October 2005 - February 2006
A joint service of the Digital Preservation Coalition and the PADI (Preserving Access to Digital Information) gateway
To open PDFs you will need Adobe Reader
Compiled by Deb Woodyard-Robinson for the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and Marian Hanley (National Library of Australia)
1 March 2006
This is an archived issue of What's New.
Also available as a print-friendly PDF (147KB).
Known problem links in online versions and PDFs are disabled (or updated when the issue is current) but it is not always possible to annotate the amendments in PDFs with a date or other information which may appear in the online version.
This is a summary of selected recent activity in the field of digital preservation compiled from the Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) Gateway and the digital-preservation and padiforum-l mailing lists. Additional or related items of interest may also be included.
Contents:
- News from organisations and initiatives
1.1 Digital Preservation Coalition
1.2 Library of Congress
1.3 Digital Curation Centre
1.4 Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) - Specific themes
2.1 Digital Infrastructure
2.2 Digital Repositories
2.3 Repository certification
2.4 Electronic records
2.5 Electronic publications and e-journals
2.6 Web Archiving
2.7 Format Registries
2.8 Tools
2.9 Modular Emulation
2.10 Audiovisual preservation
2.11 Copyright
2.12 Digital Preservation Training - Other publications
- Events
4.1 Recent events
4.2 Forthcoming events
1. News from Organisations and Initiatives
1.1 Digital Preservation Coalition
The Digital Preservation Award for 2005, sponsored by the Digital Preservation Coalition, was awarded to the PREMIS Working Group - a team of 30 experts from five countries. The Working Group published the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata and associated XML schemas to provide guidance for institutions needing to manage and preserve digital materials. The presentation was made at the Conservation Awards ceremony held at the British Museum on November 22.
Press release: Second Digital Preservation Award 2005 (November 22, 2005). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/advocacy/award2005.html
Update 09 July 2008
Link amended to new location.
Further details on the 2005 Digital Preservation Award are available (retrieved 1 March 2006) from:
http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/awards/2005.html
The PREMIS Data Dictionary, associated schemas and news of the ongoing PREMIS maintenance activity may be found at (retrieved 1 March 2006): http://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/
In early 2006, the Digital Preservation Coalition published Mind the Gap : Assessing Digital Preservation Needs in the UK. Written by Robert Sharpe and Martin Waller, this extensive report uses information gathered from surveys and interviews as well as existing sources of information to reveal a digital preservation 'state of the nation'. The survey covered many types of institutions including government, financial, scientific as well as archives and libraries. The report identifies the current state of practice, UK digital preservation needs and recommendations.
Sharpe, R. and Waller, M. (2006) Mind the Gap : Assessing Digital Preservation Needs in the UK. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dpconline.org/docs/reports/uknamindthegap.pdf
The Digital Preservation Coalition have also begun a series of brief reports highlighting DPC member projects, and will provide a new report every 6-8 weeks. The first report in the series features the SHERPA-DP project of the UK Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS), which is investigating a sustainable, repository-independent model for preservation.
Digital Preservation Coalition (2005). DPC Featured Project. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/join/sherpa.html
1.2 Library of Congress
In October, the Library of Congress announced that it has awarded $US3 million towards the development of Portico. Portico, which was featured in issue 11 of this digest, is a non-profit archive of born digital scholarly e-journals maintained by Ithaka Harbors Inc.
Press release : Library of Congress Announces Award of $3 Million to Portico, a Nonprofit Electronic Archiving Service. (October 5, 2005). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2005/05-217.html
Also in October, Media Matters LLC. announced that the Library of Congress (LOC) will purchase its System for the Automated Migration of Media Archives (SAMMA) to migrate and preserve LOC's extensive collection of audiovisual material, in preparation for the move to the National Audio Visual Conservation Center. The SAMMA system will produce a preservation-quality lossless Motion JPEG 2000 digital file copy of each master tape and create associated technical metadata.
Press release: Media Matters LLC. Library of Congress Selects Automated Videotape Preservation and Digitization System for Audio-Video Project. (12 October, 2005.) Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.media-matters.net/images/pressreleases/Final%20LOC
%20press%20release%2010%2011%2005.pdf
1.3 Digital Curation Centre
The Digital Curation Centre has announced a series of case studies and interviews designed to highlight issues in digital curation. The first issue, Wide Field Astronomy Unit, covers various factors influencing data curation, including methodological development, standards and legal issues, evaluation, and human factors.
