U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey John Faundeen October 9, 2011 Future Directions in Data Preservation ^ and Current

Outline  Context  What to Keep – How to Decide?  Preservation Strategies – For Today & Tomorrow  Take Home

USGS EROS : Science : To promote applications, knowledge and use of land information to better understand our planet : Data Access : To ensure that scientists, businesses, decision makers and the public have ready access to land information : Data Acquisition/Archiving : To expand and safeguard the national archive of remotely sensed land data Established in 1973

Archiving Earth Image Records Digital Archives 1972 to Present  1 to 2 Terabytes / Day  Over 5 Petabytes  45 million E-Records Film Archives 1939 to Present  24 Major Collections  Multiple film formats/sizes  Over 8 million frames

1991

2009

EROS Archives Include … Elevation Land Cover LIDAR

What to Keep – How to Decide?  Tool Gaining Acceptance…  Appraisal - Placing a Value on a Collection  Hard Work  Open to Criticism   Why go Through it?  Accountability  Documentation  Alignment  Frequent Offers  Budget Shrinkage Manage the Right Datasets

Appraisal – The Process  Document What is Known (Offers & Existing)  42 Questions  Mission Alignment  Matches Agency & Center Goals  Access & Distribution Characteristics  Public Domain, Restricted, Copyrighted, etc.  Spatial/Temporal Elements  Length of Record, Land Focus  Physical Characteristics  Digital/Analog, Volume, Compression, Condition, Processing  Metadata Quality, Quantity, Usability  Economic Consideration  Costs to Preserve and Make Accessible NARA Best Practice

Appraisal – The Process  Output Provided to Scientists Reviewer(s)  Must Have Relevant Experience  Scientists Free to Comment on any Element  Must Address 3 Questions: 1) Is there another organization within the scientific community that might benefit from or have an interest in these records? 2) What were the original scientific uses for these records? 3) What may be future scientific uses of these records?

Appraisal Results 2005 to 2011  57 Appraisals Completed  39 Retain/Accept  17 Dispose/Not Accept  1 Recommendation Not Accepted  Disposals Start an Additional Process  Destruction as Last Resort  Some Collections Appraised…  Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+  Apollo, Gemini, Large Format Camera  DOQs, DEMs (tiles), DLGs, DRGs, DOQ Counties

Preservation Strategies – For Today & Tomorrow  Migration of Electronic Media  Including Hard Disks  Obsolescence  HW, SW, Firmware, Media  Within a 3-5 Year Period  UK Report – 2 Years  Migration of Non-Electronic Media  Obsolescence  Nitrate, Acetate Base  Improve Access

Preservation Strategies – For Today & Tomorrow  USGS Offline Archive Media Trade Study  6 th Report Released October 2010  Publically Available  7 th Report Summer 2012  Identifies Media and Criteria  Cost/Time Scenarios NARA Best Practice

Preservation Strategies – For Today & Tomorrow  Environmental Management  Data Loggers for Temperature and Relative Humidity  Regular Intervals (e.g. every 30 minutes)

Preservation Strategies – For Today & Tomorrow  Environmental Management  NARA Guidance

Preservation Strategies – For Today & Tomorrow  3-Copies  Different Medias  Risk Mitigation  Off-Site Copy  Critical  With Metadata  Reachable  Feasible Today One View

Take Home  Appraisal as a Management Tool  Justification / Accountability  Decisions Documented  Budget Enabler  Preservation is an Ongoing Effort  Media Migrations  Must Plan for  Media Studies to Keep Abreast  Temperature & Humidity Tracking a Key  Affordable  Prudent Copy Strategy