DPE releases PLATTER, a Planning Tool for Trusted Electronic Repositories

This was posted on the Digital-Preservation email list.

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Digital Preservation Europe announces the release of PLATTER: a Planning Tool for Trusted Electronic Repositories. Digital repositories are entrusted by their stakeholders - depositors, funders and end-users - with the curation of vital and often irreplaceable electronic assets. Repositories typically validate that trust by subjecting themselves to audit and certification. But how should a new or existing repository organise its planning to prepare for certification? How do you plan for trust?

DPE's PLATTER toolkit will enable new and existing repositories to plan their activities in all the key areas of repository development in order to meet their self-defined goals. PLATTER developer Colin Rosenthal (IT-Developer Statsbiblioteket, Århus, Denmark) explains

Repositories are very diverse so you have to have flexibility to let them specify their own goals. On the other hand we've tried to give as many concrete ideas and suggestions as possible while letting repositories and their stakeholders set their own priorities.

PLATTER is designed to complement existing initiatives for audit and certification such as the DPE and DCC DRAMBORA toolkit. Jan Hutař (Head of Digital Library Section, Czech National Library) explains

A repository planned with PLATTER will be strongly placed to participate in an audit using DRAMBORA or one of the well-known repository checklists such as TRAC or nestor. A repository planned with PLATTER will already have in place all the necessary documentation for an audit.

To read the report visit, go here.

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Technorati tag: Digital Preservation

Report: Alternative File Formats for Storing Master Images of Digitisation Projects

The message below was posted on the IMAGELIB discussion list.

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The Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands, has published a report on possible alternative file formats for storing master images from mass digitisation projects. Uncompressed TIFFs, the KB's preferred format so far, take up far too much storage capacity to be a viable storage strategy for the long term. The report is available from the KB website.

At the Koninklijke Bibliotheek mass digitisation projects are taking off. In the next four years millions of high resolution RGB master image files will be produced and will have to be (permanently) archived. However, if all projected 40 million images are to be stored as uncompressed TIFFs, the KB will need some 650 TB of storage capacity by 2011. This is quite a capacity challenge, and thus the need arose to develop a new strategy for storage of images.

The project considered whether it would be possible to distinguish between master image files which must be stored for all "eternity" (because the originals decay rapidly and/or digitisation costs are so high that repeating the digitisation process is not a viable solution) and objects which are stored for access. The distinction would allow for a more pragmatic and economic storage policy, whereby projected usage would determine the storage strategy.

The draft of the report was reviewed by a group of selected specialists on digitisation, digital preservation and image science. Their feedback was incorporated in the final version of the report which is available at:
http://www.kb.nl/hrd/dd/dd_links_en_publicaties/links_en_publicaties_intro-en.html

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Technorati tag: Digitization

RLG Webinar: Out of the Stacks and onto the Desktop: Rethinking Assumptions about Access and Digitization

DigitalKoans mentioned this webinar. Use the URL to access the recorded webinar. How to get to it from the OCLC web site is not obvious. The webinar is 54 minutes in length with both audio and slides (the presentation itself is about 20 minutes, then Q&A). The presenters are Ricky Erway and Jennifer Schaffner, both RLG Program Officers.

Ricky and Jennifer discuss the RLG program called "Harmonizing Digitization Program", which includes:

• Study of public/private mass digitization partnership agreements
• Project to identify efforts to increase the scale of mass digitization in special collections

Addendum [3/28/2008]: Thanks to Roy Tennant for helping me realize that the webinar is a PARcast under RLG Programs on the OCLC web site.

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Digitizing radiographs

I'm sitting in on a workshop that David Rothman is doing on RSS. This group is learning about RSS this morning, then I'll teach them about Second Life this afternoon. David has been showing the group places where there are RSS feeds and just took us to PubMed. And what did I search on in PubMed? Yup, digitization and this is what I found:

A model for digital archiving of radiographs into a searchable database.
Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2007 Dec;132(6):856-9

Digital images are routinely used in orthodontic practices today. Many systems and formats are available for producing, storing, retrieving, viewing, and sharing these images. The digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) standard is designed to ensure that these systems and formats are compatible, so that an image produced in a small private practice today can be viewed next year in a large hospital. The purpose of this article is to describe a method for laser scanning and digitization of analog (film) radiographs that meets DICOM standards and allows for web-based archiving, searching, and retrieval.