Donnelly, Martin. (2005). Wide Field Astronomy Unit. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/case-studies/wfau/
Digital Curation Centre. Digital Curation Centre Case Studies and Interviews. ISSN 1749-8767. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/case-studies/
Over the past six months, the DCC has also developed a directory of curation tools, which it will continually update. The list includes existing non-commercial tools and technologies which could be implemented by creators, curators and re-users of digital information. The list is not limited to technical tools, but also incorporates relevant technical manuals, methodologies and papers. The level of expertise required to implement the tools is indicated after each tool description. The DCC and PADI are intending to work together on this resource to avoid duplication of effort and to maximise the benefit of the directory.
Digital Curation Centre, (2005). Digital Curation Tools. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/tools/digital-curation-tools/
Further information on a range of emerging tools can be found in the Tools section, below.
1.4 Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands)
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) announced that it has signed an agreement with the National Diet Library (Japan) covering experience and knowledge exchange in areas such as digitisation and digital preservation, including joint development of methods and techniques for long-term accessibility of digital publications.
Press release : National Libraries of the Netherlands and Japan Sign Joint Operating Agreement.
(September 28 2005). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.kb.nl/nieuws/2005/japan-en.xml
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek has also proposed a new model for emulation - modular emulation - which is described in more detail below.
2. Specific themes
2.1 Digital Infrastructure
In late 2005, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) draft Cyberinfrastructure Plan was released for comment. The draft plan included the strategic directions for high performance computing, data and data analysis, education and the workforce. In January 2006, the National Science Foundation released a new version of this document. There are new additions on scientific data management and curation. Comments are invited and can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
National Science Foundation (U.S.). (2006). Office of Cyberinfrastructure. NSFs Cyberinfrastructure Vision of 21st Century Discovery. Version 5.0, 20 January 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/ci_v5.pdf
National Science Foundation (U.S.). (2005). Office of Cyberinfrastructure. NSFs Cyberinfrastructure Vision of 21st Century Discovery. Version 4.0, 26 September 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/CI-v40.pdf
The European Task Force for Permanent Access to the Records of Science has released documents on the strategic action plan and their research agenda for 2006-2010. The Task Force proposes a three-pronged approach to preserving the digital scientific record: formation of a strong alliance of committed parties; development of a common framework identifying the key infrastructure elements for preservation and access; and the carrying out of a strategic action programme.
European Task Force Permanent Access. (2005). Proposal for a Research and Development Programme. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://tfpa.kb.nl/Proposal%20Research%20and%20Development.doc
European Task Force Permanent Access. (2005). Strategic Action Programme 2006-2010. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://tfpa.kb.nl/Strategic%20Action%20Programme.pdf
2.2 Digital Repositories
Tufts University released a draft for comment, the Ingest Guide for University Electronic Records, which is a step by step description of the stages of ingest. The document is part of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) electronic records research grant project (2004-083) which will test the potential of Fedora (the Flexible Extensible Digital Object and Repository Architecture) in the preservation of university records. The Guide provides a good example of detailed procedures.
Glick, Kevin and Wilczek, Eliot. (2005). Ingest Guide for University Electronic Records. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://dca.tufts.edu/features/nhprc/reports/3_1_draftpublic2.pdf
An article by Rosenthal et al. concentrates on threats to digital preservation repositories from internal sources, such as operator error, software and hardware failure and storage media failure. It discusses the strategies that can be utilised to negate these threats, including using audit mechanisms to detect errors and failures and other strategies such as replication, transparency, migration and diversity.
Rosenthal, D.S.H., Robinson, T., Lipkis, T., Riech, V. and Morabito, S. (2005). 'Requirements for Digital Preservation Systems : a Bottom Up Approach'. D-Lib Magazine, 11(11), November 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november05/rosenthal/11rosenthal.html
In late 2005 JISC launched a new repositories discussion list. It is an open list for the discussion of any aspects of international repository activity, including technology and policy. The list archives are available for searching.
