1. Trust: applying traditional
principles of authenticity and trust
to digital archives at LSE Library
Sue Donnelly, Archivist
Ellie Robinson, Digital Archivist
Ed Fay, Digital Library Manager

2. What is Trust?

3. Trust in the past

4. Trust in a digital world

5. Royal Economic Society
• Founded 1889
• Began depositing at LSE in 1979
• Moved to digital submission of journal
articles in c.2007

6. Press for Change
• Founded 1992
• Worked with government on legislation:
o Gender Recognition Act 2004
o Equality Act 2010
• Deposited archive in 2012
o arrived on 4gb memory stick

7. A Day in the Life of a USB Stick
What we do and how we stay authentic

8. Accessioning part 1: intellectual

9. Accessioning part 2: physical

10. Write-blocking
USB 2.0
connection to
PC
The USB stick
Mains power
source

11. Virus checking

12. Imaging

13. Imaging

14. Profiling

15. Normalising
*.wpd
Xena
*.odt

16. Metadata
• Technical, preservation, descriptive
• Some automated, some not
• Multi-purpose – to support preservation in
the long term but also to track ownership,
rights.

17. Metadata example

18. Trustworthy Digital Repository

19. Trustworthy Digital Repository Elephant

20. Trustworthy Digital Repository Elephant

21. Eating the Trustworthy Digital Elephant
Phased development of technical
infrastructure, staff skills

22. LSE Digital Library

23. LSE Digital Library

24. LSE Digital Library

25. LSE Digital Library

26. Making the case: articulating value
• Benefits and risks
o Strategic alignment

27. Making the case: articulating value
• Benefits and risks
o Strategic alignment
• Evidence base
o We understand our problems
o We can propose achievable solutions

28. Making the case: articulating value
• Benefits and risks
o Strategic alignment
• Evidence base
o We understand our problems
o We can propose achievable solutions
• Context and terminology
o Key messages, but for whom?

29. Making the case: articulating value
• Benefits and risks
o Strategic alignment
• Evidence base
o We understand our problems
o We can propose achievable solutions
• Context and terminology
o Key messages, but for whom?
• Importance of internal stakeholders

30. Making the case: articulating value
• Terminology
o Persistent access
o Long-term availability
o Digital continuity/stewardship
o Indefinite retention
o Protection of investment
o Legal compliance
o Competition, reputation, embarrassment

31. Making the case: risk register
Inadequate
staff skills
Media
degradation or
obsolescence
Loss of
essential
characteristics
Insufficient
backups
Infrastructure
cannot support
requirements
Activity
overlooked or
under
resourced
Failure of
authenticity,
integrity,
provenance
Loss of trust
or reputation
Cannot
implement
preservation
plans

32. The Iceberg Model of
Digital Libraries
interfaces
collections/objects
workflows
systems
storage
digital preservation

33. The Iceberg Model of
Digital Libraries
interfaces
collections/objects
workflows
systems
storage
digital preservation

34. Roles and responsibilities
• Innovation vs service development
o Core skills and focus
o Embedding operational capacity

35. Roles and responsibilities
• Innovation vs service development
o Core skills and focus
o Embedding operational capacity
• Communication
o Bi-lateral (archivists/techies)
o Confident in requirements
o Long process of engagement
o Interesting IT challenges

36. Roles and responsibilities
Senior Management
• Strategy
• Resources
Academic Services
Academic Services
Collection development
• Collection development
Information skills training
• Information skills training
Digital Library Team
Digital Library Team
Policy
• Policy
Skills / expertise
• Skills / expertise
Innovation / projects
• Innovation / projects
Collection Services
Collection Services
Archive Services
Archive Services
Preservation
• Preservation
Description
• Description
Infrastructure
• Infrastructure
Collection development
• Collection development
Description
• Description
Preservation
• Preservation

37. Trust and collaboration
• Comparator analysis (vs conformance)

38. Trust and collaboration
• Comparator analysis (vs conformance)
• ‘Prioritising’ OAIS/TRAC
o Know what is most important for you
o Move in the right direction
o ‘Better’ rather than ‘best’ practice

39. Trust and collaboration
• Comparator analysis (vs conformance)
• ‘Prioritising’ OAIS/TRAC
o Know what is most important for you
o Move in the right direction
o ‘Better’ rather than ‘best’ practice
• Shared infrastructure or services (?)

40. Trustable Digital Repository

41. Trustable Digital Repository
• Sufficient investment
o Necessary skills/time/infrastructure
o Key drivers: provenance, authenticity
o Plan to scale, don’t plan to do it all now

42. Trustable Digital Repository
• Sufficient investment
o Necessary skills/time/infrastructure
o Key drivers: provenance, authenticity
o Plan to scale, don’t plan to do it all now
• ‘Better’ rather than ‘best’ practice
o Continuous improvement
o Aiming towards maturity of practice
o Not trying to get there in one go
o This will take years...

43. SPRUCE
a project to inspire, guide, support and enable UK HEIs to
address preservation gaps; and to use the knowledge
gathered from that support work to articulate a
compelling business case for digital preservation
• Events: digital preservation solutions
• Embedding: grants to continue work
• Business case: benefits, skills gaps
http://dpconline.org/advocacy/spruce

44. Conclusions
• Trust isn’t a new issue
but the lack of standards is
• Need to learn by practice
 getting hands on with the materials
• Keep talking
 develop engagement and ways of
communicating requirements

45. “I [trust] LSE [Digital] Library”
Trust is slow to earn...
...and quick to burn

46. Useful links
Out of the Box (LSE Archives blog)
http://lib-1.lse.ac.uk/archivesblog/?tag=digital-archives
Sustainable Preservation Using Community Engagement
http://dpconline.org/advocacy/spruce
You've Got to Walk Before You Can Run: First Steps for Managing BornDigital Content Received on Physical Media (OCLC)
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2012/2012-06r.html