant regulation and adherence to codes of ethics related to acquiring, preserving and providing access to digital content. 

British Geological Survey

The Postal Museum

University of St Andrews

This section covers the policies, strategies and procedures that are in place to govern the operation and management of the digital archive. Topics that may be addressed as policy principles include documentation and related issues around accountability and transparency.

University of Warwick

University of St Andrews

The Postal Museum

University of Cambridge

This section includes principles around ensuring that digital preservation functions and activites are appropriately resourced, staffed and supported.

Topics that might be mentioned in your policy principles include statements relation to resourcing, staff training and advocacy activites. For example:

University of the Arts London

British Geological Survey

University of St Andrews

 Bodleian Libraries 

National Archives of Australia

Wellcome Collection

Introduction

The reason for preserving digital content is so that it can be accessed, but decisions need to be made around who can access it, how and when? The answers to these questions are rarely straightforward, particularly where many different types of content with different rights and restrictions are involved.

“This is a really important section of RAM for us as access has always been the driver for any of the digital preservation activities at the University. Our collections have been the focus of all of our digital preservation activities to date and this work is really seen as an extension of our core role to support teaching, learning and research (which inevitably brings a need for access).” - Elisabeth Thurlow, University of the Arts London

Tips

• Facilitating access to content is challenging if you don’t have the right information about licensing, permissions and confidentiality. You may need to put a substantial amount of effort into enhancing metadata and documentation about collections before you can consider access.

• Make your access platform user-led. Find out what people are searching for, what terms they are using, and which searches are producing no results. Ask users how they want to be able to search.

• Make web accessibility a part of every conversation about online access to digital collections - it should not be an afterthought.

• Ensure it is clear to users of the content what they can and can’t do with it. There are great examples of clear infographics that explain Creative Commons licencing for users from Te Papa (https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1289772 - click on download image) and University of the Arts London (https://digitalcollections.arts.ac.uk/object/?code=calm:TE/1/2/1/iii - click on ‘creative commons’).

• Find ways of demonstrating the value and impact of increased access - gather case studies and examples of how digital content is being used.

• Consider using online content for online exhibitions or online collaborations. Increased availability of content may enable other types of access that you had not previously considered.

Helpful resources

• Levels of Born Digital Access - this award winning initiative from the DLF Born-Digital Access Working Group, provides a set of clear benchmarks and practical guidelines supporting access to born-digital materials.  

• Developing an Access Strategy for Born Digital Archival Material - this Technology Watch Report Guidance Note from Brian Dietz and Shira Peltzman includes a set of recommendations that provide a starting point for establishing access to born digital archives.

• Exploring ethical considerations for providing access to digital heritage collections - a Technology Watch Guidance Note from Lisa Smith, Jenny Wood, Greg Oakes & Madalyn Grant details the ethical considerations when working toward access outcomes.

• Novice to Know-how "Providing Access to Preserved Digital Content" - this online course aims to provide learners with an understanding of the broad range of issues to be considered when providing access, as well as the ability to implement simple access provisions.

• Computational Access: A beginner's guide for digital preservation practitioners - this introductory guide to computational access is intended to provide enough information for practitioners to understand the benefits and drawbacks of computational access, and define some first steps towards implementing it. 

• Understanding User Needs - a DPC Technology Watch Guidance Note by Sharon McMeekin which explains different methodologies for finding out what your users want. 

• Curating for Accessibility - an article in the International Journal of Digital Curation by T. Anderson, R.D. Colón, A. Goben and S. Karcher which discusses Accessibility of research data to disabled users and how this was addressed at he Qualitative Data Repository. There are some helpful and pragmatic tips for moving forward listed in the article.

• Endings Principles for Digital Longevity – a set of prompts that digital humanities projects are encouraged to follow in order to ensure the longevity of their web interfaces. There are five primary components: data, documentation, processing, products, and release management.

• Legal and Ethical Considerations for Born-Digital Access (2022) – produced by the Legal Due Diligence Subteam of the Digital Library Federation Born-Digital Access Working Group. “It comprises a set of guidelines for thinking through the complex legal and ethical issues involved in providing access to born-digital archival records.

• Ownership, Control, Access and Possession (OCAP™): The Path to First Nations Information Governance, from the First Nations Information Governance Centre (2014) – the product of a Canadian initiative which describes itself as “the de facto standard for conducting research on First Nations, and has grown beyond research to include the governance of all First Nations Information”.

Case studies

• Providing computational access to the Polytechnic Magazine (1879 to 1960) - Jacob Bickford talks through his approach to implementing computational access to a set of digitized magazines at the University of Westminster.