JISC Repositories mailing list. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/jisc-repositories.html
2.3 Repository Certification
Certification of digital repositories is becoming a popular topic, with RLG DigiNews devoting the entire October 2005 issue to the subject.
The article by McHugh and Ross provides an introduction to audit and certification in digital repositories. Various issues are discussed, including what conditions must be satisfied for a digital repository to attain trusted status, and how a repository can formalise its trusted status and gain an audit and certification mandate. The activities and initiatives of the Digital Curation Centre in regard to audit and certification are also discussed.
McHugh, A. and Ross, S. (2005). 'Audit and Certification of Digital Repositories : Creating a Mandate for the Digital Curation Centre (DCC)'. RLG DigiNews, 9 (5), October 15, 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20793#article1
The second article by Robin L. Dale discusses the audit and certification tools and processes being developed by the RLG-National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Digital Repository Certification Task Force, which has released the Audit Checklist for the Certification of Trusted Digital Repositories; and the test implementation of these tools by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) Audit and Certification of Digital Archives project.
Dale, Robin L. (2005). 'Making Certification Real : Developing Methodology for Evaluating Repository Trustworthiness'. RLG DigiNews, 9 (5), October 15, 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20793#article2
The article by Dobratz and Schoger provides an overview of two different certification-related initiatives and approaches in Germany: the Deutsche Initiative fur Netzwerkinformation (DINI) Certificate for Document and Publication Repositories; and the Working Group on Trusted Repository Certification of the Network of Expertise in Long-term STOrage of Digital Resources (nestor). Different goals of certification are identified and are labelled 'soft certification', which aims to promote the use of standards and interoperability, and 'hard certification' to provide a measure of trustworthiness.
Dobratz, S. and Schoger, A. (2005). 'Digital Repository Certification : a Report from Germany'. RLG DigiNews, 9 (5), October 15, 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20793#article3
2.4 Electronic Records
As the InterPARES 2 project is now in its final year, more information is becoming available on its activities and outcomes, and recently two papers have appeared. The first paper describes the InterPARES Project, including the methodology, research activities, preliminary findings, and products such as MADRAS (Metadata and Archival Description Registry and Analysis System). The second paper concentrates on the projects and case studies of InterPARES 2. The projects include modelling, terminology, policy and description of digital entities. The article also describes various case studies from the focus areas of arts, science and e-government which identified issues and current practices in records creation and maintenance.
Duranti, L. (2005). 'Long-term Preservation of Accurate and Authentic Digital Data : the InterPARES Project'. Data Science Journal, ISSN 1683-1470, vol. 4, 25 October 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://journals.eecs.qub.ac.uk/codata/journal/contents/4_05/4_05pdfs/DS426.pdf
Duranti, L. and Moore, S. (2005). 'InterPARES 2 : a Progress Report'. DigiCULT, Issue 10, October 2005, pp. 28-31. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.digicult.info/downloads/digicult_newsletter_issue10_2005_hires.pdf
An article by Adrian Cunningham and Margaret Phillips focuses on the need for government agencies and other institutions to ensure that electronic publications and organisational records are collected, managed and preserved as a means of ensuring long-term access for the benefit of e-governance and e-democracy. The article provides definitions of online publications and online records; explores the role of libraries and archives in e-government, including initiatives undertaken at the National Library of Australia and National Archives of Australia; addresses factors that contribute to the vulnerability of online information; and concludes with a list of factors that inhibit the long-term availability of online information for e-governance and e-democracy.
Cunningham, Adrian and Phillips, Margaret E. "Accountability and accessibility: ensuring the evidence of e-governance in Australia". Aslib Proceedings. 57 (4) 2005. Available via subscription from www.emeraldinsight.com.
Filip Boudrez has recently written two articles on authenticity, digital signatures and electronic records. The first article canvasses the use of digital signatures as proof of authenticity and integrity. The article also discusses issues with the long term archiving of digitally signed documents and offers some solutions. The second article discusses the eDAVID data storage project and the encapsulation of all components of electronic records in one computer file as a sustainable digital preservation strategy.
