National Library of Australia’s Digital Preservation Policy

Digital Preservation Policy 4th Edition (2013). National Library of Australia.  May 26, 2013.
This site outlines the National Library of Australia’s policy on preserving its digital collections, and collaborating with others to preserve digital information resources. The primary objective of their digital preservation activities is maintaining the ability to meaningfully access digital collection content over time. The primary concern is preserving the ability to access the Preservation Master File from which derivatives files may be created or re-created over time. To this end, preservation of digital library material includes:

•     Bit-level preservation of all digital objects, ie. keeping the original files intact;
•     Ensuring that authenticity and provenance is maintained;
•     Ensuring that appropriate preservation information is maintained;
•     Understanding and reporting on risks which affect ongoing access;
•     Performing appropriate actions to ensure that objects remain accessible;
•     Periodic review of preferred formats and digital metadata standards

Preservation of the Library's digital collections involves four main goals:

1.     Maintaining access to reliable data at bit-stream level;
2.     Maintaining access to content encoded in the bit streams;
3.     Maintaining access to the intended content; and
4.     Maintaining the stated preservation intent for all digital material over time.

While specific preservation activities may focus on one or more of these goals, the Library’s preservation responsibility is only fulfilled when all four goals have been adequately addressed.

The Library uses the concepts in the Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model and other international standards and best practices, such as PREMIS and Open Planets Foundation.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Digital Preservation Tool Grid.

Digital Preservation Tool Grid. Preserving Objects With Restricted Resources. May 15, 2013.
This is a grid, created by POWRR, that looks at 24 different features, such as ingest, processing, access, storage, maintenance, and cost, for about 50 digital preservation tools. The tools range from simple tools to full digital preservation systems, from ACE to Xena. This tool is very informative.

Digital Preservation Matters.

ZENODO. Research. Shared.

ZENODO. Research. Shared. Website. May 12, 2013.
ZENODO is a new open digital repository repository service that enables researchers, scientists, projects and institutions to share and showcase multidisciplinary research results (data and publications) that are not part of existing institutional or subject-based repositories. The repository is created by OpenAIRE and CERN, and supported by the European Commission.  It promotes peer-reviewed openly accessible research;  all items have a DOI, so they are citable. All formats are allowed. There is a 1GB per file size constraint.  Data files are versioned, but records are not. Files may be deposited under closed, open, embargoed or restricted access.
It is named after  Zenodotus, the first librarian of the Ancient Library of Alexandria and father of the first recorded use of metadata, a landmark in library history. ZENODO is provided free of charge for educational and informational use.

Digital Preservation Matters.

British Library Digital Preservation Strategy.

British Library Digital Preservation Strategy. The British Library. March 2013.
The British has published their digital preservation strategy for 2013 - 2016. Their vision is that by 2020 they will put in place end-to-end workflows that deliver and preserve their digital collections in a trusted long term digital repository so that they may be accessed by future users.
This is not a strategy for the digital preservation team alone, but a strategy for the whole library. They are working to confidently, reliably, and cost-effectively manage and preserve all types of digital content destined for long term preservation and embed best practice in digital collection content management in all areas of the Library. With acquisition comes responsibility: we must preserve and make this content accessible for our future users. They recognize a benefit from collaboration with other national and international institutions on digital preservation initiatives

This strategy outlines four strategic priorities to be met by 2016:

1. Ensure our digital repository can store and preserve our collections for the long term:
2. Manage the risks and challenges associated with digital preservation throughout the digital collection content lifecycle
3. Embed digital sustainability as an organisational principle for digital library planning and development not just technical solutions but also clear organisational
4. commitment and resources.

Digital Preservation Matters.

The NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation: An Explanation and Uses.

The NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation: An Explanation and Uses. Megan Phillips, et al. National Digital Stewardship Alliance. February 28, 2013.

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) is refining a a set of recommendations and guidelines for those involved with preserving digital assets long term.  The guidelines are organized into five functional areas that are at the heart of digital
preservation systems: storage and geographic location, file fixity and data integrity, information security, metadata, and file formats.

The tiered, matrix approach of the Levels of Digital Preservation features multiple levels and content areas that can be adapted over time. The flexible approach allows users to achieve different levels in different content areas according to their unique needs and resources.


The guidelines were initially developed as a reference for prioritizing enhancements to digital preservation systems. They are also useful for developing guidelines for content creators, validate local preservation guidance, as minimum requirements for developing preservation services,  and to help assess compliance with best practices.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Tor Books says cutting DRM out of its e-books hasn’t hurt business.

Tor Books says cutting DRM out of its e-books hasn’t hurt business. Megan Geuss.   Ars Technica. May 4, 2013.

Tor Books announced last April that it would only retail e-books in DRM-free formats because its customers are “a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another."

This week, Julie Crisp, editorial director at Tor UK, wrote that the publisher has seen “no discernible increase in piracy on any of our titles, despite them being DRM-free for nearly a year.”

Tor's 2012 decision was largely applauded by its customers and authors. The authors agreed to a scheme which would allow their readers greater freedom with their novels.

Digital Preservation Matters.

PDF/A, PDF for Long-term Preservation.

PDF/A, PDF for Long-term Preservation. Library of Congress.  March 21, 2013.
This section on PDF/A is part of the Library of Congress website on sustainable formats. The page includes description of PDF/A, sustainability factors, quality and functionality factors, format specifications, and useful references.

PDF/A is a family of ISO standards that attempt provide sustainable formats, through device independence, self-containment, and self-documentation. The PDF/A standards are developed and maintained by a working group with representatives from government, industry, and academia and active support from Adobe Systems Incorporated.