• Inspiring curiosity: Increasing access to collections at University of the Arts London - Elisabeth Thurlow from University of the Arts London blogs about a project to increase access to their growing digital collections.

• Discovering the digital: Developing born digital access - Laura Peaurt describes progress towards establishing access to born digital content at the University of Nottingham.

• Understanding user needs: a case study from the National Library of Scotland - this Technology Watch Guidance Note from Chris Fleet provides a good example of how access systems are updated to reflect user feedback.

• Self-Care Protocol for Archivists and Researchers - this protocol from the Archiving Reproductive Health project at the Digital Repository of Ireland provides a good example of the guidance that can be provided to users of sensitive and potentially traumatic digital collections.

• Academics Retire and Servers Die: Adventures in the Hosting and Storage of Digital Humanities Projects by James Cummings (2023), Digital Humanities Quarterly, Vol 17 No 2 - an interesting case study describing what became of two digital humanities web interfaces after the project that created and maintained them ended. References the Endings Principles as a helpful way of mitigating some of the risks around the longevity of web interfaces.

Introduction

This section of DPC RAM focuses on the metadata that is needed to preserve and provide access to digital content. It includes technical metadata on file formats and dependencies that will aid preservation decisions, metadata that demonstrates the authenticity of the content, and metadata that helps users to find and understand the content.

“When we decided to adopt the PREMIS metadata standard this was a really good step for the organization as it allowed us not only to gather the appropriate metadata but to continue to develop metadata over time in a structured way.” - Nicola Steele, Grosvenor Estates

Tips

• Creating a digital asset register can be a really helpful step for gaining greater intellectual control of your digital holdings. It may be that digital content is stored in multiple different places or that you have a backlog of content that hasn’t yet been processed. Completing a digital asset register will allow you to gain better understanding and control over the size and scale of your holdings.

• Ensure your digital asset register works for you. Does it include all the information you need? Is it complete or is there patchy coverage? 

• Don’t underestimate the importance of metadata about copyright, licencing and accessibility. It is hard to do anything with digital content if this information isn’t clear and easy to understand - both for staff and for users.

• Ensure that you have clear guidelines on creating and updating metadata and that this information is accessible to those who need to use it.

• Communicate with developers or third parties who provide systems for storing and surfacing metadata - ensure you pass on feedback and requirements in order to make sure systems are developing in a direction useful for you.

• Enhancing and improving metadata is time consuming and it can be a challenge to get any additional funding for it. However, it is very much worth the effort. Investing time in this opens up opportunities to do more exciting things with digital content in the future.

• Do not see metadata enhancement as an isolated exercise - find ways to use the improved metadata (for example facilitating better reporting, better preservation planning, better access and discovery) to demonstrate that it was time well spent.

• Consider recording any physical locations in the local language(s) and be aware of any relevant Indigenous terminologies or community-specific language.

• Noting where material has restrictions on access at all levels of metadata will help mitigate the risk of inappropriate disclosure.

Helpful resources

• Aus Preserves Ingest and Pre-ingest training modules - these training materials are available to download in full, including slide decks, participant handbooks and workbooks. Of particular interest might be the module on metadata and digital preservation.

• Born Digital Archive Cataloguing and Description - this Technology Watch Guidance Note from Jenny Bunn provides a helpful introduction to descriptive metadata for born digital archives. 

• Examples of Born Digital Description in Finding Aids - this initiative provides a helpful snapshot of descriptive practices for born digital archives.

• Persistent Identifier Guide - this resource from the Dutch Digital Heritage Network provides a helpful introduction to persistent identifiers, including an FAQ and a useful tool to help an organization select a persistent identifier scheme that is right for them. This resource is available in Dutch and English and although is aimed at organizations in the Netherlands, will also be of interest internationally. 

• ARA Diversity & Inclusion - a series of blogs from the Archies and Records Association (ARA) UK and Ireland, on decolonising the archives (mostly focusing on archival description).

• Guidelines for First Nations Collection Description (2023)– written by Tui Raven, these guidelines are intended to “assist libraires and archives as they transform their approaches towards creating reparative descriptions for materials created by or containing information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities”.

• Local Contexts – a hub of resources to support Indigenous communities with tools that can reassert cultural authority in heritage collections and data.

Case studies

• Doing digital - putting theory into practice - Beth Astridge and Clair Waller from the University of Kent discuss born digital cataloguing and description.

