Why we should all think about data preservation

Why we should all think about data preservation. Stephanie Taylor. School of Advanced Study. February 19, 2015.
The SHARD project, which ended in 2012, identified  four basic principles of digital preservation for researchers:

1. Start early: The sooner you start thinking about what to preserve, how to do it, and when, the greater the chance of avoiding problems. Early planning means involving everyone in a research project in the discussion to help identify additional issues.
2. Explain it: Context provides meaning and is vital in digital preservation. There is little point in preserving material and data without context.
3. Store it safely: Backups are not preservation. It needs multiple copies in different locations. Use open source file formats and be careful how you and others handle and access files. Select carefully the files to be preserved.
4. Share it: Sharing your research material and data is beneficial.  In one way or another, the main reason to carry out preservation at all, on any level, is to be able to share your work with others, now and in the future.

Many things are being lost or threatened because no one saw a good reason to preserve them until it was almost too late.  The Data Preservation Online Training resource guides students through the reasons to preserve and share data and challenges that they might face.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Phase Two of POWRR: Extending the Reach of Digital Preservation Workshops

Phase Two of POWRR: Extending the Reach of Digital Preservation Workshops. Danielle Spalenka. January 27, 2015.

The Digital POWRR Project (Preserving digital Objects with Restricted Resources) will continue the POWRR workshops for two years.

Project team members realized that many information professionals feel overwhelmed by the scope of the digital preservation problem, which prevents them from implementing digital preservation activities. They found that digital preservation is best thought of as an incremental, ongoing, and ever-shifting set of actions, reactions, workflows, and policies. Digital preservation activities can be started by taking small steps to prioritize and triage digital collections, while working to build awareness and advocate for resources.

Some of the resources on the site include: 

• Kicking the Habit (of Resistance to Digital Preservation). January 2015
• Overwhelmed to action: digital preservation challenges at the under-resourced institution
• From Theory to Action: Good Enough Digital Preservation for Under-Resourced Cultural Heritage Institutions

Digital Preservation Matters.

Report Available for the 2014 DPOE Training Needs Assessment Survey

Report Available for the 2014 DPOE Training Needs Assessment Survey. Barrie Howard, Susan Manus. The Signal. Library of Congress. January 6, 2015.
An executive summary (PDF) and full report (PDF) of the survey results are now available. The survey was an effort to get a sense of the state of digital preservation practice and understand more about what capacity exists for organizations and professionals to effectively preserve digital content.
The most significant takeaways are:

1. an overwhelming expression of concern that respondents ensure their digital content is accessible for 10 or more years (84%), 
2. evidence of a strong commitment to support employee training opportunities (83%). 
3. a substantial increase across all organizations in paid full-time or part-time professional staff with practitioner experience (13%)
4. an increased number of staffing for digital preservation (46% FTE, 51% various staff)
5. increase in organizations providing financial support for training (82%)

The type of digital content held by each institution:

1. reformatted material digitized from collections already held (83%), 
2. born-digital content created by and for your organization trails close behind (76.4%). 
3. deposited digital materials managed for other individuals or institutions (45%). 

Training:

1. online delivery is trending upward across many sectors to meet the constraints of reduced travel and professional development budgets.
2. The survey shows that small, in-person workshops is the most preferred training option, followed by webinars, and self-paced, online courses as the next two choices.
3. Respondents identified a clear need for technical training to assist staff in understanding and applying specific digital preservation techniques in their daily work followed by training focused on strategic planning, management and administration, project management, and fundamentals.

Digital Preservation Matters.

Training in Digital Preservation - Alliance for Permanent Access

Training in Digital Preservation - Alliance forPermanent Access. William Kilbride, Chiara Cirinnà, Sharon McMeekiny. 21 February 2013. [PDF] 
This paper summarizes the current digital preservation needs based on the APARSEN project.
The need for training is great and the resources available are relatively meagre: so there is an
opportunity to collaborate in order to maximise impact.  In the training courses that have taken place there were four themes consistently expressed in feedback:

1. There is a great demand for training from staff already engaged in library and archive settings, especially for introductory material.
2. Audiences welcomed practical, case-study based training that matched their needs over theoretical knowledge. Tools and services beyond their level of knowledge or which lacked practical application were also less popular.
3. The audiences wanted practical interaction with preservation processes, including trying out the tools for themselves.
4. Audiences did not feel the need  to have a complete overview of preservation before they got started, and were less interested in the theoretical which they saw as a hindrance.

 However, training could be popular but still leave significant gaps so training should not just be based on the feedback.  The report gives many recommendations for training for Operational Staff,
Operational Managers, and Senior Managers regarding standards, object life-cycles, practical experience, legal and policy frameworks, ingest, provenance, metadata, financial planning, user communities, and succession planning.  They point to a very large unmet training need and a long list of topics which training providers can actually provide.

By developing training that meets proven needs we can provide a strong foundation to
an ever larger and ever more diverse community.
 

Digital Preservation Matters.