As with other parts of the collections, decisions about preservation are made by selectors, curators, and bibliographers as experts on the value of the content, in consultation with the relevant technical experts, including the Digital Library and Scholarly Technologies, the Library Systems Office, and the Preservation and Digital Conversion Division. Priorities for preservation action are based on this Policy, the CUL Strategic Plan, and available budgetary support. When possible, decisions about the need for long-term retention should be made at the time of creation, acquisition, or licensing of digital resources.
For digital resources that are deemed to be of long-term value, preservation can be defined as the actions needed to assure enduring access to the full content of those resources over time. Content has wider implications than simply assuring that a given file can be accessed. For example, hierarchical and structural relationships among the files (such as the pages of a book) and metadata that make the files usable must be preserved as well as the files themselves.
CUL is committed to lifecycle management of its digital resources. Guidelines and procedures for each stage have been or are being developed, and are reviewed as technology changes or other need arises. CUL will participate actively where appropriate in research, development, and implementation of new practices for preservation of digital resources.
The responsibility to build research collections carries with it the obligation to ensure that these collections, both physical and digital, are permanently accessible. The Columbia University Libraries is committed to the preservation of its collections. Preservation is the action taken to prevent, stop, or retard deterioration of all library materials in all media and formats; to prevent their theft or loss; where possible to improve their condition; and, as necessary and appropriate, to change their format in order to preserve their intellectual content.
Columbia, as a research library, selects most material for permanent value. Some, however, may not become a permanent part of the collection because it is of only short-term interest to scholars. Department and distinctive collection librarians and selection officers are responsible for developing and maintaining a collection which meets the needs of their library users. Therefore, preservation decisions for the collection is best determined by these officers in consultation with each other, the Preservation & Digital Conversion Division, the Digital Library and Scholarly Technologies Division, reference staff, and others including the faculty when necessary. Preservation decisions must always be made within the context of overall collection policy, balancing the constraints of cost, historical and aesthetic and scholarly value, and user accessibility.
This policy provides a broad set of guidelines for digital preservation, from which procedures can be developed with confidence that they will meet accepted standards, make effective use of resources, and support the mission and goals of the Library. Objectives of the policy are to:
Describe specific preservation strategies that will be performed to ensure the long-term preservation of digital materials. These strategies include life cycle management of resources owned by the College and the negotiation of third-party preservation agreements for licensed resources.
Dartmouth College Library has created digital content since the 1980s. With the start of the Digital Publishing Program in 2001 and the development of a digital production unit in 2008, digital production is now a daily activity. The Library also purchases and licenses a very large and growing number of digital resources. Due to the fragile nature of digital objects along with continually evolving hardware, software, standards, and file formats, these materials are at a much higher preservation risk than traditional analog materials.
Digital preservation differs from analog preservation in several ways. The primary difference is that digital preservation requires active management. While many analog materials, such as books, can survive for years when simply stored in a climate-controlled environment, digital materials that are left alone for long periods of time are much more likely to degrade beyond repair, and this degradation is generally not discovered until there is an attempt to use the item.
Additionally, the preservation needs of analog materials, such as books, journals, film, and tape, are well understood and have not greatly changed over time. Digital preservation, however, is a new and developing field with standards that are still being created. New tools and technologies will require that digital preservation activities be responsive and adaptable.
A well-defined digital preservation policy is essential for the Library to carry out its mission of supporting excellence in research, delivering information, and disseminating new scholarship. Without a policy that defines its scope, strategies, challenges, and responsible parties, digital preservation will continue to be an ambition rather than a robust program. Reasons for developing a digital preservation policy include:
This digital preservation policy is created in harmony with policies of the Digital Projects and Infrastructure Group (DPIG) and Collection Management and Planning Group (CMPG). The Head of Preservation Services is ultimately responsible for the implementation of digital preservation policies and procedures in the Library.
Dartmouth College Library is committed to the preservation of all of these digital resources throughout their life cycle and will develop the technical infrastructure to support the creation, maintenance, and access of digital materials for the long term. It is also committed to supporting staff in developing the expertise to perform the activities.
Stakeholders in digital preservation include Library staff, users of Library collections (both at Dartmouth and elsewhere), faculty and other College staff who create digital content housed by the Library. Explicit responsibilities of stakeholders in carrying out preservation strategies include:
Given its diverse mandates, the Libraries maintains a program of digital preservation policies and practices targeted to meet its responsibilities. The objectives underlying these policies and practices are to:
An effective program of digital preservation is guided by selection and applied in accordance with relevant data and cyber-security policies of the State of South Carolina and USC and national and international standards when not in legal conflict with state policy. When possible, decisions about the need for long-term retention are made at the time of creation, acquisition or licensing of digital assets. The selection process is collaborative and guided by the following priorities:
The Libraries has a leadership role within USC to guide the preservation of digital information. In this capacity, it advises other units as to best practices and accepts when appropriate stewardship of digital materials for preservation within its digital preservation program.
By actively implementing this Framework, faculty and staff of the Libraries position themselves to participate in the development of digital preservation standards within our professional communities at a national and international level, ensuring that the Libraries remains abreast of evolving practices.
The Digital Preservation Program within Libraries is responsible for identifying, securing, and providing the means to preserve and ensure ongoing access to selected digital assets. Libraries is committed to preserving and maintaining all PURR content for a period of ten years after it is published in PURR. Not all digital content deposited within PURR will be selected for preservation beyond the ten-year retention period. Long-term preservation of PURR content (beyond the ten year retention period) is subject to Libraries' selection criteria and archival appraisal of the content for long-term retention, and depends upon a sufficient budget necessary to support staff and related resources to meet this goal.
Definitions of terms used in this digital preservation policy are based on the glossary created by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), part of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
Charge
The charge of the Digital Preservation Committee is to identify ways in which NASIG can educate and inform its members and the community at large in the ways they can work to ensure digital scholarly content in all formats remains available to future users. The committee will identify and publicize the roles and responsibilities needed for librarians and publishers and will develop some best practices for the industry, including open access. The committee will work collaboratively with other organizations with an interest in digital preservation to ensure that we are working in partnership and broadening the range of our efforts, extending the marketing of appropriate digital preservation activities to a broad range of library administrations and publishers.
The project involved analyzing a set of published digital preservation policies from libraries and archives around the world. My task was to determine what these policies cover, what they do not, and what level of detail they provide.
An unexpected result was that only two of the 13 policies mentioned staffing and training in any detail. This topic attracts lots of attention in professional circles and would seem to play a key role in implementing institutional policy over time. Also, with digital preservation requiring technical proficiency and an understanding of the changing information environment, I assumed that there would be emphasis on staff and training. An explanation for the lack of inclusion and specificity may be that institutions prefer to consider the matter separately, or perhaps it requires further development.
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