1. Digital Preservation – Manage and Provide Access
By Michael Paulmeno
Based on presentations given at the 2016 Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Workshop in Jackson, MS

2. Module 5
Manage

3. Modules
Identify - what digital content do you have? Select - what portion of that content will be preserved? Store - how should your content be stored for the long term? Protect - what steps are needed to protect your digital content? Manage - what provisions are needed for long-term management? Provide - how should your content be made available over time?

4. Learning Objectives Designating People & Policies
Selecting & Managing Technology
Securing Funding & Advocacy
Utilizing Standards & Assessment

5. Planning and Management
Digital preservation on going process
Involves multiple parts
Preservation planning (on-going)
Self-assessment (internal process)
Audit (external review by peers)

6. Balanced Management Preservation programs don’t run themselves
An effective approach will address
Organizational requirements and objectives
Technological opportunities and change
Resources – funding, staff, equipment, etc.

7. Three Elements of Organization
Preservation Management
People
Policies
Technology

8. Organizational Element: People
Knowledge and skills include:
Policy development
Project management
Repository/software management, programming
Metadata management
Legal expertise
Marketing expertise

9. Organizational Element: People
Understand skills needed
Match people to skills

10. Organizational Element: Policies
Good policies are important
Help deal with potential issues
Defines roles, responsibilities, goals, etc.
Ensure compliance with standards
Lays foundation for future growth
Examples
Strategic plan
Preservation plan

11. Organizational Element: Policies
Examples
Strategic plan
Preservation plan
Must be written and enforce

12. Organizational Element: Policies
Benefits of a preservation policy:
Specifies institutional commitment
Developing policy builds DP team
Demonstrates compliance – meet requirements
Manages expectations – message to stakeholders
Identifies issues and challenges
Raises awareness
Defines roles and responsibilities

13. Organizational Element: Technology
Needs to be part of overall strategy
Preservation and policy concerns should inform technology decisions
Key concerns:
Managing
Selecting
Investing
Funding

14. Managing Technology Prioritize: weigh requirements to be met
Assess: define criteria to select appropriate
Plan: identify steps to meet goals
Select: decide when to own/join/share
Fund: allocate resources
Monitor: look ahead, be prepared
Evaluate: measure outcomes and success

15. Prioritize and Assess Ask yourself questions
What are our needs?
Do we have technical staff?
Can we sustain funding commitments?
Answers should inform further decisions

16. Plan Develop a road map for purchases and decisions
Create backup/disaster plans (and test them!)
Consider all scenarios (paranoia can be a good thing)
Think carefully; not all decisions easily undone

17. A Word on Backups … No system is 100% effective
Follow the LOCKSS principle (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe)
Devise a disaster plan and test it regularly

18. Selecting Technology Many considerations
On-premise vs. hosted
Locally developed vs. contracted
Turnkey vs. in-house development
Open-source vs. proprietary
Evaluate options and consider what is the best fit
Read fine print

19. Selecting Technology Characteristics of sound software:
written in a well-documented language
usable on a wide variety of platforms
sustained support by creators/developers
modular in design
supports batch processing and workflows
licenses support secondary use

20. Selecting Technology Characteristics of good vendors: Transparent
Easily available support
Solid offerings

21. Selecting Technology Seek out other customers
Read reviews, blogs, etc.
Shop around
Always be willing to walk away from a deal

22. Investing in Technology
Do you buy it?
Do you lease it?
Do you share it?
Do you develop it?

23. Investing in Technology
Investment and selection influence each other
Look at funding levels, staff, and needs
What sort of commitment is needs/desire?

24. Designated Funding Funds set aside for digital preservation
May not be explicit (e.g., budget line item)
Must be able to make a compelling case
Measurable indication of intent to preserve
Challenging to do, but important
Over time, contributes to track record

25. Monitor and Evaluate Is the software working? Do we like it?
Does it do what we need?
Is the vendor supportive and responsive?
What are our options for migration

26. Using Standards Lots to choose from! Why follow one?
Ensure long term preservation
Avoids haphazard planning
Helps communicating with others

27. DP Standards Standards emerging since 1996 report :
Trusted Digital Repositories, 2002
Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model, 2003 plus standardization (ISO 14721:2012)
Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies, 2005 plus updates
Trustworthy Repositories Audit and Certification (TRAC), 2011
Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories (ISO 16363:2012)
NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation (LoDP), 2013

28. Trusted Digital Repository
A TDR should have these characteristics:
community standards (OAIS Compliance)
commitment (Administrative Responsibility)
management (Organizational Viability)
resources (Financial Sustainability)
infrastructure (Technological Suitability)
protection and control (System Security)
documentation (Procedural Accountability)