Boudrez, Filip. (2005). Digital signatures and Electronic Records. eDAVID. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/docs/digitalsignatures.pdf
Boudrez, Filip. (2005). Digital Containers for Shipment into the Future. eDAVID. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.expertisecentrumdavid.be/docs/digital_containers.pdf
2.5 Electronic publications and e-journals
During the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) membership meeting in October 2005, the organization endorsed a call to action to preserve e-journals. The statement describes four key actions needed to support the development of preservation archives for scholarly e-journals: the recognition of preservation as insurance against loss of electronic journals; a minimal set of defined services for qualified preservation archives; the need to invest in qualified archiving solutions; and the need to negotiate preservation deposit as a condition of e-journal licensing. The ARL's Scholarly Communication Steering Committee will be developing objectives and action items stemming from the statement's recommendations.
Press release: Urgent action Needed to Preserve Scholarly Electronic Journals. (October 15, 2005). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from : http://www.arl.org/osc/EjournalPreservation_Final.pdf
The LOCKSS Program (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) based at Stanford University Libraries has announced a two year project called CLOCKSS (Controlled LOCKSS) to commence in early 2006. The initiative will "test the LOCKSS technology and social model to support a 'large dark archive' that is both fail-safe and has an acceptable process for providing continuing access for orphaned materials." The project will replicate a representative portion of material from publisher members using a version of LOCKSS within a network of long-standing institutions and libraries and will be accountable to a joint board from the library, publishing and learned society sectors.
For more information see: CLOCKSS - Controlled Lots Of Copies Keep Stuff Safe. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.lockss.org/clockss/
'Editors' Interview with Victoria Reich, Director, LOCKSS Program.' RLG DigiNews, 10(1) 15 February 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20894#article0
Tomas Lunden reported on a seminar on electronic publications held at the Swedish Royal Library on 18 October 2005, at which were discussed the technical, political and organisational issues involved in the long term preservation and access to electronic publications. Also discussed were legal deposit of electronic publications and the outcomes of the SVEP project, which aimed at promoting, coordinating and supporting electronic publishing at Swedish universities and university colleges. The project began in September 2003 and ended in December 2005, and includes recommendations on interoperability and preservation.
Lunden, Tomas. (2005). 'Electronic Publications : Access Now and in the Future'. ScieCom info, Issue 3, 15 November 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.sciecom.org/sciecominfo/artiklar/lunden_05_03.shtml
2.6 Web archiving
An article published in January describes the UK Web Archiving Consortium (UKWAC). This project consists of six UK institutions who aim to establish a test bed for the selective archiving of UK web sites. The article discusses the background, methodology, benefits and issues arising as the project develops.
Bailey, S. and Thompson, D. 'UKWAC : Building the UK's First Public Web Archive.' D-Lib Magazine. 12(1), January 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://dlib.org/dlib/january06/thompson/01thompson.html
An article recently appeared on a new national web archiving initiative in Croatia - the DAMP Project (Digital Archive for Web Publications). The DAMP system was developed by the University Computing Centre based at the University of Zagreb (SRCE) and the National and University Library (NUL) in Zagreb. The article discusses the first version of DAMP, including its architecture, the gathering process and future developments such as the instigation of an authentication and authorisation system.
Milinovic, M. and Topolscak, N. (2005). 'Architecture of DAMP : a System for Harvesting and Archiving Web Publications.' Widwisawn. 3(3), 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://widwisawn.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/Issues/Vol3/issue3_3_1.html
2.7 Format registries
In January 2006, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awarded a grant of $US600,000 to Harvard University Library to further develop the Global Digital Format Registry (GDFR). The grant is for a two year project commencing February 2006. The GDFR was developed as a mechanism to provide trustworthy, sustainable and authoritative information about data formats.
Press release : Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Awards $600,000 to HUL for Global Digital Format Registry. (January 17, 2006). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://hul.harvard.edu/gdfr/mellon.html
The National Archives (UK) has released the latest version of their web-based technical registry PRONOM 4, designed to support long-term preservation. This version incorporates a number of significant enhancements. It now holds detailed technical information about individual file formats, including links to the full format specifications where available, and supports the use of unique identifiers.
