Digital Preservation Plan

General Principles

The Pacific University Archives acquires material in order to support the mission and vision of the University, ensuring stewardship while also documenting, reflecting, and inspiring engagement with our diverse communities.  As we create digital surrogates of historic materials and take born-digital materials into the Archives, we have a responsibility to ensure that these digital objects retain their high quality and usability over time. To accomplish this, our digital preservation plan takes into account professional best practices (see Sources). We also recognize the need to make our digital preservation plans sustainable within the context of our staffing and resources. Our policies are therefore an attempt to align ourselves with standards while developing practices that are realistic and achievable. We look towards collaborative digital preservation initiatives that are organized through the Orbis Cascade Alliance as longer-term solutions to our digital preservation needs. 

Expectations for Levels of Digital Preservation

The National Digital Stewardship Alliance (NDSA) maintains a tiered set of expectations for digital preservation. The set of standards "allows institutions to assess the level of preservation achieved [...] from the basic need to ensure bit preservation towards broader requirements for keeping track of digital content and being able to ensure that it can be made available over longer periods of time." The Pacific University Archives provides between Level 2-3 standards for each functional area of digital preservation, except for File Fixity.  

We prioritize the digital preservation of files that represent the only or most authoritative version of the content, such as born-digital files and digitized audio-video files. Digital surrogates of physical objects, such as scans of photographs or PDF copies of original documents, are currently lower priority for high-level digital preservation. This is because the original hard copies represent the most authoritative version of the content. While we provide basic digital preservation of digital surrogates, we concentrate on physical preservation of the originals, rather than digital preservation of derivative files.  

Pacific University Archives Preservation Levels based on the NDSA Rubric:

Standard Formats for Master & Access Copies of Digital Objects (summary)

NOTE: Standards for file formats, resolution, sample rates, etc. are created for each media format separately. A summary is provided here with links to more detailed information.

For BORN DIGITAL materials received in non-stable formats (such as .mp3), a conversion to a master copy format should be made in order to facilitate long-term migration and preservation of the file. 

See also, more information on recommendations for the specs for initial capture of video, audio, etc.

Storage Locations for Master Copies and Back-Ups

Digital Images and Documents

We process and store copies of digital files for still images and textual documents in these locations:

• Local hard drives - read/write access by Archives staff, Systems Librarian and University IT staff. Purpose: processing and internal access to working copies of files. 

• Cloud-based file sharing repository (Box). Read/write access by Archives staff, Systems Librarian and University IT staff. 

  • Archives > Miscellaneous Collections : used on an ad hoc basis to house working copies of files that are being processed across multiple machines

  • Archives > Archives Digital Masters : contains "master" copies of processed files. Note however, that these are actually more like the working masters of the files, because they are vulnerable to being overwritten. The preservation copies should be in Cold Storage.  

• Cold Storage in Amazon Glacier. Highly restricted access, mostly limited to upload-only, and only accessible by the Archivist and Systems Librarian. This is for deep and secure storage only, to guard against loss/electronic decay of the local cloud-based storage copies. 

• Public access server (OmekaS) - read/write access by Archives staff, Systems Librarian and University IT staff. This location only contains the lower resolution copy of the files, not the uncompressed large files. These are considered "access" copies. Backups are generated automatically.

Legacy files locations that are no longer being actively added to / maintained: 

• Archival gold optical discs - read only; stored in Archives. Created in 2000s-early 2010s. 

The above approach aligns with ARSC recommendations to use “at least two, or preferably three sets of archival master digital files of preserved content and store them in different locations, and possibly on different types of media” (ARSC, 2009, p. 7). 

Audio and Video Files

We use alternate workflows to preserve audio and video files, since they can be very large and quickly eat up all available storage space. For very large files, such as uncompressed video, it may only be feasible for us to store two copies of the uncompressed files. Recommended practice currently is to create these copies:

• External desktop hard drive - read/write access by Archives staff, Systems Librarian and University IT staff. Note: This is a short-term storage solution only for working copies of files, which are maintained while master preservation copies are in the process of being created/stored. AV file sets would require maintaining and backing up multiple (potential 10+ over time) hard drives in mirrored arrays, which is not sustainable.  

• Archival gold optical discs for uncompressed audio files - read only; stored in Archives. Note: These were created during digitization projects in the 2010s, but we do not necessarily plan to continue creating these. 

• Cold Storage in Amazon Glacier. Highly restricted access, mostly limited to upload-only, and only accessible by the Archivist and Systems Librarian. This is for deep and secure storage only, to guard against loss/electronic decay of the local cloud-based storage copies. 

• Public access server (Omeka) - read/write access by Archives staff, Systems Librarian and University IT staff. This location only contains the compressed copy of the files, not the uncompressed large files. These are considered "access" copies. Backups are generated automatically.

Note: For any projects that deviate from the norms above, remember to add documentation to our internal web site and/or to the collection metadata via our archival management software.

Metadata

Technical Metadata

When digital objects are created, the files are embedded with built-in technical metadata regarding the tools used to capture the image/recording, the capture date, and other information. This and other information regarding the creation of the digital objects is needed for their long-term preservation (See Schumacher et al, 2014). We are currently at Level 3/5 of the NDSA tiered expectations for metadata. To extract and manage preservation metadata outside of the embedded technical metadata, it would be most efficient for us to implement a dedicated software tool such as Archivematica (open source). This would assist in managing preservation metadata as well as the digital object ingest workflow overall.