PMID: 18068609 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Glad to see that digitization is being talked about among the medical community. Actually, many hospitals are pushing the envelope of technology. Anything that can help them work smarter and faster is great.

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Digitized music scores at the Sibley Music Library

The Rochester (NY) Regional Library Council (RRLC) wrote this news item on its web site about the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music, which is part of University of Rochester (NY).

As the largest academic music library in North America, Sibley Music Library holds collections of unusual breadth and depth. Their public domain scores digitization project aims to make some of their riches widely available and easily accessible to musicians around the world. Thus far they have digitized some 2,600 scores and placed PDF files at UR Research (https://urresearch.rochester.edu). For access to these scores find the ESM—Sibley Music Library “community” within UR Research and choose the “Musical Scores” collection. They began counting traffic at this site in February 2005; thus far there have been nearly 1,255,000 score downloads; the figure for the month of March 2008 alone (as of 3/24) is 72,900.

A quick search found that the digital collection contains not only score, but also theses. As for the score, one can quickly find scores from the 1800s. One score I retrieved was from 1844 ("Colour-music" by D.D. Jameson).

This is a wonderful resources...but now for the bad news.

The site carries a copyright statement, but there is no clear indication of what is being copyrighted. The About UR Research page, at the bottom, includes a link to Copyright Clearance and Fair Use. That then leads to links about copyright clearance, fair use, seeking permission, etc. That page has not been updated since 2002. In addition, none of the wording is user friendly. Rather than being plain and clear about what can and cannot be done, the text on the page will make most people's eyes glaze over. The fact that I had to search around for this information is also not user friendly.

Adding content is not enough with an ongoing program. They must also see what other changes need to be made and make them, too.

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Article & Photos: The Internet Archive Keeps Book-Scanning Free

Wired magazine has nine photos with accompanying text about the Internet Archive's book digitization efforts. It is worth looking at.

Thanks to Disruptive Library Technology Jester for pointing this out.

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Technorati tags: Digitization, Book, Internet Archive

Call for Proposals: Mid-Atlantic Digital Library Conference 2008

I rarely publish information on one-day events, but this one is intriguing. Although a one-day event, this event will have several tracks. I suspect this could draw people from a broad geographic area and could be quite interesting.

Having grown up an hour south of Lewisburg, I can tell you that it is a beautiful area! And if you go, try to get the Country Cupboard, which is a restaurant and expansive shop. Just trust me...it is worth visiting!

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CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Mid-Atlantic Digital Library Conference 2008 http://blogs.bucknell.edu/DigitalLibraryConference2008/
July 9, 2008
Hosted by Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania

ALL PROPOSALS DUE BY MAY 1, 2008

March 18, 2008, Lewisburg, PA -- Bucknell University's Library & Technology Division is pleased to issue this Call for Proposals for the first Mid-Atlantic Digital Library Conference. The conference goal is to bring together librarians and technologists from a wide range of cultural heritage institutions such as colleges and universities, libraries, museums, historical societies, and art galleries, who are interested in providing digital access to their collections. The conference seeks to support this community through a mix of speakers, contributed papers and posters, workshops, and engaging discussion. The conference will be held on July 9, 2008.

Audience
Librarians, technologists, and other information professionals with responsibility for or an interest in digitization projects, metadata, and digital library systems. Sessions will range in scope and depth. Some sessions will be appropriate for those with no prior knowledge in the field, while others will be more technical in nature.