Two related developments which work with PRONOM are the DROID file identification tool (see the Tools section, below) and PUIDs (Pronom Unique Identifiers). PUIDs are designed to provide persistent identifiers for file formats held in the PRONOM registry. A paper has been released outlining the PUID structure, the use of PUIDs, the scheme administration and the expression of PUIDs as Uniform Resource Locators. Another related significant development is that the scheme has been adopted for use by the e-Government Metadata Standard, thereby making its use government wide in the UK.
National Archives (UK). PRONOM 4. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/
National Archives (UK). PRONOM Unique Identifiers. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/pronom/puid.htm
Brown, Adrian. (2005). PRONOM PUID Scheme : a Scheme of Persistent Unique Identifiers for Representation Information. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/pronom/pdf/pronom_unique_identifier_scheme.pdf
2.8 Tools
As noted above, the National Archives (UK) has developed DROID (Digital Record Object Identification), an open source software tool that performs automated identification of file formats. These signatures are stored in an XML signature file, generated from information recorded in the PRONOM technical registry. New and updated signatures are regularly added to PRONOM, and DROID can be configured to automatically download updated signature files from the PRONOM website. Documentation, installation instructions and software downloads are available.
The National Archives also released a technical paper on this subject in September.
National Archives (UK). (2005). DROID. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/pronom/droid.htm
Brown, Adrian. (2005). Automatic Format Identification Using PRONOM and DROID. Retrieved 1 March 2006
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/fileformat/pdf/automatic_format_identification.pdf
The Digital Preservation Testbed project from the Nationaal Archief of the Netherlands has developed an application to preserve their email in accordance with legal requirements: TestbedXMaiL. This application demonstrates how email messages can be created in a sustainable manner and preserved for the long term using XML (eXtensible Markup Language). This application is now freely available as open source software for download.
Netherlands. Nationaal Archief. (2005). Testbed XMail. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/index.cfm?paginakeuze=299&categorie=6
In November, University of Queensland staff of the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) released Fez, an open source digital repository and workflow management system based on Fedora. The software can be downloaded from Sourceforge. New versions are planned to be released in 2006.
Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories. (2005). FEZ: Fedora-based Repository Management System. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.apsr.edu.au/currentprojects/fez06.htm
The Fedora website includes a tools section which provides a listing of Fedora-compatible open-source software. The software includes VALET for ETDs, VTLS OSC, Fez, ELATED, NSDL CMS, Fedora-OKI and VUE, and provides descriptions, documentation and download links.
Fedora. (2005). Tools. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.fedora.info/tools/index.shtml
2.9 Modular Emulation
In a paper presented at the 5th International Web Archiving Workshop (IWAW05) held in conjunction with the ECDL 2005 conference, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB) proposes a new model for emulation called modular emulation. The proposed model extends the concept of the Universal Virtual Computer (UVC) and involves emulating specific hardware components in software as separate modules, which can then be combined in a number of ways to emulate various target systems and configurations. The modules would be loaded and managed by a 'controller' , and would run within a Universal Virtual Machine environment.
Van der Hoeven, J. and Van Wijngaarden, H. 'Modular Emulation as a Viable Emulation Policy'. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 3652/2005, chapter 485. Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries: 9th European Conference, ECDL 2005, Vienna, Austria, Sept 18-23. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=issue&issn=0302-9743&volume=3652
Van der Hoeven, J. and Van Wijngaarden, H. (2005). Modular emulation as a long-term preservation strategy for digital objects. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands. The Hague, The Netherlands. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.iwaw.net/05/papers/iwaw05-hoeven.pdf
2.10 Audiovisual preservation
In November, the Digital Audio Working Group released version 2 of Digital Audio Best Practices. The document provides guidelines and best practice for the transfer of analogue recording to digital formats, as well as covering recording on digital formats. Also discussed is the storage and preservation of digital audio, file types and metadata for digital audio. The document includes a glossary and resource list.
Digital Audio Working Group (2005). Digital Audio Best Practices. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.cdpheritage.org/digital/audio/documents/CDPDABP_1-2.pdf
As a follow on activity to the 'Getting to Disc Based Loss-less Digital Video Preservation' conference, several new documents have been released. A first draft and overview of Towards a New Meta Standard for Long Term Digital Video Preservation has been published as well as a 'read me' document on the MPEG-A process.