Additional metadata from Amazon Glacier process: When Amazon Glacier was implemented as a Dark Storage solution in Fall 2016, metadata regarding our inventory of files began generated automatically by Amazon. The generated CSV files include a snapshot of technical metadata including file sizes, file types, etc. It is recommended that we keep a permanent copy of the CSV file from the initial upload to Amazon. This can be checked against later auto-generated inventory metadata.

Descriptive and Administrative metadata

Descriptive (content-centric) and administrative (rights) metadata for digital objects are created according to our guidelines (see Descriptive Standards Overview). These metadata records exist in multiple file formats, but are most commonly in XML, with some collections also having CSV files from which XML can be derived. It should be noted that these records are "living" files -- that is, we expect them to be updated and changed over time, and do not necessarily need or want to preserve permanent static copies of them. A system of back-ups, rather than a formal digital preservation system, is most appropriate for these files. They are currently saved in several locations: CSV files are in Google Drive; XML files are in the appropriate content management systems, which are automatically backed up on servers (e.g. ArchivesSpace, ArchivesWest, Omeka, etc.). Some descriptive metadata is also harvested out to third party systems (e.g. Primo, ArchiveGrid, WorldCat) that provide their own back-up systems. 

Migrations and File Fixity Recommendations

To ensure that the digital objects do not become orphaned in obsolete formats nor become corrupted through software or hardware problems, it is necessary to migrate them periodically to new storage media and/or file formats. File fixity data allows us to check whether files are intact. 

• On ingest/creation of a new digital object: Create file fixity data. Note: This is created automatically when we upload to Amazon Glacier. Currently, only our AV content is systematically added to Glacier. 

• Every 2 years (2015, 2017, 2019,  2021, etc.): Check integrity of storage media and migrate to new storage if needed. 

• Every 3 years (2015, 2018, 2021, 2024, etc.): Check integrity of digital objects.

• Every 5 years or more often if needed (2015, 2020, 2025 etc.): Review master file formats and minimum capture standards. Migrate to new formats if necessary. Implemented

• Long term: Our regional consortium, the Orbis Cascade Alliance, may eventually recommend solutions for handling digital preservation, perhaps by using a cloud-based storage service like DuraCloud. We will continue to monitor OCA's recommendations.

Sources Consulted

American Library Association (2013). Minimum digitization capture recommendations. Retrieved on November 18, 2014 from http://www.ala.org/alcts/resources/preserv/minimum-digitization-capture-recommendations#time-based_media

Association for Recorded Sound Collections Technical Committee (2009). Preservation of archival sound recordings.  Retrieved on November 4, 2014 from http://www.arsc-audio.org/pdf/ARSCTC_preservation.pdf

Cunningham, S. (2012). The preservation of analog oral history collections through digitization. In D. Boyd,, S. Cohen, B. Rakerd, & D. Rehberger (Eds.), Oral history in the digital age. Institute of Library and Museum Services. Retrieved from http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/preservation-of-analog-collections-through-digitization

Frisch, M., w/ Lambert, D. (2012). Mapping approaches to oral history content management in the digital age. In D. Boyd, S. Cohen, B. Rakerd, & D. Rehberger (Eds.), Oral history in the digital age. Institute of Library and Museum Services. Retrieved on December 4, 2014 from http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/07/mapping/

Lacinak, C. (n.d.). A primer on codecs for moving image and sound archives: 10 recommendations for codec selection and management. Retrieved on November 4, 2014 from http://www.avpreserve.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/AVPS_Codec_Primer.pdf

Library of Congress (n.d.). Care, handling, and storage of audio visual materials. Retrieved on November 11, 2014 from http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/record.html.

Library of Congress (2014). Recommended format specifications 2014-2015. Retrieved on November 4, 2014 from http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/rfs20142015.pdf

Library of Congress (n.d.). Sustainability of digital formats. Retrieved on November 4, 2014 from http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/sustain/sustain.shtml

Pennington, S. and Rehberger, D. (2012). The preservation of analog video through digitization. In D. Boyd,, S. Cohen, B. Rakerd, & D. Rehberger (Eds.), Oral history in the digital age. Institute of Library and Museum Services. Retrieved from http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/preservation-of-analog-video-through-digitization/.

Schumacher, J., Thomas, L. M., VandeCreek, D., Erdman, S., Hancks, J., Haykal, A., Miner, M., Prud’homme, P., and Spalenka, D. (2014). From theory to action: good enough digital preservation for under-resourced cultural heritage institutions. Retrieved on November 4, 2014 from http://commons.lib.niu.edu/handle/10843/13610

Shopes, L. (2012). Transcribing oral history in the digital age. In D. Boyd, S. Cohen, B. Rakerd, & D. Rehberger (Eds.), Oral history in the digital age. Institute of Library and Museum Services.  Retrieved on November 25, 2014 from http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/transcribing-oral-history-in-the-digital-age/

Specs Bros (n.d.) Basic inspection techniques to sample the condition of magnetic tape. Retrieved on October 30, 2014 from http://www.specsbros.com/whitepaper.html

Van Bogart, J. (1995). Magnetic tape storage and handling: a guide for libraries and archives. [Published by the commission on preservation and access, and the national media laboratory. Found on the CLIR website publications]

Van Malssen, K. (2012). Digital video preservation and oral history. In D. Boyd, S. Cohen, B. Rakerd, & D. Rehberger (Eds.), Oral history in the digital age. Institute of Library and Museum Services. Retrieved from http://ohda.matrix.msu.edu/2012/06/digital-video-preservation-and-oral-history