Preservation at the Network Level: Challenges, Opportunities

Preservation at the Network Level: Challenges, Opportunities Constance Malpas Program Officer PAIG ALA Midwinter, Denver CO 24 January 2009

Context
Institutional value of print collections is being reassessed as scholarly workflows move to the Web
Uncertainties about accessibility and utility of digitized books (in copyright) have increased concerns about disposition of print collections
Digital preservation infrastructure addresses ontological objective (the content will ‘exist’) but doesn’t fundamentally alter value of print as distribution medium
Duplicative investments in print/electronic acquisitions and management are not sustainable; difficult choices must be made

Challenges
Limited aggregate preservation capacity
A handful of fully-staffed preservation centers
Diminishing print preservation mandate
As value of print to scholarly workflows declines, so does institutional commitment to retention and conservation
Imbalance in collective investments
Large institutions shifting resources to digital preservation, while smaller institutions continue to rely on tacit agreements for print preservation
Limited infrastructure to support collaboration
Difficult to pool expertise and data; incentives are few
Organizational obstacles to integrating preservation within larger operational workflows

Opportunities
Cross-domain partnerships
Academic / IRLA collaboration
Rich information environment, new sources of data
Disparate, dissipated, but still expanding evidence base
Evolving risk management models
Opportunities to target investment strategically based on changing perceptions of need and value
Increasing awareness that condition assessment of physical conditions is an information asset
Value of local collections in larger system-wide economy is determined (in part) by the quality of its condition

Case Study: Cooperative Preservation of At-Risk Journals
Goal
Develop shared methodology for identifying and managing at-risk serial holdings
Support research libraries in making strategic investments in print collection-building
Demonstrate value of cooperative effort as cost-efficient strategy for managing acquisitions
Approach
Evidence-based risk assessment: Yano report
System-wide vantage point: aggregate holdings, peer review
Network-aware model: ISSN, OCLC numbers

Case Study: Cooperative Preservation of At-Risk Journals
Scope
Active, scholarly journals in the humanities with print-only distribution channels
A distinctive class of risk: specialized publications with limited audience; low visibility in online environment
Method
Leverage existing collection strengths to secure prospective commitment to ongoing acquisition
Assign at-risk titles to participating libraries based on holdings and collection profile
Assess condition, coverage and willingness to retain

Preliminary Findings: Implications for Network Level Preservation
40% of titles reviewed are held in their entirety by at least one institution; condition is good; institutions are prepared to retain and acquire in perpetuity
 feasible to make assignments based on collection strengths and obtain significant impact; opportunities for re-formatting
30% of titles are held in part (>50% of content); uncertainties about cost-effectiveness of retrospective commitment
 value of these titles to scholarly workflows should be assessed before investments in gap-filling are made
30% of titles will require re-assignment based on scant local holdings (<50% complete)
 cooperative archiving efforts are essential if comprehensive back files are to be preserved
Lightweight validation is not overly burdensome; 15 min. per title
 Approach is scalable

What’s Missing: Social & Technical Infrastructure
Institutional retention commitments remain ‘latent’ and produce no beneficial network effects
MARC 583 tag (Preservation Action Note) under consideration as disclosure mechanism
Untapped potential as source of ‘business intelligence’ for preservation administrators
400,000 MARC 583 tags in WorldCat, representing 1 million library holdings
Titles for which a microfilming, digitization, Web archiving, condition assessment, repair, re-housing, mass de-acidification action is scheduled or has already been performed
Greatest challenge may be workflow integration between preservation and technical services

For Discussion
Are you disclosing local conservation / preservation actions to network partners?
Are you making use of existing 583 data in local decision-making?
How might local preservation workflows be integrated into metadata creation and collection management operations?
Which preservation action data are most critical to local operations? Has been, will be, will not be?

More Information
RLG Shared Print program description:
www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/collectivecoll/sharedprint
Journals Preservation Project title list:
www.worldcat.org/profiles/cmalpas/lists/346407
Preservation & Digitization Actions: MARC 583
www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/pda.pdf
Constance Malpas
[email_address]
Tel: +1-650-287-2131

Preservation at the Network Level: Challenges, Opportunities

by OCLC Research

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

1 Embed 2

Statistics

Preservation at the Network Level: Challenges, Opportunities Presentation Transcript