Pearson, Glenn. (2005) Towards a New Meta standard for Long Term Digital Video Preservation. Zip files retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/VideoArchivists2005/follow-on.html
Pearson, Glenn. (2005). About Creating a New MPEG-A Multimedia Application Format. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/VideoArchivists2005/readme-mpeg.html
2.11 Copyright
In December 2005, a CLIR (Council on Library and Information Resources) report was released which focuses on United States copyright law. The report addresses the question of what libraries and archives are legally empowered to do to preserve and make accessible for research their holdings of pre-1972 commercial recordings, which are not protected by federal copyright law but governed by state laws. Other topics discussed are digital preservation and dissemination of sound recordings and technological protection issues. It is hoped that this publication will help in establishing a national audio preservation plan.
Besek, June M. (2005) Copyright Issues Relevant to Digital Preservation and Dissemination of Pre-1972 Commercial Sound Recordings by Libraries and Archives. Council on Library and Information Resources. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub135/contents.html
The Section 108 study group from the Library of Congress has announced that it will be holding two public roundtables during March 2006. The Study Group, which was featured in issue 11 of this digest, will hold the meetings on March 8 in Los Angeles and March 16 in Washington D.C. The purpose of the meetings is to gather opinions and suggestions on how to revise the copyright law to allow exceptions for libraries and archives. The Section 108 working Group website has more background information on this subject.
Press release: Study Group to Host Public Roundtables in March 2006 on Copyright Exceptions for Libraries and Archives. (17 January, 2006). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-017.html
2.12 Digital Preservation Training
Stuttgart Academy of Art & Design (Germany) has received a state grant to address the current digital preservation training deficit. Starting in April 2006, a two-year master-degree (M. A.) program will provide training in long-term preservation and restoration of analogue and digital photographs, video recordings and digital cultural and archival heritage. It will be taught by existing academics as well as visiting international professionals and include direct experience by cooperating with partner institutions in Germany and elsewhere. Expecting an international group of students and teachers, most classes will be taught in English, however, basic German language skills will be required.
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Stuttgart. (2006). Conservation of New Media and Digital Information. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from :
http://www.mediaconservation.abk-stuttgart.de/home_e.htm
The Digital Preservation Training Programme (DPTP) is a JISC funded project led by the University of London Computer Centre (ULCC). It offers practical training and support all staff involved in managing digital information within their institutions. After the success of its pilot course in October 2005, a training programme is scheduled for 20-24 March 2006 and is now taking registrations.
University of London Computer Centre. (2006) Digital Preservation Training Programme. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.ulcc.ac.uk/dptp/
3. Other publications
Clareson, T. (2006) "NEDCC Survey and Colloquium Explore Digitization and Digital Preservation Policies and Practices" RLG DigiNews, 10(1) 15 February 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.rlg.org/en/page.php?Page_ID=20894#article1
Tom Clareson has reported on a USA national survey conducted by the NEDCC (Northeast Document Conservation Center) to assess the digital preservation readiness of cultural heritage institutions. The survey was the first step in a project that ultimately aims to develop a digital preservation needs assessment methodology. Observations from the survey are that most respondents are creating and collecting digital materials, yet less than a third have policies in place that specifically address digital materials.
Harvey, Ross. (2005) Preserving Digital Materials. K.G. Saur. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.saur.de/index.cfm?content=kurzanzeige.cfm?show=0000011413&menu=catalog1
Announced in November, this monograph is available only in hardcopy. The author is Professor of Library and Information Management at Charles Sturt University, New South Wales, Australia. This book "provides an introduction to the principles, strategies and practices currently applied by librarians and recordkeepers to the preservation of digital information and will assist them to make informed decisions about the role of digital information in their care. The book is presented in four parts: Why do we preserve? What do we preserve? How do we preserve? and How do we manage digital preservation?. Each chapter includes a range of case studies from institutions at the forefront of digital object preservation". [description from abstract]
Rusbridge, Chris. (2006). "Excuse Me : Some Digital Preservation Fallacies". Ariadne. No. 46 (January 2006). Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue46/rusbridge/
This article discusses the cases against several assumptions in digital preservation. These include that digital preservation is expensive, that file formats become obsolete quickly, that interventions must occur frequently, that the preserved object must remain faithful to the original in all respects and that digital preservation repositories should have very long timescale aspirations.
