Preservation Metadata Research Articles

Practical Preservation: The PREMIS Experience

In 2003 the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and Research Libraries Group (RLG) established an international working group to develop a common, implementable core set of metadata elements for digital preservation. Most published specifications for preservation-related metadata are either implementation specific or broadly theoretical. PREMIS (Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies) was charged to define a set of semantic units that are implementation independent, practically oriented, and likely to be needed by most preservation repositories. The semantic units will be represented in a data dictionary and in a METS-compatible XML schema. In the course of this work, the group also developed a glossary of terms and concepts, a data model, and a typology of relationships. Existing preservation repositories were surveyed about their architectural models and metadata practices, and some attempt was made to identify best practices. This article outlines the history and methods of the PREMIS Working Group and describes its deliverables. It explains major assumptions and decisions made by the group and examines some of the more difficult issues encountered.

Prototype Preservation Environments

The Persistent Archive Testbed and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) research prototype persistent archive are examples of preservation environments. Both projects are using data grids to implement data management infrastructure that can manage technology evolution. Data grids are software systems that provide persistent names to digital entities, manage data that are distributed across multiple types of storage systems, and provide support for preservation metadata. A persistent archive federates multiple data grids to provide the fault tolerance and disaster recovery mechanisms essential for long-term preservation. The capabilities of the prototype persistent archives will be presented, along with examples of how the capabilities are used to support the preservation of email, Web crawls, office products, image collections, and electronic records.

PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies

PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies, or PREMIS, is an activity jointly sponsored by OCLC and RLG, focusing on issues associated with implementing preservation metadata in digital archiving systems. It was established to develop a common, implementable core set of metadata elements for digital preservation, since most published specifications for preservation-related metadata are either implementation-specific or broadly theoretical. PREMIS is composed of nearly 30 international experts representing national and university libraries, museums, archives, government agencies, and the private sector. PREMIS was charged to define a set of semantic units that are implementation-independent, practically-oriented, and likely to be needed by most preservation repositories as well as to identify and evaluate alternative strategies for encoding, storing, managing, and exchanging the core elements within a digital archiving system.Initiated in June 2003, PREMIS will conclude its activities in early 2005. This paper will report on the findings and conclusions of the PREMIS working group. The deliverables of the group consist of a survey of existing preservation repositories, a final report, and a data dictionary.As part of the PREMIS work, existing preservation repositories were surveyed about their architectural models and metadata practices. This paper will summarize the results of this survey which addressed the mission, policy, economic, and technical aspects of digital repositories, as well as current practices for creating, managing, and maintaining preservation metadata within the repository environment. Analysis of the survey responses suggests that the digital preservation community is beginning to coalesce around several emerging trends and best practices in the use and management of preservation metadata, which will be enumerated.The second deliverable of the group is a data dictionary and final report. The semantic units that support long term preservation are represented in a data dictionary with implementation details and in METS-compatible XML schemas. In the course of this work, the group also developed a glossary of terms and concepts, a data model, and a typology of relationships. The paper will discuss the data model as well as key issues that arose in the consensusbuilding process during the development of the data dictionary.The PREMIS working group report and data dictionary will be issued in March 2005, with the XML schemas to follow shortly thereafter. In addition to providing the data dictionary and accompanying documentation, the paper will also suggest follow-on activities to test the PREMIS data element set.

A Metadata Schema Registry for the Registration and Analysis of Recordkeeping and Preservation Metadata

A Metadata Schema Registry for the Registration and Analysis of Recordkeeping and Preservation Metadata

Linking preservation metadata and collection management policies

The long‐term preservation of digital resources is one of the most important issues facing the library community. In particular, libraries need a preservation strategy for digital objects, since digitization alone provides access but not preservation. The digital library community is also focusing on the problem of designing and implementing long‐term archives or repositories. Digital repository management includes the development and enforcement of policies for tasks such as managing access to collection contents and preserving items in the collection. Comprehensive standards and best practices are currently starting to emerge, and ongoing work has deepened the understanding of the needs and requirements that must be met to carry out effective digital preservation. One of these requirements is the creation and maintenance of metadata in support of the preservation process. This paper would like to share findings from earlier and ongoing work that serve as “groundwork” for the current directions leading to the idea of making metadata a more useful and powerful tool to contribute to the technical solution of digital preservation.

Preservation Metadata: Challenge, Collaboration, and Consensus

The last decade has witnessed a rising tide of digital information resources. Varian and Lyman estimate that 92 percent of the new information created in 2002 was stored in digital form on magnetic and optical media. Academia, government, and private enterprise; researchers, students, business decision-makers, and government policy-makers: all are transitioning to new models of information creation and use in digital environments.