PDF/A-1, the first PDF/A standard, was based on PDF version 1.4 and published in 2005.
PDF/A-2 extends the capabilities of PDF/A-1 and is based on PDF version 1.7.
PDF/A-3 allows including in a PDF/A file, other types of files in any other format, not just other PDF/A files.

Restrictions on PDF/A files include:

• Audio and video content are forbidden
• Javascript and executable file launches are prohibited
• All fonts must be legally embeddable for unlimited, universal rendering
• Colorspaces specified in a device-independent manner
• Encryption is disallowed
• Use of standards-based metadata is mandated

The PDF/A standards define levels of conformance: conformance level A satisfies all requirements in the specification; level B and level U are lower levels of conformance, still satisfying the requirements of ISO 19005 regarding the visual appearance of electronic documents, but less demanding as to representation of structural or semantic properties.

Digital Preservation Matters.

The APTrust Architecture Presentation.

The APTrust Architecture Presentation. Scott Turnbull. Academic Preservation Trust. May 6, 2013.
The Academic Preservation Trust (APTrust) consortium is developing a preservation environment.  The website includes slides presenting the APTrust Phase I Architecture.  It gives a general look at the components being developed.  The APTrust repository will serve as a replicating node for the Digital Preservation Network (DPN). At the local level, APTrust will provide a preservation environment for participating members, including disaster recovery services.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Light, Dark and Dim Archives: What are they?

Light, Dark and Dim Archives: What are they?  May 2013.

 The following is a compilation of a few definitions or examples of Light, Dark and Dim archives to better understand what they are.

 The notion of "dark archives", supporting little or no access to archived materials, has met with scant enthusiasm in the library community. This suggests that digital repositories will function not just as guarantors of the long-term viability of materials in their custody, but also as access gateways. Lavoie

A secure digital repository sometimes referred to as a "dark archive" Kirsch

Dark Archive: An archive that does not grant public access and only preserves the information it contains. This can refer to a digital archive or repository as well as brick & mortar archive. Michigan

Dark archive: The purpose of a dark archive is to function as a repository for information that can be used as a failsafe during disaster recovery. UCPress

The Dark Archive is a secret place for storing archival material with restricted user access. Tufts

We chose to create a “dark” archive to focus our efforts on securing and preserving large volumes of content important to libraries and their users; however, it is not exclusively dark. Participating libraries experience the archive as a “light” or accessible archive in two ways: auditing the archive to ensure we are prepared to support eventual use and accessing of content that has been made available as the result of a “trigger event” or post-cancellation access claim. Portico

Dark archives are certainly misunderstood both inside and outside the industry.  So, what is a dark archive?  It is, simply put, an archive of information that is not used for public access.  Most often it serves as a failsafe copy of a light archive, i.e. a publicly available version of the information, for use in disaster recovery operations.  Dark archives need not be a fully operational copy of an information system, rather just the content behind the information system.  This is an important distinction because maintaining an exact operational copy of an information system is a much more complex and expensive undertaking than maintaining only the content the information system operates on.  Metaphorically, at its base definition, a dark archive will require more than a flip of the switch to make a light archive. Osti Bog

Dark Archive: An archive that is inaccessible to the public. It is typically used for the preservation of content that is accessible elsewhere. See also dim archive, light archive.

Dim Archive: An archive that is inaccessible to the public, but that can easily be made accessible if required. It's typically used for the preservation of content that is accessible elsewhere. See also dark archive, light archive.

Light Archive: An archive that is accessible to the public. See also dim archive and dark archive.  CDL

A DDP network may be an open archive, or it may reside somewhere on the spectrum from dim to dark archive. That is, it may be open to only the contributors’ servers for ingesting (dark archive); it may be open to specified users, such as the contributing institutions’ communities (dim archive); or it may provide unrestricted access (open archive). This status will determine whether contributors will focus solely on long-term preservation issues, or some combination of preservation and public access issues. MetaArchive

Dark Archive: Digital archive for which access to content is limited to organizational custodians.

Dim Archive: Digital archive that incorporates elements of both the Dark and Open Archive models. Access for some materials is restricted to organizational custodians, while access for others may be open to a broad user community.

Open Archive:  A digital archive that is publicly accessible. MetaArchive

 Below are two figures from the OAIS Model (2012) showing the Access functions.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Digital Preservation Best Practices and Guidelines.

Digital Preservation Best Practices and Guidelines. North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. Website. April 23, 2013.
This site contains many useful tools and resources for digital preservation:

• Naming conventions for files
• How to manage digital files
• Examples of many policies and guidelines
• Electronic records management policies/guidelines by state
• Best practices
• File formats
• Email policies
• Preservation metadata

Digital Preservation Matters.

DuraCloud Now Offers Low Cost Glacier Storage!

DuraCloud Now Offers Low Cost Glacier Storage!  Carol Minton Morris. Duraspace. May 2, 2013.
DuraCloud has increased the long-term storage options that it offers.  This online storage is intended for durable storage, for data archiving and backup, and particularly for data that is infrequently accessed. It has automatic synchronization between primary and secondary copy, and web access to all copies stored in DuraCloud. Pricing is available at http://duracloud.org/pricing.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Reel to Real: Sound at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

Reel to Real: Sound at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Pitt Rivers Museum website. April 2013.
Reel to Real is the archival sound project at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. [One of my favorite museums.] It describes methods used to digitize wax cylinders, reel to reel tapes, audio cassettes and other formats in the Museum's ethnographic sound archive. Also included are examples of the archival sounds from the collections.  This has been done to connect the sounds with "wider collections and to engage diverse audiences".

Digital Preservation Matters.