Stevenson, Jane (2005). JORUM Research & Development Report: Preservation Watch Report - Digital Preservation of Learning Objects Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/jane.stevenson/jorumdpreportfinal.rtf
JORUM is a free online repository service for teaching and support staff in UK Further and Higher Education Institutions. This extensive report summarises current activities, standards and recommendations relating to digital preservation, with the aim of implementing a long term preservation strategy for learning objects within JORUM. The report includes discussions of international preservation initiatives, centralised and decentralised preservation models, preservation policy, preservation metadata and case studies.
UK Data Archive (2005). UK Data Archive Preservation Policy. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news/publications/UKDAPreservationPolicy0905.pdf
This is a comprehensive collection of the UK Data Archive policy statements. Policies covered include IT architecture, preservation metadata, preservation strategy, storage, security and disaster recovery. The document also has information on the purpose of the UK data Archive, the scope and structure of the preservation policy and definition of terms, as well as a comprehensive list of references.
Webb, Colin. (2005) Report to ICABS on Guidance for Digital Preservation : Report on a Survey of Sources. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/2005/documents/webb1.pdf
The report evaluates the availability of guidance in several areas including managing digital programs, deciding what to preserve, creating preservation content, transferring digital objects to an archive, naming, describing and controlling archived digital projects, managing legal issues, protecting and storing digital data and re-presenting archived objects for access.
Woodyard-Robinson, Deborah (Ed.) (2005) "Digital Preservation: Finding Balance". Library Trends vol. 54, no. 1, ISSN 0024-2594. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://puboff.lis.uiuc.edu/catalog/trends/issues.html
This issue of Library Trends is devoted to a range of digital preservation issues illustrating a variety of solutions in a range of contexts, from the implementation of large systems to issue specific solutions that are still in development. They include articles from international experts on large-scale digital preservation storage systems being built in three different environments: an academic library, a national library, and a media organization. The focus of the issue then moves on to selection and acquisition of digital resources for preservation, preservation metadata, networking for preservation and the development of the NDIIPP in the US.
4. Events
4.1 Recent events
Digital Curation Centre Conference: DCC 2005. 29-30 September 2005. Bath, UK.
Powerpoint presentations from this conference are now available from the DCC web site. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/dcc-2005/programme/
Refresh : the 1st International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology. 30 September - 1 October 2005.
In November, the webcast and conference papers in PDF format were released. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.banffcentre.ca/bnmi/programs/archives/2005/refresh/
DLM Forum 2005 Conference : Electronic Records Supporting e-Government and Digital Archives.
This conference was held 5-7 October, 2005, in Budapest, Hungary. The conference proceedings have been published, including the papers presented at the 'Preservation and Digital Archives' session. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/edoc_management/dlm_forum/proceed2005_en.htm
Joint Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and ERPANET Workshop on Long-term Curation of Medical Databases.
This workshop was held on 13-14 October 2005, at the Gulbenkian Institute in Lisbon, Portugal. Topic summaries and presentations are available from the DCC website. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/mdb-2005/index
Preserving the Digital Heritage: Principles and Policies. 4-5 November 2005, Koninklijke Bibliotheek and UNESCO, The Hague, the Netherlands
Powerpoint presentations and links to supporting documents are available. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.unesco.nl/main_6-3.php
Digital Curation and Preservation : Defining the Research Agenda for the Next Decade. 7-8 November, 2005
This event was organised by the Digital Curation Centre, British Council, CCLRC and JISC, and held in November, 2005 at the University of Warwick, England. The workshop was organised around three topics which were covered by breakout groups: Curation Services and Technologies; Drivers and Barriers (policy issues); and Data Life Cycle Management (process issues). The report of the event is now available and brings the results of all the groups together, outlining a number of policy development topics, priorities and specific research areas.
Digital Curation and Preservation : Defining the Research Agenda for the Next Decade : Report. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/warwick_2005/Warwick_Workshop_report.pdf
Ensuring Long-term Preservation and Adding Value to Scientific and Technical Data.