Conference Topics
Conference presentations are sought in all areas related to digital libraries, including the following:

- Case studies
- Collaborative projects
- Digital content for teaching (K-12)
- Digital content for teaching (higher education)
- Digital images
- Digital library systems and architecture
- Digital projects -- archives and historical societies
- Digital projects -- museums and art galleries
- Digital projects -- public libraries
- Digital projects -- special libraries
- Digitizing art collections and other rare/fragile materials
- Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
- Getting started with digitization projects
- Grant-funded projects
- Metadata
- Working with faculty
- Working with students
- Working with IT staff

We encourage proposals targeted at all levels of experience (introductory, intermediate, and advanced) and a wide range of audiences (academic librarians, public librarians, special/corporate librarians, archivists, museum curators, digital library technologists, library administrators, library/information science graduate students).

The program committee hopes to have several tracks to accommodate a wide range of topics, experience levels, and audiences.

Presentation Formats
Proposals are invited for a variety of formats: lecture-style presentations, panel discussions, and posters.

Submitting a Proposal
Email proposals to dig@bucknell.edu. Proposals must include the following information:

Proposed session title
One- to two-paragraph abstract
Name(s) and contact information for all presenters
Type of session being proposed (lecture-style presentation, panel discussion, or poster)
For lecture-style presentations: level of experience (introductory, intermediate, or advanced)

Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Notification to proposal authors is expected to occur by early May.

Feel free to contact Bucknell University's Digital Initiatives Group [dig@bucknell.edu] if you have questions or proposal ideas you would like to discuss before submitting a proposal.

Conference Location
Bucknell University is located in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The campus is in a beautiful rural setting adjacent to the Susquehanna River.

Harrisburg and State College (home of Penn State University) are about an hour away; New York, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are approximately a three- to four-hour drive.

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Technorati tags: Digitization, Digital Library

Event: Fifth International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPres) September 2008

As announced on the Digital-Preservation list. I attended iPRES in 2006, when it was in the U.S. and it is an excellent conference. Hopefully, some people who attend will write blog posts about it, so the rest of us will have almost instant information from the event.

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The fifth annual International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPres) 2008 will take place at the British Library Conference Centre on 29 and 30 September this year.

iPres 2008 is the fifth in a series of international conferences dedicated to promoting understanding and best practice in digital preservation. This is becoming increasingly pressing as the value and volume of our cultural and scientific heritage created and stored online continues to rise.

iPres 2008 will bring together experts and practitioners from across the spectrum of digital preservation disciplines and provide a forum to exchange new ideas, best practice and information about emerging trends and technologies.

Please make a note of, and hold, these dates in your diary. We will contact you again soon with full details of the event and to let you know that the iPres 2008 website and registration have gone live.

Early will close on registration 15 July 2008.

The British Library Conference Centre offers state-state-of-the-art facilities and is reached easily from St Pancreas and Eurostar termini, King’s Cross and international airports.

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Technorati tag: Digital Preservation

Illinois' Digital Past

Tonight I did a presentation at North Suburban Library System (NSLS) in Wheeling, IL (northwest of Chicago). Although the presentation wasn't digitization related, I learned that NSLS is involved in a statewide digitization program called Digital Past. The web site says:

Digital Past is a local history digitization initiative undertaken by libraries, historical societies, museums, and other cultural venues throughout Illinois in partnership with the North Suburban Library System (NSLS) in Wheeling, Illinois. It began in 1998 with a grant from the Illinois State Library and has become a popular resource for researchers of all ages and interests including schoolchildren, genealogists, historians, authors, producers, and special interest groups. Digital Past contains collections from over 30 institutions of varying topics and formats including 55,000+ records in over 100 collections.

member libraries. Along the way, it received help and support from Northwestern University. The project began by digitizing 15 separate collections of historical documents held by NSLS. Funding from the National Endowment of the Arts and Institute for Museum and Library Services has supported some of the of the individual collections that are part of this program.

The web site displays the digital assets in CONTENTdm and in online exhibits. The online exhibits, which are web pages, allow institutions to display materials with additional information that provides needed context or to group the items together in a more meaningful way.