• Developing Shared Born Digital Archival Description Guidelines at the Yale University Library - a case study from Yale University of a collaborative approach to defining guidelines for born digital description.

• The exciting world of metadata - a blog post from Teagan Zoldoske from the Archaeology Data Service which gives an excellent overview of why metadata is so important for reuse of digital collections. 

Introduction

Content preservation is perhaps one of the more challenging sections of DPC RAM and one that many institutions make progress on only once other elements of digital preservation are more established. It focuses on the need to be able to enable digital content to be rendered and understood for the long term.

“My top tip for this section of RAM is to communicate your needs to management - whether this be for more training, for more time or more resource. If there is something that is stopping you from moving forward, don’t let it get forgotten. Make sure you are vocal and visible.” - Nicola Steele, Grosvenor Estates

Tips

• Avoid the trap of performing digital preservation actions pre-emptively. Only change digital content when there is a clear risk or access need.

• Use tools such as DROID to gain an understanding of what you have and to start to consider the preservation risks and actions that may need to be taken. DROID not only helps identify the file format of your files but can also highlight files that are password protected.

• Supplement information gathered with file format identification tools with a more in-depth understanding of particular file formats such as that provided by the Library of Congress’s Recommended Format Statement.

• Think carefully about whether file format validation is a necessary step in your workflow. A number of validation tools are available for different content types to check whether a  file conforms to a particular file format specification. These tools are used widely in digital preservation, but do not assume they are always a useful step in your preservation workflow without establishing why you need them and how you might act on the results.They may provide valuable information you could use to improve a content creation or migration workflow but in many cases may just create additional metadata that you may never act on. On this topic, this blog post from Paul Wheatley is well worth reading: A valediction for validation?

• Remember that the preservation actions that you carry out need to be chosen with an eye on user needs. Current and future users and use cases for the digital content should help inform your decisions with regard to preservation approach.

• Communicate your needs (and the needs of the content you are preserving) to senior management. Some of the actions within this section of RAM can be quite time consuming and may require additional resource, knowledge or skills. Having a clear picture of what you are trying to achieve and why will help with making the case for this work.

• Adopt a suitable metadata standard (e.g. PREMIS) to enable key information about any preservation actions you take to be fully captured.

Helpful resources

• Tool demos within the Digital Preservation Handbook - for example those that can be used to characterise digital content - DROID 

• Aus Preserves Ingest and Pre-ingest training modules - these training materials are available to download in full, including slide decks, participant handbooks and workbooks. The module on file format characterisation could be of particular interest.

• Understanding User Needs - a DPC Technology Watch Guidance Note by Sharon McMeekin which explains different methodologies for finding out what your users want

• Data Types Series, Technology Watch Guidance Notes - a set of guidance notes by Artefactual Systems and the DPC focusing on different types of data and providing a brief overview of some of the challenges and preservation approaches that can be taken - titles include 'Preserving Datatabases', 'Preserving Spreadsheets' and 'Preserving CAD'.

• Technology Watch Reports - the DPC series of Technology Watch Reports cover a range of different topics, many of which focus on specific types of data or formats and would provide a useful source of reference to guide preservation decisions. See for example Preserving Born-Digital Design and Construction Records, Pragmatic Audiovisual Preservation and Preserving Email. The full report series can be found here.

• COPTR - this tool registry can help identify useful tools for file format identification, validation, as well as file format migration 

• Preservation planning and Technology Watch - a DPC briefing day on this topic in 2021. Slides from the event are available on the event page and DPC Members can login to the website to see recordings of the presentations.

• The ‘Bit List’ of Endangered Digital Species - this resource provides a snapshot of the concerns expressed by the global digital preservation community about the risks faced by different types of digital content. It can be used to better understand the wider risks to content you may hold, and to advocate for any action that needs to be taken. 

• The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation - this excellent book by Trevor Owens provides some valuable insights into some of the challenges of content preservation including the decision-making around how to preserve complex digital objects.

Case studies

• On a Transparent Process for Digital Preservation - Leslie Johnston discusses NARA’s methodology and framework for assessing risks to specific file formats and establishing preservation plans 

• Teaching a Young Dog Old Tricks: Emulation Research at the National Library of Scotland - Sara Day Thompson and Graham Purnell share their experiences at getting started with emulation

• Evolving File Format Identification, Migration, and Management for Preservation through Tool Development - Tom Smyth and Maxime Champagne from Library and Archives Canada detail their process for identifying files and assigning them to a risk category which can be used to help inform appraisal decisions 

• Resurrecting the Digital Past: Access to artistic content on CD-ROM - this award winning study from sasha arden describes a student project to extract and preserve digital art from CD-ROM 

• What are the significant properties of a WordStar file? - as part of a series of blog posts about the preservation of a set of WordStar files at the University of York, Jenny Mitcham blogs about the characteristics that need to be prioritized for preservation in any file migration that is carried out. 

