As Director of Publishing Technology, I manage a team of programmers in developing and supporting the software that enables the Library's publishing efforts, which include the University of Michigan Press and Michigan Publishing Services. I manage the development of the Fulcrum publishing platform and serve on the Digital Repository Services Steering Committee and Digital Preservation Steering Committee. Digital preservation and sustainability is at the center of all of my work, as I strive for everything we publish to endure as part of the scholarly record.
Z Score,T Score, Percential Rank and Box Plot Graph
Jeremy Morse - nasig lightning talk model digital preservation policy
1. NASIG Model Digital
Preservation Policy
NASIG Lightning Talk
September 9, 2021
Jeremy Morse
Director of Publishing Technology
Michigan Publishing
University of Michigan Library
2. A Simple Idea
Every digital publisher should have a
digital preservation policy.
3. Still image from “Goin’ On A Holiday.” Mr. Show with Bob and
David, created by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, season 3,
episode 6, HBO Original Programming, 1997.
4. What is Digital Preservation, really?
It’s not just a technology issue… though we tend to talk about it that way.
It’s a commitment of resources over the long term:
● Time
● Attention
● Active Management
It’s a series of decisions!
5. It’s a long answer to a short question
If I cite* this work, what will a future reader see when they follow the
citation? How close will that be to what I see now?
* Or bookmark, or share, or promote, or publish my own work with you, etc.
6. A lot of publishers don’t have a policy written
How can we help?
Provide a template for creating your own policy, with guidance.
7. NASIG Working Group
A subgroup of the Digital Preservation Committee
Contributors:
● Heather Staines (Co-chair)
● Willa Tavernier (Co-chair)
● Corey Davis
● Corinne Guimont
● Grant Hurley
● Jeremy Morse
● Jennifer Regala
● Melina Zavala
New chair: Alicia Wise
8. Anatomy of the Model Policy
An outline of recommended sections for your policy
● Scope
○ What We Preserve
○ What We Don’t Preserve
● Strategies
● Principles
● Roles and Responsibilities
● Administration and Review
● Collaboration
● Related Documents
● Glossary
With sample text and a section guide in each.
9. Make your policy explicit
Document deliberate, transparent choices about what aspects of a
publication you’re preserving, and how…
… And just as importantly, what aspects you’re not preserving.
Make your choices are explicit, not implicit and, perhaps, unintended.
Hello, my name is Jeremy Morse. I’m the Director of Publishing Technology at Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, and a member of the Model Digital Preservation Policy Working Group, and I’m here to tell you about what we’ve been up to.
The Working Group formed in the summer of 2020 in pursuit of a simple idea: every digital publisher should have a digital preservation policy. And we can think about this as broadly as possible: every organization who creates or distributes any kind of digital content or format is a digital publisher.
“Why do I need a digital preservation policy?” you may ask. (And lest you think I’m condescending, I find myself thinking of this fella more and more as a role model.)
But before we get into why, let’s back up a step: What is Digital Preservation, really? It’s tempting to think of it as a technology problem, but more than anything it’s a resource problem, and specifically a human resource problem. Active management means you’re making a series of decisions, especially in a changing technological landscape. A policy document can serve both to establish your organization’s commitment of those resources and to document those decisions.
I think of a preservation policy as a long answer to a short question: “If I cite this piece of digital content, or share it, or bookmark it, or if I have a digitally enhanced article or monograph that I want to publish with you, what will a future reader see when they come to use it? How likely is it to still be there? How likely will its appearance or functionality have changed? The more complex, varied, and “digitally native” your publications are, the more complex the answer to that question will be… and the more your own organization needs to coordinate its efforts to make this happen. So the policy is a public statement, in addition to an internal document of organizational consensus.
A lot of us are still catching up to the fact that digital publishing requires more active planning from the outset of content creation or acquisition. With this in mind, the Working Group set about creating a modular template policy that could be adapted by different kinds of publishers or stewards of digital content to formally establish their own policies, or to better document those policies that already existed.
And who was that working group?
And we wrote it! So what’s in the model policy? We have sections for defining scope, describing your technology strategies, the principles governing your policy, roles and responsibilities, how the policy will be administered and maintained, related partners and policies, and a glossary of terms. Each section has some sample text to get you started, and some guidance on the decisions you’ll have to make to create a policy that’s right for your environment. And it may be that some of these sections are more useful in your context than others.
It’s all about making your policy explicit. Many preservation policies are essentially a list of the file formats that will be used and the strategies for preserving those files. We feel it’s important, especially for publishers, to be clear about what kinds of content are being preserved in those files, and what aspects of a publication you’re focused on preserving. And just as importantly, what is not covered by your policy. This sets clear expectations for both your staff, your technology partners, and your readership.
And now the most important slide: How can I make use of this? We have a draft available for review, and we’d love to get your feedback, which we’re gathering via Survey Monkey (an effort led by Alicia Wise, the new chair of the Working Group). And if you’re interested enough for a deep dive into the model policy and how it was put together, please attend our hour-long webinar on September 16th, one week from today.. Thank you!