1. An Open Archival Repository System for UT Austin
Preparing the Way for the Next Generation of Scholars and Information Seekers

2. Knowledge Gateway Larry Faulkner
“We will provide access for every citizen, via a personalized Internet window, into the resources of our libraries, collections, museums and much more.”
Larry Faulkner
2/17/2019

3. UT Austin Owns an Abundance of Content…
We have print and analog content that can be digitally re-formatted
We have a growing abundance of “born digital” material that only exist in digital formats
2/17/2019

4. And much of it is already on the the Web….
2/17/2019

5. Not just about how to publish anymore…
It is about how to keep publishing and keep maintaining
Its about what to keep and how to keep it
2/17/2019

6. What to keep publishing
Librarians refer to the process of continuing to maintain something as “PRESERVATION”
2/17/2019

7. When it was just paper
Most people didn’t care that much because paper (even the highly acidic kind) outlived the people who produced it
Plus, libraries were around and you could just dump all the paper you wanted to keep into the library and they would worry about it.
2/17/2019

8. Information (Especially Digital Information) Doesn’t Outlive People Without Lot’s of Work and Planning
2/17/2019

9. The University wants a great deal of the knowledge it produces and the information it makes available to persist over long periods of time…
2/17/2019

10. Quick Review We have lots of information
We will continue to produce lots more information
Some of it we need to keep for a long time
Some of it we don’t
2/17/2019

11. So, what’s the problem?
2/17/2019

12. Long-term Preservation
Implicit in the Knowledge Gateway concept is continued access to the riches of content we hold in our collections, laboratories, museums, lectures, classrooms, etc…
2/17/2019

13. Hardware required to consume digital information…
Client
This is all post-production…
Network
Storage Systems
Storage Media
Backup System
Server
Information Content
2/17/2019

14. Can’t just preserve media, information content, disk drives…must focus on all components of the systems that provide digital content
2/17/2019

15. Back in “the day”
THE content was catalog records that described library materials
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16. Today
The digital content is the actual research data and scholarship itself-books, journals, software, datasets, music, video, still images, all manner of digitized and born digital content
2/17/2019

17. Yesterday
We needed systems that were designed & optimized for producing and managing “electronic catalog records” that described print and analog materials
2/17/2019

18. Today
We need systems designed & optimized for producing and managing the actual material to which the metadata refer
2/17/2019

19. Yesterday The content that libraries “produced” was catalog records
2/17/2019

20. Today Libraries are producing digital collections AND catalog records
2/17/2019

21. Need a new model for working in this environment
We still have authors/producers
We still have libraries/archives
We still have end-users
2/17/2019

22. We are not the only ones facing this challenge
Harvard Library’s Digital Initiative
MIT’s Dspace
2/17/2019

23. The Digital Library community is adopting a new ISO Standard
Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
A conceptual framework to assist organizations who have material they want to preserve
2/17/2019

24. Origins of OAIS
In 1995 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) initiated a planning process to develop a reference model for the long term preservation of digital materials obtained from observations of the planetary space
2/17/2019

25. Purpose: 1
Framework for understanding and applying concepts needed for long-term digital information preservation
Long-term is long enough to be concerned about changing technologies
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26. Purpose: 2
Ascribes a set responsibilities to an OAIS that distinguish it from other archives
Conceptual framework useful for comparing archives and benchmarking
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27. Purpose : 3 Basis for development of additional standards
Metadata and encoding scheme for example
Identifies a full range of archival functions
Ingest, archival storage, data management, access, preservation planning, administration
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28. OAIS Information Archival Information System
Any type of knowledge that can be exchanged
Data are the representation forms of information
Archival Information System
Hardware, software, and people who are responsible for the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of the information
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29. OAIS is not an implementation plan
OAIS is not an implementation plan. Implementation is based on the concepts in the reference model.
2/17/2019

30. OAIS Role
Assumes information is produced outside of the archives and is intended for delivery to users who are outside the system
Describes functions of a long-term archive
Distinguishes content management from content production and development
2/17/2019

31. Just as a vocabulary for discussing content production has taken root
Digitization
Graphics design
Markup language
User interface design
Usability
Accessibility
Layout
Development
2/17/2019

32. So we need a common vocabulary for discussing the archival
Librarians/archivists and content producers will need to be able to communicate more effectively about content than they have in the past
To facilitate this OAIS offers definitions
2/17/2019

33. Functions of the Archive
Accessioning of information content
Storage
Data Management
Access
Preservation Planning
Administration
2/17/2019

34. OAIS Definition for “Information”
Information always expressed or represented by a data type
Data yields information
Interpreted using
Yields
Data Object
Representation
Information
Information
Object
2/17/2019

35. Provides information to
Primary roles in OAIS Reference Model
Provides information to
be preserved
Sets overall
OAIS policy and
Manages content
Producer
Consumer
Archive
Seeks and acquires
Preserved information
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36. Information Package Definition
Content Information
Preservation Information
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37. Information package Submission Information package SIP Archival
AIP
Dissemination
Information package
DIP
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38. Content Information
The information that is the original target of preservation
This may not be obvious and may require negotiation with producer
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39. Preservation Description Information (PDI): 1
Reference Information
Identifiers by which content information may be uniquely identified
Provenance Information
Description of the source of the Content Information, who has had custody, its history
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40. Preservation Description Information (PDI): 2
Context Information
Describes how the Content Information relates to other information outside the Information Package
Fixity Information
Protects the Content Information from undocumented alteration
2/17/2019

41. Examples of PDI Reference Provenance Context Fixity
Bibliographic description, persistent Ids (URN, PURL)
Provenance
Metadata on preservation process
Context
Pointers to related collections
Fixity
Digital signature, check sum
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42. Submission Information Package
Negotiated between Producer and OAIS
Sent to OAIS by Producer
Consists of metadata and additional information about the producers content
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43. Archival Information Package
Information Package used for preservation
Holds complete set of Preservation Description Information for the Content Information
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44. Dissemination ServicesU M E R
Metadata registry
Workbench tools
Access control
Security A R C H I V E
2/17/2019

45. Producers must identify content for long term preservation
and negotiate agreement for ingestion and dissemination M E T A D
Producers
Audio
Video
Text
Still Images
OAIS
Decision
Temp
-local
-shared
2/17/2019

46. President Faulkner did not say…
That we would make some content available one day, then other content the next
Or that we would simply make the most currently digitized or produced content available
2/17/2019

47. Library as metaphor
Libraries don’t produce books or journals or Computer Science Technical Reports - but they serve as the repository for those materials
The Library represents a broad array shared systems - systems shared by faculty, students, staff and public
2/17/2019