• Walking a tightrope across the gap of digital preservation and environmental sustainability: The National Archives of the Netherlands and the challenge of achieving a climate-neutral digital archive (2023) – written by Sophia van Hoek, this describes trying to find the ‘acceptable compromise’ between digital and environmental sustainability. She looks specifically at fixity checking, tools for file identification and migration v. emulation, and considers how a different approach could reduce the environmental impact of their digital preservation activities.

Introduction

This section describes perhaps one of the highest priority areas of the service level capabilities of RAM. As a minimum an organization carrying out digital preservation needs to ensure that they can maintain an authentic and accurate copy of the digital content that they are preserving and can demonstrate that this is the case.

“Find someone who works for an organization that is similar to yours and ask what they are doing. There are some really wildly different approaches out there, so take the time to understand why they are doing what they are doing rather than just what they are doing.” - Hania Smerecka, Lloyds Banking Group

Tips

• It is important to gain an understanding of the different risks you are trying to mitigate against with your bitstream preservation activities and storage architecture - you can then put appropriate steps in place to reduce the likelihood of problems occuring.

• Do not be afraid to ask questions of third parties who provide your storage services, but do also bear in mind that your service provider may be using services from another third party provider. It could may take a little bit of effort to fully understand how your digital content is being stored.

• If you outsource storage, you may have a lack of control over bitstream preservation and how it is carried out. Can you trust that the service provider will do it well? Remember that you can also take some steps to mitigate bitstream preservation risks yourself - you may be able to generate and retain your own checksums for your preserved content and run checks periodically.

• Do not be afraid to ask for help if you are not a storage expert (many of us aren’t!) - find experts in your own organization and ask them questions.

• Think carefully about which staff should have permissions to work with preserved content. If you have a digital preservation system there may be certain types of user role provided by default, but these may not meet all of your needs. Take care to map out the roles and permissions that your organization will need. Planning this at an early stage will save having to back pedal later on. Speaking to other organizations to find out how they do this (and most importantly why they chose to do it a certain way) is invaluable.

• Document the different user access profiles and ensure these are reviewed periodically.

• Take advantage of user groups and community discussion forums. There are likely to be others in the digital preservation community who are using similar services or solutions to you and it may be helpful to talk to them and compare notes.

Helpful resources

• A risk driven approach to Bitstream Preservation - this Technology Watch Guidance Note from Paul Wheatley describes a risk based approach to storage for digital preservation. 

• Which Checksum Algorithm should I use? - this Technology Watch Guidance Note by Matthew Addis doesn’t just answer the question in the title, it also includes a great overview of checksums and their use in digital preservation. 

• NDSA Fixity Survey 2021 - a report on the second fixity survey carried out by the NDSA, it summarizes responses from 100+ practitioners on how they use fixity information to help manage their digital collections and provides a really useful set of information to benchmark your own practices against. 

• Tool demos within the Digital Preservation Handbook - for example those that can be used to create and verify checksums - Checksum by Corz, Fixity Pro and CSV Validator (which is used alongside DROID)

• Digital Preservation Storage Criteria - a list of criteria, or design attributes, for storage that supports the work of digital preservation. It may be possible to incorporate criteria into tender or contract documents to lead to a clearer understanding of your needs and a more suitable solution.

• Toward environmentally sustainable preservation - an article by Keith L Pendergrass, Walker Sampson, Tessa Walsh, and Laura Alagna which includes helpful suggestions on how to minimize the environmental impact of digital preservation.

• COPTR - a helpful reference for tools that can be used to support activities around storage and file fixity.

• Digital Asset Registers – a section of the Novice to Know-How training, which gives advice on how to create a Digital Asset Register (DAR)

Case studies

• Building Wellcome Collection’s new archival storage service - Alex Chan describes how the Wellcome Collection built their new cloud based storage service 

• Our approach to digital verification - Alex Chan describes the Wellcome Collection’s robust approach to digital verification 

• Cloudy Culture: Preserving digital culture in the cloud - a series of blog posts by Lee Hibberd of National Library of Scotland explores storage in the cloud (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)

• Three Copy Nirvana? A Climb into the Clouds - Lee Hibberd from the National Library of Scotland details their progress towards getting three copies of their data stored