Digital Curation: A How-To-Do-It Manual

Abstract

Digital preservation, a term that may be familiar to readers, covers many of the factors that place data at risk, such as technological obsolescence, digital object fragility, and data maintenance. However, Ross Harvey argues that preservation is only a part of the puzzle and much more is needed to ensure that the digital data that are created today will survive through tomorrow, and this process is called digital curation. Digital curation is defined as developing a set of techniques that address “what comes before preservation and what comes after—that is, how the data are created and how they are used before they get to an archive or library and how they will be used, and by whom, in the future” (p. xvi). Essentially, digital curation is a holistic process that looks at the entire lifecycle of the data, from creation through maintenance and in preparation for how the data may be adjusted or migrated in the future. It is about making informed decisions from the beginning to ensure useful data later on. Digital Curation: A How-To-Do-It Manual is largely based on the Curation Lifecycle Model, developed by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC), a British organization that seeks to promote digital curation activities. The model describes the processes of digital curation and serves as the structure of the majority of the book, with separate chapters breaking out each step in detail. The introductory chapters frame the need for digital curation, describing cyber scholarship or data-driven scholarship and the need for cyber infrastructure to support the digital data. The author gives an overview of the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model and several other relevant models and includes illustrations to show the stages that data transition through before publication and after. Finally, the term “data” is defined so the reader better understands the content that needs curation and how the term has changed due to technological advancements in recent years. Each chapter ends with a summary and a list of references, which is helpful for quick perusal and for additional research on the topic. The subsequent chapters take a much closer look at each stage of the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model and describe the basic requirements of each sequential step. Curiously, the only graphical representation of the model is on the back cover of the book. Each step, and its place in the framework of the model, could have been reinforced by including a picture of the model in each chapter. However, the chapters are clearly written with sections outlined at the beginning and crucial information broken out in text boxes in the margins. Plenty of examples and/or references are provided, and uniform resource locators (URLs) are included in the text for those who are interested in learning more. The chapters break down each step of the model so as not to be overwhelming. Each chapter includes a single step, such as designing data or preserving data, so users may easily refer back to individual chapters to revisit particular areas of interest. A companion website is also available that includes checklists, templates for developing plans, and additional links. Digital Curation: A How-To-Do-It Manual is a comprehensive guide to designing, creating, describing, preserving, maintaining, and using or reusing data. This book should be useful for those looking for either a theoretical or practical approach to digital curation, as it embraces a model and standards, yet also provides instruction and many examples. Information professionals who are interested in beginning a digital project will find this book a helpful place to start.