29. Open Archival Information System
Framework for designing a long term preservation system
Definition: “Any organization or system charged with the task of preserving information over the long term and making it accessible to a class of users”1.
Conceptual design for an archive
Consists of producers, consumers, management, and the archive
Each has a unique function (see right)
1. Lavoie, Brian. “Meeting the Challenges of Digital Preservation: The OAIS Reference Model.” Accessed on April 5,

30. More Information
Lavoie, Brian. “Meeting the Challenges of Digital Preservation: The OAIS Reference Model.”
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. “Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System.”
National Digital Stewardship Alliance:

31. Any Questions?

32. Module 6
Provide

33. Modules
Identify - what digital content do you have? Select - what portion of that content will be preserved? Store - how should your content be stored for the long term? Protect - what steps are needed to protect your digital content? Manage - what provisions are needed for long-term management? Provide - how should your content be made available over time?

34. Learning Objectives
Describe the difference between preservation and access technologies
Describe the value of long-term access policies
Be aware of legal and rights management issues connected to digital records

35. Overview

36. Technology Issues
Image By Bjarni Juliusson (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

37. What is Long-term Access?
Preservation makes long-term access possible…
Preservation
relies upon proven technologies to preserve digital objects across generations of technology
accumulates metadata over the life cycle to trace and preserve content
preservation systems create new versions of digital objects for access to deliver as needs change over time
purpose: ensure long-term access
focus: future users
Access
relies on cutting edge technologies to provide best and fastest access at a point in time
selects metadata needed to use and understand content
access systems deliver objects with user-oriented services to make the objects
purpose: provide content to users
focus: current users

38. Proven vs. Cutting Edge Technologies
Reliable, well-documented, widely used
Trade-off ease of use for long term sustainability
Ex. Hard disks, tape drives, SQL databases, Debian Linux, C++
Cutting Edge
New, advanced, and unproven
Convenient, but potentially unsustainable
Ex. Windows 10, CockroachDB, Dart, Fedora

39. The Right Tool for the Right Job
Different systems for preservation and access
No one size fits all solution
Ask yourself
Will this system still exist in 10 years? 20?
Is the system user friendly?
Is it fast and convenient or proven and reliable?
Does the system require third party (i.e., vendor) support?
It’s important to emphasize how multiple systems are needed for access and preservation. The exact technology used will depend on an institution’s requirements.

40. The Right Tool for the Right Job (cont’d)
Static web pages - access
Omeka - access
Archivematica - preservation
SQL Database - preservation

41. Sustainability What happens if funding is cut?
Access requires technology to be well managed and sustainable
Long term funding and expertise need to be in place
Ask yourself:
What happens if funding is cut?
How many staff know how to maintain the software?
Is the technology robust and reliable?

42. Preservation and the Cloud
You can’t always do it yourself
Cloud service providers offer solid alternatives to self hosting
Ask yourself:
Do we have the funding and expertise to migrate servers?
Will funding be present to sustain cloud subscriptions?
What happens if we must back out of a cloud subscription?

43. Preservation and the Cloud (cont’d)
Benefits
Easy disaster preparedness
Wide range of offerings
Less on-site IT staff required
Drawbacks
Cost
Complex pricing (ex., AWS)
Learning curve

44. Requirements for Providing Access
Use current and known technologies
Software should be well-documented and maintained
Ask yourself
When was the program last updated?
Is it open-source or proprietary?
What is the total cost of ownership?

45. Requirements for Providing Access (cont’d)
Content should be delivered completely, be intact, and well-formed Content should be accurately described

46. Requirements for Providing Access (cont’d)
Provide access in accordance with policy
Provide fair access
Everyone should be able to access materials equally
Ensure accessibility for people with disabilities

47. Managing Access
E. von Seutter Photograph Collection, PI/ , Mississippi Department of Archives and History

48. Managing Access
Policies managing digital access should apply to staff and users
Policies enable consistent, sustainable access over time. Ad hoc decisions do not!
Policies might be the least interesting part of building a new program in your institution, but they’re vital to the long term sustainability of your work. Policies enable consistent decision making and when followed, give you an ironclad paper trail and justification for your actions. In this case, you would want a basic policy apparatus to manage both your staff’s access to content on the back end and your users’ access to content on the front end.

49. Staff Policy Questions
Who is allowed to have back end access to content?
What about preservation masters versus access copies?
It’s important to determine which staff members are responsible for maintaining your content (manage module??) and who can access all your digitized or born digital stuff. Just like not everyone has stack access, not everyone should be able to get to your digital records. You also can and probably should draw a staff access distinction between your preservation masters and your access copies--if only a select group of staff can get to your preservation masters, it’s more okay to have widely available access copies for staff to use as needed.

