Applying preservation metadata to repositories The British Library, 21 January 2008 Led by Steve Hitchcock With Bill Hubbard, Gareth Johnson and Jackie Knowles

Workhop Overview Why preservation metadata? Background on PREMIS Teams work on preservation metadata exercise Teams report back; discussion of findings Conclusions: Are IRs preservation repositories?

Aims of the workshop How much preservation Is your repository doing? Demonstrate that repositories do more preservation-related work than you might think Show how preservation support is responding to what repositories do Demystify preservation Not a tutorial on PREMIS

Preservation metadata Metadata designed for managing digital content over a long period of time is commonly referred to as preservation metadata, and typically informs, describes and records a range of activities concerned with preserving specific digital objects.

PREMIS: Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies Currently, the authoritive reference on preservation metadata Emphasis: implementation Produced a Data Dictionary Describes and defines over 100 semantic units, i.e. items of metadata Applicable to preservation repositories. Are IRs preservation repositories?

PREMIS Data Dictionary: entities PREMIS dictionary documents four types of entity: Objects: things the repository stores Events: things that happen to the objects Agents: people, or organisations or software that act on objects Rights: expression of rights applying to objects

PREMIS Data Dictionary: example entry

Team task: You will be given a list of selected entries from the PREMIS data distionary The aim is to identify those entries that can serve your repositories, and indicate where that information (metadata) is, or could, be generated When we regroup we will see how far an IR can go in supporting preservation Good luck with your team task!

PREMIS data: where might it come from? Repository software Submitting authors Repository administrators Repository policy Preservation tools, e.g. format ID Preservation services

Did we achieve the aims of the workshop? This was not a test, not a survey,not a tutorial. It was about making preservation real for your repository We often think of ‘preservation’ in an abstract sense, but repositories are already taking actions that affect preservation and contribute towards preservation results You are probably doing more preservation than you think

The bigger picture: how should repositories manage preservation? Are IRs preservation repositories? Now you know more about it, how much preservation do you want to do? Should repositories be looking to outsource preservation? Who should provide those services? Preservation services Repository services Web services

An important point The most important part of preservation is organisation An institutional repository that has the backing of the institution for the repository and its stated policy, and that has the management and organisation to carry out those requirements, is contributing towards preservation. Make sure your users know this. The rest, which is what we have been working on today, is technical data management, and an insurance policy!

What you can do next Find out how your repository software supports the PREMIS items you have heard about today Consider how your repository policy can support preservation Try format ID tools Look for repository services that might be able to help you

Preservation tools Format ID: PRONOM-DROID, The National Archives JHOVE, JSTOR/Harvard Object Validation Environment Cairo tools survey, a survey of tools applicable to the preparation of digital archives for ingest into a preservation repository ls_listing_pv1.pdf ls_listing_pv1.pdf

Preservation services Investigating services and preservation metadata for repositories, two JISC projects: Preserv 2 Sherpa-DP 2

References Woodyard-Robinson, Deborah, Implementing the PREMIS data dictionary: a survey of approaches (pdf 56pp), The PREMIS Maintenance Activity/Library of Congress, 4 June report-woodyard.pdf report-woodyard.pdf PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) Working Group, Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata: Final Report of the PREMIS Working Group (May 2005) / /

(Steve Hitchcock) ( )