1. Untitled (Hidden Track): Born Digital Content Preservation Service at UIUC
Tracy Popp, MS LIS, CAS Digital Preservation Coordinator University Library

2. Stewarding Digital Content: Select Challenges
Not “eye legible” – dependent upon abstracted layers of hardware and software to understand
Maintaining authenticity /provenance
Resource issues
Working at scale
Hardware/software subject to relatively rapid obsolescence

3. Computer Storage Media History * (*not complete)
“Being aware of the context of relevant technology contributes to identifying and weighing options for preserving digital content. The path technology takes from idea, to development, to implementation, to mainstream use, and, in most cases, to obsolescence is an important cycle to appreciate.” – DPM
Punched cards (as early as 1725)
Magnetic tape (1950s)

4. Computer Storage Media History * (*not complete)
Floppy disks 8 “ (1971) , 5.25” (1978) 3.5” (1981)
Iomega Products
ZIP (1994) , JAZ (1995)
Optical Media: CD-Rom (1983) DVD (1995)
Hard disk drives For microcomputers (1980)
Others…
jump/thumb/etc. drives (~2000)

5. Magnetic Disk Geometry

6. Institutional Context
University Library
Campus-wide network of libraries
Largest public university research library in U.S.
thirteen million volumes
24 million items and materials
Main Library building, East Entrance

7. Digital Preservation Coordinator’s Role
Manage the Born Digital Content Preservation service
Born Digital Content Reformatting lab Stabilizing content stored on physical media by migrating it from obsolete or obsolescent storage to a more contemporary, managed and replicated medium (e.g. networked-based storage)
Cache of external drives

8. Untitled (Hidden Track)
Digital forensics techniques and tools Hardware and software tools
Write blockers
Variety of adapters and technology bridges/interfaces
Disk imaging
recovers all of the bits on a disk
captures hidden content
Kryoflux floppy controller diagram

9. Digital Forensics Tools
Hardware
Forensics workstation (FRED – Forensics Recovery of Evidence Device)
Has write-blocking unit installed
Write blocker has adapters for a number of interfaces
IDE\SATA hard drives
USB 3.5”\5.25” floppy drive interface (using FC5025)
Provides a solid working platform – less of a need to maintain “computer museum”
Still need “Rosetta” computers

10. Example Sousa Archives - Manion Laptop
Challenges

11. Other Digital Preservation Activities
Medusa Digital Preservation Service
Repository and Collection Registry
Already over 15TB of content
Bit-level preservation
fixity checking
file verification with FITS
Data redundancy
File/Content Plans
Working on migration case study
Emulation also in the works
Medusa by Caravaggio

12. Thank You!
Tracy Popp Digital Preservation Coordinator University Library