This conference was held 21 - 23 November 2005 at the Royal Society, Edinburgh, Scotland. Papers are available in PDF format. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/pv-2005/pv-2005-final-papers/
3rd European Conference on Research Infrastructures 6-7 December 2005, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Presentations and conclusions from the sessions are now available. The IT and Information Infrastructure session with papers covering Grids, Digital Curation, Digital Preservation, and Scholarly Communication may be of particular interest. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ecriuk/
Digital Curation Centre and Wellcome Library Joint Workshop on Future-proofing Institutional Websites. 19–20 January 2006, Wellcome Library, London
Presentations and documents are available. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/training/fpw-2006/
Open Repositories 2006. 30 January - 3 February 2006 at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Presentations are available as links from the program. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.apsr.edu.au/Open_Repositories_2006/index.htm
Building Preservation Environments. 17 February 2006. Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford, UK.
An archived webcast of the talk by Dr Reagan W Moore of the San Diego Supercomputer Center is available. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20060217_134
4.2 Current and forthcoming events
2006
March
3Ds of Preservation : Disasters, Displays, Digitization. 8-11 March, 2006. Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.bnf.fr/pages/infopro/journeespro/dri-conservation_gb.htm
Section 108 Study Group Public Roundtable. March 8, Los Angeles. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-017.html
Section 108 Study Group Public Roundtable. March 16, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2006/06-017.html
Digital Preservation Training Programme. 20 - 24 Mar 2006 , University of Birmingham Conference Park, Birmingham, UK. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.ulcc.ac.uk/dptp/
Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies: Preserving Digital Archives training day. March 22, Liverpool, UK. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.liv.ac.uk/lucas/events
Museums and the web 2006. March 22-25, 2006, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2006/
Digital Preservation in State Government : Best Practices Exchange 2006. March 27-28, Wilmington, North Carolina. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/digidocs/bestpractices/
April
METS Awareness Training Project: METS Seminar. 7 April, 2006. University of Leeds, UK. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.odl.ox.ac.uk/projects/projects_mets.htm
Open Source and Sustainability. April 10-12, 2006. Said Business School, Oxford, England. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/events/2006-04-10-12/
LIFE conference. 20 April, 2006. The British Library, London, UK. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ls/lifeproject/conference.shtml
May
First Monday Conference : FM10 : Openness, Code, Science and Content. 15-17 May, 2006. University of Illinois at Chicago. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://numenor.lib.uic.edu/fmconference/
IASSIST 2006 : Data in a World of Networked Knowledge. 22-26 May, 2006. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, US. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/iassist/index.html
IS&T Archiving 2006. 23-26 May, 2006, Ottawa, Canada. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.imaging.org/conferences/archiving2006/
June
Expedition to European Digital Cultural Heritage : Collecting, Connecting - and Conserving? International Conference on the Digitisation of Cultural Heritage. 21-22 June 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://dhc2006.salzburgresearch.at/content/view/1/2/lang,en/
July
IADIS (International Association for Development of the Information Society ) International Conference : e-Society 2006. 13-16 July 2006. University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from: http://www.iadis.org/es2006/
September
ECDL 2006 : European Conference on Research and Advanced Technology for Digital Libraries. 17-22 September 2006, Alicante, Spain. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://www.ecdl2006.org/index.jsp
November
Sofia 2006 : Globalization, Digitization, Access and Preservation of Cultural Heritage. 8-10 November, Sofia, Bulgaria. Retrieved 1 March 2006 from:
http://slim.emporia.edu/globenet/Sofia2006/Index.htm
A comprehensive and frequently updated list of forthcoming events is available from the PADI Web site:
http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/format/event.html
Problem links last disabled or updated: 15 October 2009
Warning! Web site links tend to have very short lifetimes, as documents are frequently updated or deleted, Web sites are restructured, domains are renamed or moved, etc. The compilers of this bulletin, therefore, cannot guarantee that all of the URLs in this document will successfully resolve to the resources described here. However, in these cases, try searching for the same resource on the PADI gateway (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/), which will provide updated URLs wherever possible.
Read more...