DPC

The benefits of digital preservation can be expressed in terms of new opportunities they create in the short and long term. Even relatively simple steps can bring early rewards if properly embedded within the mission of an organization.

This case note examines Glasgow Museums' approach to its large and growing digital collections. It describes how some simple steps in addressing digital preservation have created short and long term opportunities for the museums. They used some very traditional simple and well know approaches - creating an inventory, assessing significance and promoting access - as the basis for building confidence to manage the wider challenges they face.

The DPC, JISC and West Yorkshire Archive Service are delighted to announce the release of a new digital preservation case note which examines the practical problems of digital preservation faced by West Yorkshire Archive Service as they negotiated and received their first large digital collection.  They conclude that although digital preservation can seem daunting and although nobody has the perfect answer to digital preservation for every case, that if we try we may fail but if we do nothing we certainly will.

The case note will be released at the end of October: a member's preview of the Case Note is available here (login required).

Email is arguably the most ubiquitous, inexorable and voluminous manifestation of information technology. It is a defining characteristic of our age and a critical element in all manner of communications and transactions. Industry and commerce depend upon email; families and friendships are sustained by email; government and economies rely upon email; communities are created and strengthened by email.  It is sometimes hard to remember how we functioned before the widespread adoption of email in public and private life. But for all the importance of email and the transactions it supports, it is surprisingly absent from much of the digital preservation literature.  Institutions, organizations and individuals have a considerable investment and in many cases statutory requirements to safeguard large collections of email, so there ought to be a strong body of experience and clear workflows to follow.  So why is there so little detailed advice available?

To some extent email encapsulates many of the core challenges of digital preservation.  It would be simple to preserve if it were not for the infinite variety of attachments that go with it; it would be simple to preserve if we could eliminate all the duplicates and spam; if we could remove all the personal details; if we could resolve the copyright issues; if we could resolve access and security barriers. These and other subtle, complex demands mean that the relatively simple proposition of preserving our collected digital correspondence can be blighted by interminable wrangling over procedure, policy and technology.  Nonetheless the preservation of email creates a readily understood basis to engage with the widest possible audience with digital preservation.  It provides a pervasive environment for innovation and assessment of digital preservation tools and services.  It will be a necessary component to ensure our digital memory is accessible tomorrow.

This DPC briefing day will provide a forum for members to review and debate the latest developments in the preservation of email. Based on commentary and case studies from leaders in the field, participants will be presented with emerging policies, tools and technologies and will be encouraged to propose and debate new directions for research.  The day will include a discussion of key topics such as:

• lifecycle management of email
• Ingest, documentation and accession of email archives
• Emerging tools and policies for preservation of email

Who should come?

This day will be of interest to:

• Collections manager, librarians, archivists in all institutions
• Tools developers and policy makers in digital preservation
• Innovators and researchers in information policy and management
• Innovators and researchers in computing science
• Vendors and providers of email services

Draft Programme Outline

1030      Registration and Coffee

1100      Welcome and introductions (William Kilbride, DPC)

1105      The Nature of the Problem (Chris Prom, University of Illinois)

1135      Why preserving email is harder than it sounds - theory and practice (Stephen Howard, Information Management Officer, the United Nations)

1205      Receiving and managing email archives at the Bodleian Libraries - a case study (Susan Thomas, Bodleian Libraries)

1235      Discussion and questions

1245      Lunch

1330      Email management: 15 wasted years and counting (Steve Bailey, JISC InfoNet)

1355      Past, present and future in email preservation: practical experience and future directions (Maureen Pennock, British Library)

1420      Emerging tools for email preservation (Tom Jackson, Loughborough University)

1445      Discussion and questions

1500      Coffee

1515      Discussion and panel (led by Tim Gollins, TNA)

By 1600 Close

Glasgow Museums and the DPC, with the assistance of the JISC are delighted to announce the release of a new addition to the Digital Preservation Case Notes series.  In this case note, Glasgow Museums shows that the benefits of digital preservation can be expressed in terms of new opportunities they create in the short and long term.  Even relatively simple steps can bring early rewards if properly embedded within the mission of an organization.

PARSE.Insight was a two-year project co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme. It was concerned with the preservation of digital information in science, from primary data through analysis to the final publications resulting from the research. The problem is how to safeguard this valuable digital material over time, to ensure that it is accessible, usable and understandable in future. The rapid pace of change in information technology threatens media, file formats and software with obsolescence, and changing concepts and terminology also mean that, even if data can be read, it might not be correctly interpreted by future generations.Many initiatives are already under way in this area, and the aim of the PARSE.Insight project is to develop a roadmap and recommendations for developing the e-infrastructure in order to maintain the long-term accessibility and usability of scientific digital information in Europe. The project conducted a number of surveys and in-depth case studies of different scientific disciplines and stakeholders and based its results on these findings, as well as knowledge of ongoing developments.PARSE.Insight is closely linked to the Alliance for Permanent Access to the Records of Science. The output from this project is taken forward in the APARSEN Network of Excellence. Results are also delivered to the European Commission to support them in defining a strategy for developing a sustainable research infrastructure.

Many APA members were also involved in the PARSE.Insight project.

• APA Website: http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/
• Project Website: http://www.parse-insight.eu/

• PARSE.Insight Roadmap [PDF 515KB]

The DPC has responded to the consultation on the Public records review, welcoming the explicit statement that digitized and ‘born digital’ materials constitute a public record, noting and supporting the focus on informational content and the consequent need for ‘technology proofing’ and the management of formats.  The DPC has offered its assistance in identifying and resolving issues that may arise.

The Digital Preservation Coalition is delighted to welcome St Andrews University as its latest associate member.

Birgit Plietzsch, Arts Computing Advisor at the University explained 'Most of today's information is held in a digital format. As a University we need to ensure that digital information remains accessible for as long as required. Our current focus is on the preservation of Arts and Humanities electronic resources. Such resources are often the outcome of expensive publicly funded research projects. It is in the interest of the scholarly community within the University to ensure the data contained within these resources is preserved in the long-term.'

Long-term access is improved when content and metadata are wrapped in a single package. In this way data managers will be able to access technical and administrative information with the content. The METS standard can help achieve this.

This case note examines the 'Archival Sound Recordings 2' project from the British Library, noting that one of the challenges for long term access to digitised content is to ensure that descriptive information and digitised content are not separated from each other. The British Library has used a standard called METS to prevent this.