Professional Development

Presented by Priscilla Kaplan, Asst. Director for Digital Library Services at Florida, Center for Library Automation

Kaplan began by distinguishing between 3 terms:

• Curation - The activity of managing the use of data from its point of creation, to ensures its usability for a contemporary purpose, and also available for reuse.
• Archiving - A curation activity that ensures that data is properly selected, stored, can be accessed and that its logical and physical integrity is maintained over time, including security and authenticity.
• Preservation - An activity within archiving in which specific items of data are maintained over time so that they can be accessed and understood through changes in technology.

Lifecycle Management of data

• There should be a proactive approach to preservation
• Each stage in lifecycle (creation, appraisal, documentation, reuse) should be actively managed

Creation: choice of format

• Data should be documented, transparent(readable by humans), and non-proprietary
• Sustainability of Digital File Formats (LC)

Creation: use of format

• Things to consider: bit depth, resolution, embedded metadata(this can be added to images), external dependencies.
• A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections (IMLS and NISO)

Creation: Documentation

• Descriptive metadata-document as much as possible at the point of creation
• Consider source and intellectual property rights
• Project wide details- who., what, when, how
• Maintained persistent identifier
• Digital provenance-over document changes

Selection/Appraisal/Review

Digital is Different!

• The impact of abundance- the ease of creation makes it harder
• More weight to practical considerations- copyright may limit preservation efforts
• Earlier decision points
• Digital Curation Manual, Appraisal and Selection

Use and Reuse

• Dynamic data continues to be created, annotated and linked-it continually changes
• Feeds into publication and research process
• Curators add value through exhibitions and events

Beyond this information, Kaplan made the point that digital preservation is ensuring that a digital object is usable over the long term, ie.- usable beyond changes in technology.

These are the strategies to use for successful long tem preservation of digital objects:

• Availability-physical control of data to be preserved
• Authenticity- both the source and the content of the object must be verifiable
• Fixity- the quality of an object is not altered or deleted, threatened by insecure storage or media migration
• Viability- the data is readable from media
• Renderability- the quality of being displayable or otherwise usable
• Rights- do you have the right to preserve the data

Kaplan recommends the Open Archival Information system (OAIS)- a framework for understanding and applying concepts needed for long term preservation of digital information.

Kaplan also brought in the concept of a Trusted Digital Repository-one whose mission is to provide reliable, long-term access to managed digital resources to its community-both now and in the future. This is a joint OCLC and RLG concept.

For preservation metadata, Kaplan said the PREMIS Data Dictionary is becoming a standard.

I decided I’d rather not leave my truck in Greensboro in airport parking for a week. So, at 7:20 Tuesday morning Kathie dropped me off at the WS Transportation Center on Liberty Street. At 7:30, I boarded a PART bus for the Greensboro hub. It cost me $2. In Greensboro, I transferred to a bus, which took me to PTI. This whole escapade cost me only $2-what an amazing deal! I’m writing Al Gore!

In DC, I saw kazillion reporters parked outside th Federal ?Courthouse awaiting the Scooter Libby verdict. Poor Scooter….(NOT!)

There is no free internet in my hotel
I’ve schlepped over to a cafe at Union Station to blog. Things start tomorrow.