20 Years in Digital Preservation: 2001 presentation on the Preservation Management of Digital Materials [the Digital Preservation Handbook] at the Digital Continuity Forum and workshop, Melbourne Australia. This is the second of 12 conference presentations I have selected to mark 20 years in Digital Preservation. This one is selected because of the subsequent influence the Handbook has had (I believe 15 years later it is still the most heavily used resource on the DPC website). It also seemed apposite with the online Handbook currently being worked and updated to its first major “second edition”. The presentation is in two parts a keynote to the Forum on the Handbook and a set of workshop slides – consisting of a digital preservation questionnaire and a set of [institutional] responses probably from a repeat performance and workshop at a separate event in Australia. I have almost no information left on these events but fortunately the Pandora web archive at the National Library of Australia has an archived description of the Forum: it just shows how useful web archives are!

1. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Preservation
Management of
Digital Materials
keynote presentation and
workshop at
Digital Continuity Forum
Melbourne Australia
2001
Neil Beagrie

2. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Overview
Digital Preservation –all of the actions required to
maintain access to digital materials beyond the
limits of media failure or technological change.
background
• growth of electronic materials
• issue in digital preservation
Preservation Management of Digital Materials a Handbook
• the study and research
• the handbook
Digital Preservation - What you can do
practical applications in institutions

3. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Growth of Electronic Materials
Computer Disk Storage
after Michael Lesk
http://www.gii.getty.edu/timeandbits/ksg.html
• In the USA it is estimated that 75% of federal government transactions will
be electronic by 2000 AD
• 1.5 kilometers of paper records transferred to PRO each year:estimated
95% originate from electronic source

4. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
The Issues
• Media Degradation - media degrades and information is easily
destroyed without adequate care
• Technological Obsolescence- only accessible through hardware and
software -rapid obsolescence
• Authenticity - electronic records easily amended and have to be moved
through new technologies
• Intellectual Property -no automatic right to copy & archive for
preservation, added complexity and access issues in digital materials
• Need for further Research, Policy and Guidelines

5. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Awareness & Preparation
• Digital Preservation Needs and Requirements in RLG Member Institutions
M.Hedstrom and S. Montgomery Dec 1998 http://www.rlg.org/preserv/digpres.html

6. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
The Study
• AHDS/JISC Proposal to Library and Information Commission –
Preservation of and access to the Recorded Heritage Research
Programme
• Major growth in digitisation and need for guidance Now have 6years+
of research projects and services in digital preservation -plethora of
experience world-wide to draw on
• builds on AHDS study A Strategic Framework for Creating and
Preserving Digital Collections and AHDS Collections Manual
• research July 1999 – Sept 2000 then testing and consultation to
March 2002

7. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
The Research
• Desktop research and advisory group
• detailed case studies
– The British Library
– The University of Hull
– Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of Scotland
• specialist interviews
• peer and public review of draft
• Testing of draft handbook by institutions, BL, Cambridge, Oxford

8. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
The Handbook
• Introduction to key issues and decisions
• Integrated “lifecycle” approach to issues
• Applicable to museums, archives, libraries and other
repositories
• UK legislation focus but international scope
• tools -
– decision tree
– checklists
– case studies
– selection of key further reading and exemplars

9. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Decision tree

10. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Checklist for Digitisation

11. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Some reviews

12. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
• publication by British Library
Oct 2001 price £15
• order from:
– Turpin Distribution Services Ltd
Email turpin@turpinltd.com

13. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Digital Preservation -What can you do?
•Read the Handbook - Consult and take advice
•Tailor it for your institution
•inventory your electronic collections
•Develop policy for electronic collections, acquisitions and
digitisation, retention and disposal
–select open data formats or if not available proprietary
standards which are stable and widely adopted
–document thoroughly the resources you create
–licensing- negotiate for perpetual access/archiving
•implement strategies for maintaining long-term access to
electronic data either in-house or via third party provider
•Audit

14. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Questions ?

15. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Questionnaire
"In general, the research for the Handbook found that the
level of awareness of and interest in digital preservation is
gradually increasing but is not keeping pace with the level
of digital resource creation." (Background p.6)
Q1 Using your own institution as a frame of reference, does the
statement above match your own experience?
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
X X X X X

16. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Questionnaire
Q4a Which of these do you believe present the greatest challenge to your
institution? (please provide details of why)
Not sure if we have a “continual programme of active management from the design and
creation stage”.
Since I am not sure what the challenges are at [institution], it is hard to answer this
question. Allocation of resources for digital preservation does seem to be necessity.
dot points 5 and 6 – priorities and nature of technology. I am answering this question
from a corporate perspective noting that does not have an integrated records
management system.
In a nutshell I think the biggest problems for [institution] are management or agreement
on priorities and technology.
Development of policies.
Development of universal classification scheme.
Cultural change from personal/sectional records to organisational wide context.
Funds to implement new system/resource allocation.
Agreed priorities
Technology infrastructure

17. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Questionnaire
Q6 At what stage is your own institution regarding the
development of institutional policy and guidelines as advocated
in the decision tree?
The Digital Strategic Plan 2001-2004 addresses digital issues including
creation, provision of access and development of digital standards.
There is a commitment to develop appropriate technology infrastructure to
preserve, store and provide access to digital resources.
[institution] Digitisation Guidelines lists a number of principles including
digitising to internationally accepted standards for capture and metadata,
efficient management of digital objects and the principle of digitising once only
and keeping the master copy in a central storage location.
Digitising Steering Committee charged with overall co-ordination, decision
making and structure for the organisation’s digitising efforts.

18. Joint Information Systems Committee
Supporting Higher and Further Education
Questionnaire
Q8 How would you use the Handbook in your
institution?
Can be used as an awareness raising tool. There are lots of issues to be aware of and
that need to be discussed.
Ensure that proper procedures and guidelines are put in place.
A very useful primer particularly for our efforts to develop processes and policies for
corporate records, ie internal [institution] records.