50. User Policy Questions Are access policies equal for all content?
If not, how are categories managed?
You may need to have a different access mode for audio files versus image files, for example--maybe image files are broadly web accessible but audiovisual files are only accessible on your campus. If you have separate access categories for different kinds of content, you will need to consider how you draw lines between categories.--e.g., audio only files can be accessible online but audiovisual files are on-campus only.
Note to trainers: as discussed with preservation policies in the Manage Module, access policies have benefits for developing a sound program to ensure long-term access

51. User Policy Questions How are exceptions/special requests handled?
How do users request/get access?
Another important question to consider with users is how you will handle special requests for content, anything from unprocessed material to material that’s only accessible on older media that you might have behind the scenes but not in your reading room. Make sure that your policies treat all comers with equal respect, from your own faculty to students to outside researchers--in other words, don’t get into the habit of bending the rules or imposing rule will become that much more difficult.

52. Access Policies Should...
...address requirements for preservation systems to produce access objects
...reflect and respond to new discovery/delivery issues that emerge
...be written down and implemented!
The most important thing about your access policies is that they’re written down and implemented!! There’s no point creating policies if you don’t use them. Policies should also be living, growing documents that respond to changes in technology or your institutution. If you’re having trouble generating policies, your FAQs can be a great starting point.

53. Legal Issues
New Capitol Photograph Album, Series 317, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

54. Legal Issues Do you have the right to distribute the content?
Things to think about:
Do you have the right to distribute the content?
E.g., authors’ papers versus university-produced content
When you’re considering what kinds of content you want to make available online, there are several questions you need to ask yourself to cover your legal liabilities. The first and most obvious question is do you hold the rights to this material? If you hold copyright you can do what you want, otherwise you need to be more careful about how it’s distributed. Eg., you may not hold the rights to authors’ papers you might have in special collections, whereas you probably do hold the rights to distribute any university-produced content, like yearbooks.

55. Legal Issues
Things to think about:
Are there access restrictions in deeds of gift or donor agreements?
E.g., time restrictions on opening records
You also need to think about whether there are any restrictions in your deed of gift or donor agreements that could prevent you from distributing content online. The classic example is restricting personal papers until a certain period of time after the donor’s death, but there may be an explicit clause in your donor agreement stipulating material can only be viewed on site.

56. Legal Issues
Things to think about:
Is there any confidential information that must be redacted?
E.g., Social Security numbers, medical information, student records
Something that can come into play with your institutional records is whether there is any confidential information that need to be redacted--the obvious example in a university is student records, but there can be social security numbers, personnel files, and other privileged information hiding in any number of places, such as professor’s papers.

57. Legal Issues Is there any material you should not provide access to?
Things to think about:
Is there any material you should not provide access to?
E.g., university blueprints
You should also consider that just because you can digitize what you want and put it online, that doesn’t mean you should. Some content is probably better kept off the internet, like university blueprints of campus buildings, which could easily be put to nefarious use.

58. But I’m not a lawyer!
Know your content to address relevant legal issues for preservation and access
Document and preserve your decisions about legal issues regarding access to your content
Most of the basic questions about your legal right to make content accessible over the web can be answered by robust content management. In other words, know what you have and keep good documentation of collections coming into the archives so you know what donors expect regarding their collections. When you’re making decisions about what kind of access to provide, make sure you document what you’re doing and the logic behind it so that you have a paper trail in the event of a problem. This is also the logical place to review your standard donor agreement to see if it addresses how the donor wants to treat any future digital surrogates produced from their records.

59. But I’m not a lawyer!
Know who your legal adviser is (or find one) and develop a sound working relationship
It is your legal adviser’s responsibility to help – help them help you
For questions that you can’t answer, find a good legal adviser who understands copyright and intellectual property law. Having good documentation of your collections will not only help you know what to do with your collections, it will also help any legal advisers help you!

60. Understand Users
Conrad Nutschan [GFDL ( CC-BY-SA-3.0 ( or CC BY-SA 2.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons

61. Understand Users Know who utilizes collection
Understand what users expect
Expectation driven by technologies users know and want

62. Understand Users How do we anticipate needs of future users?
How should digital content be packages for delivery over time?
What sort of tracking instruments (surveys, Google Analytics, etc) should we use?

63. Understand Users
Preservation a pathway from one generation of technology to the next
Migration of content critical to ensuring long term access
No one can predict the future, but planning still important

64. Any Questions?