Steering Resources to Safe-Harbor Repositories: The Need for Reliable, Accurate and Affordable Ingest Services

With the emergence of centralized, large-scale digital archives, geography becomes a key factor in the preservation of cultural heritage materials. Objects “inside” archives will be actively monitored and managed, whereas those “outside” will be at greater risk of loss and obsolescence. Developing ingest systems and services to process, package and transport objects into managed safe-harbor repositories is an immediate need. Standards, frameworks, and business models for digital archiving must also evolve in due time to support these services.Ingest solutions must address a range of challenges: legal, technical, and financial. Software development, however, is a logical starting point, since tools that automate pre-archiving tasks meet technical requirements for viability and economic ones for affordability. The key tasks to automate are production of preservation metadata, transformation and validation of formats, and creation of repository-compliant transfer packages.The Harvard University Library (HUL) Office for Information Systems (OIS) has developed two applications to promote use of the HUL Digital Repository Service. JHOVE, developed with JSTOR, is a format-validation program; Dmart is a batch deposit tool for audio preservation packages. In Harvard's experience, the target user for such applications has typically been a professional depositing agent with technical expertise, who consults as needed with curatorial experts.With greater understanding of ingest requirements, and the profiles of persons or agencies likely to perform these services, it is hoped that industry will develop and support tools for the digital archiving market.

The Characteristics and the Current Stage of Preservation Metadata for Digital Resources

The Characteristics and the Current Stage of Preservation Metadata for Digital Resources

Reference Model, Requirements, and Reality: A Case Study on Implementing OAIS at OCLC

This case study examines the development of the OCLC Digital Archive, a third-party service that provides (1) tools for the capture of individual online resources and offline collections; (2) a repository in which those resources and collections can be stored for preservation purposes; and (3) an administration module, which allows depositors to manage their archived resources after submission.The OCLC Digital Archive complies with the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS). OAIS is a framework, implementations of which vary. The case study focuses on OCLC's development of requirements based on the OAIS and member input, highlighting factors that influenced our decisions.Several categories of factors influenced the three-year development project. These factors include the nature of OCLC, the institution developing the archive; the local depositor community; and the global digital archiving community. Implementation decisions affected include object types and formats accepted into the archive, access methods, preservation metadata creation, types of tools developed, rights management capabilities, and preservation planning.

Preservation Metadata

The National Library of New Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa (NLNZ) has a legislative mandate collect, preserve and make available recorded knowledge, particularly that relating to New Zealand [1]. In common with other cultural institutions, the Library is undergoing a period of intense change brought about by the quantity of resources that must be managed and the knowledge that the rate at which we accumulate this material will dramatically increase year on year. The complexity of objects is a concern, as is the rising proportion that are born digital rather than as copies of analogue items from the Library's collections. NLNZ is adopting a holistic approach to the long-term management of its assets. The Library has established a Digital Library Transition Team to: Develop and implement process workflows Specify infrastructure for material, e.g., storage, access, data authentication Research and develop a range of Digital Library activities, e.g., metadata (resource discovery, preservation, structural) and persistent identifiers Pilot web harvesting for the capture and preservation of New web sites Implement production processes for bulk digitisation of textual materials. The primary objective is that processes for objects become business as usual The primary objective is that processes for objects become business as usual for the Library. This includes activities relating to preservation. In contrast to the inertia that may seem an understandable response to what some describe as an unmanageable flood of materials, NLNZ is developing pragmatic business-oriented processes for managing this material, for the long term. One component of the preservation puzzle is preservation metadata. NLNZ has developed a Preservation Metadata Schema [2] designed to strike a balance between the principles expressed in the OAIS Information Model [3] and the practicalities of implementing a working set of preservation metadata. This tension has informed a recent OCLC/RLG report [4] and work at the University of North Carolina [5]. A pragmatic response to this environment is required, one that recognises the need to implement a workable solution within existing resources and organisational structures. This article introduces the NLNZ schema, describes the environment in which it was conceived and identifies areas of further development, which will include: Developing data definitions for the elements in the schema Designing a repository based on those data definitions Investigating and developing tools for automatically extracting metadata to populate the repository.

Metadata and preservation

Effective implementation of preservation metadata is a keystone digital preservation strategy, for without it we cannot manage or use our digital collections in the long term. International work on the OAIS reference model is providing guiding princi

Preserving digital assets: Cornell's digital image collection project

This paper describes a two-year project at Cornell University Library to develop an archiving solution to safeguard Cornell's digital image collections, consisting of two and a half million images created over a decade. The Project has inventoried Cornell's digital image collections, investigated current and emerging file formats for long-term utility, explored functional requirements for storage, and drafted recommendations for requisite preservation metadata. These efforts demonstrated the need to develop institutional policies and resources to facilitate long-term maintenance. The final goal of this Project, therefore, is the development of a mainstreaming effort to move digital preservation from a project to program mode. A Digital Preservation Policy Working Group has been assembled that will present its recommendations to the Library Management Team in September 2000. Their report will cover requirements for conversion and metadata, a technical strategy for storage, maintenance, and long-term care, and an assessment of the resources needed to maintain these digital assets.