Bringing Preservation to the Forefront: Preservation Initiatives at the UCF Libraries Michael A. Arthur Head of Acquisitions & Collection Development Lee Dotson Digital Services Librarian Florida Library Association 2009 Annual Conference May 5-8, 2009

Agenda for Today  Importance of a Preservation plan  Why now at UCF  Getting Started  Creating a shared vision  Developing the plan – UCF Initiatives  Digital preservation is the new challenge  Conclusion and Summary

Importance of a preservation plan  Assigns responsibilities across departments  Policies and procedures  Identifies training needs  Address environmental issues  Raise awareness  Prioritizes funding needs  Addresses long term challenges

Why preservation at UCF?  UCF Libraries relatively new collection  Need to focus on older materials  Special Collections/Rare books  No formal preservation plan until now  Preservation is not just book repair  Digital preservation/spacing needs  Migration to online

Getting Started  Seek administrative support early  Establish a working group  Review preservation literature  Have some key focus areas in mind  Identify a budget range for preservation  General idea areas/materials to be included

Creating a shared vision  Be inclusive – represent all departments  Best to get volunteers with some interest  Consider a standing preservation committee  Focus early meetings on attainable goals  Inspire others to promote preservation  Survey all library staff-training/knowledge  Report small victories to the library

Developing the UCF  Address survey results  Identify training needs  Identify attainable goals over specified time  Note necessary equipment and supplies  Assign responsibility for carrying out plan  Seek out ways to include all departments

Developing the UCF  Working group has met several times  Surveys completed by staff at all levels  Identified attainable goals  Raising awareness  Preservation training in Circ Dept.  Equipment and supplies identified  Branch and regional libraries taking steps

Pre-1900 Imprints Project  Goal to identify and review older books  Over 1500 books identified by bib records  Cataloged to current standards  800+ in good condition & received no care  300+ titles brittle  Several titles sent for rebind or phase box  Over 100 titles reviewed by Special Collections

ASERL Unique Titles List  Around 1800 titles indentified by ASERL  That seemed really high so it was reviewed  List included many titles pre-1900  Many titles cataloged under previous rules  Cataloging Dept cleaned up many records  Items remain in current location  Final list will be reviewed for preservation  Some titles relocated to Special Collections

Digital UCF Libraries  Digital Services  Who we are…  What we do…  Through extensive collaboration with internal and external partners, the Digital Services team seeks to create a collection of digitized materials unique to the Central Florida community.

Digital Services: Preservation role  The Digital Services unit takes responsibility for preservation of images created in our offices by adhering to proven standards and polices for image creation and maintaining backup copies of master images.  Digitization for access. Preserve physical copy by reducing handling.

What is digital preservation?  Maintains the ability to display, retrieve, and use digital collections in the face of rapidly changing technological and organizational infrastructures and elements:  Retain the physical reliability of the image files, accompanying metadata, scripts, and programs  Ensure continued usability of the digital image collection  Maintain collection security From Digital Preservation section of Cornell’s Digital Imaging Tutorial:

When should you think about digital preservation?  Now!  Before you start a digital project  During a digital project  At the end of a digital project  In between digital projects  Not just for digital projects  Always!

Challenges facing Digital Preservation  Changes in technology  Organizational priorities  Institutional memory  Lack of policies and procedures  Distributed creation  Insufficient funds  Copyright  Local challenges?  No one proven solution

DP Café Menu  Appetizers:  Ongoing care  Refreshing  Main course:  Migration  Emulation  Dessert:  Technology Preservation  Digital Archaeology

DP Café Menu  Appetizers:  Ongoing care  Everyday policies and strategies for creation, monitoring, and storage of digital resources.  Refreshing  Transferring digital content from storage media to storage media (CD to DVD).

DP Café Menu  Main course:  Migration  Transferring digital assets to a new generation of hardware/software.  Emulation  Recreate the environment required to view/use digital assets. Information about the original hardware/software is necessary.

DP Café Menu  Dessert:  Technology Preservation  Goes beyond simply preserving the digital assets. Involves preserving the entire technical environment that runs the system.  Digital Archaeology  Rescuing content from media or hardware that has been damaged or become obsolete.

What the UCF Libraries is doing…  Before the scanning begins…  Importance of selection.  Understand our purpose.  Collaborate with other departments.  Create digital surrogates for rare, damaged, brittle materials to reduce handling of physical item.  Follow recommended standards and policies for image creation and maintenance.

What the UCF Libraries is NOT doing… Garbage in Garbage out

What the UCF Libraries is doing…  During scanning…  Tiff images are created according to standards and saved as the archival masters.  Master tiff images are saved to the Libraries’ server or on an external hard drive as they are digitized and stored for upload. Images stored on the Libraries’ server are routinely backed up on tape.

What the UCF Libraries is doing…  After scanning…  Practice redundancy. Master tiff images are archived in a minimum of two locations which include the Libraries’ server, CDs, DVDs, portable hard drives, and the Florida Digital Archive.  Maintain copy on server if possible.  Local backups - Master tiff backups from CD and DVD to portable hard drives.

What the UCF Libraries is doing…  After scanning…  Remote backups - To assist with long term storage and migration, the UCF Libraries has contracted with the Florida Digital Archive (FDA) at the Florida Center for Library Automation (FCLA).Florida Digital Archive

digitalArchive

Ongoing research and training…  Digital Preservation section of Cornell’s Digital Imaging Tutorial:  ion-01.html ion-01.html  Digital Preservation Management: Implementing Short- term Strategies for Long-term Problems tutorial hosted by University of Michigan:   Digital Preservation Pathfinder:  25&Itemid= &Itemid=52  My preservation links: 

Digital Preservation Management tutorial hosted by University of Michigan

UCF Libraries  Questions?  Contact us: Michael A. Arthur Head of Acquisitions & Collection Development Lee Dotson Digital Services Librarian