I suspect that this history that I want to know is on the NSLS web site and contained in the articles and other pages about the project. (Some of it articles written by program participants.) I am curious to know how they grew the funding for the project, how they fostered cooperation, and how they are thinking about long term maintenance. Who know...perhaps Kay Schlumpf, Digital Past Coordinator, will leave a quick comment here with some hints! (They'd be useful to many people, I bet.)

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Report: A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections, 3rd Edition (2007)

I tripped over this yesterday while preparing for my workshop at Computer in Libraries.

The NISO Framework Working Group with support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services has released the third edition of A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections. As she did on the 2001 and 2004 editions, Priscilla Caplan from Florida Center for Library Automation chaired the working group for this effort.

Released in December 2007, the 100-page document has the following sections:

• Foreword
  
• Introduction
  
• Collections
• Objects
  
• Metadata
• Initiatives

Quoting the introduction:

This Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections has three purposes:

1. To provide an overview of some of the major components and activities involved in creating good digital collections.
2. To identify existing resources that support the development of sound local practices for creating and managing good digital collections.
3. To encourage community participation in the ongoing development of best practices for digital collection building.

Each section sets out a set of principles with supporting documentation/resources.

In considering how to use this document, the Introduction states:

There are no absolute rules for creating good digital collections...The key to a successful project is not to strictly and unquestioningly follow any particular path, but to plan strategically and make wise choices from an array of tools and processes to support the unique goals and needs of each collection.

This document, and the resources it contains, provide a good place for people to start as they think about their current or future digitization programs.

In order to ensure that this is a living document, the Working Group is setting up a community space on the Internet so that readers can contribute their own ideas, experiences, resources and critiques. The Community Version will be available here, once it is online.

This document has grown tremendously since the first version in 2001. While this is not a textbook (and is not suppose to be), I could see using this in the classroom as a supplement to the readings and to spark discussion. I could also see using the principles in discussions about potential projects, especially collaborative ones. I would hope that people would agree on the principles and then think about how to apply them to their specific situation.

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Technorati tag: Digitization

SlideShare presentations on digitization

I mentioned SlideShare to my students today and thought that I should mention it here. SlideShare is a place where people and organizations post their presentations so they can be viewed by other people. It is amazing to be the breadth of presentations in SlideShare and the quality of those presentation. And yes, there are presentations there on digitization. At this moment, there are 13 presentations that are tagged with the word "digitization." There are more than 600 presentations that contain the word "digitization" in their descriptions (and which may or may not be relevant to us).

If you have not looked at SlideShare, take a peek. You may be impressed and amazed at what you can find, including these presentation:

• One Million Digital Books
• Power to the People: User-generated content in digital collections
• Digital Library Infrastructure for a Million Books

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Technorati tag: Digitization

White Paper: Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization

This 60-page paper was written by Oya Rieger and released last month. IN section 5, she outlines 13 recommendations:

• 5.1 Reassess Digitization Requirements for Archival Images
  
• 5.2 Develop a Feasible Quality Control Program
  
• 5.3 Balance Preservation and Access Requirements
• 5.4 Enhance Access to Digitized Content
  
• 5.5 Understand the Impact of Contractual Restriction on Preservation Responsibilities
• 5.6 Lend Support for Shared Print-Storage Initiatives
• 5.7 Promote the Use of Registry of Digital Masters
• 5.8 Outline a Large-Scale Digitization Initiative Archiving Action Agenda
  
• 5.9 Devise Policies for Designating Digital Preservation Levels
• 5.10 Capture and Share Cost Information
  
• 5.11 Revisit Library Priorities and Strategies
• 5.12 Shift to an Agile and Open Planning Model
• 5.13 Re-envision Collection Development for Research Libraries

I have not curled up with this paper yet, but will soon (especially since I may assign it as a reading for my graduate students). None of the section titles allude to implications for smaller projects and I'll be interested to see how her recommendations are translated into guidelines for more modest efforts.

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Technorati tag: Digital Preservation

ADS: Charging Policy

In thinking about the cost of long-term preservation, the Archaeology Data Service (ADS) has revised its charging policy. Who is ADS:

The Archaeology Data Service (ADS) supports research, learning and teaching with high quality and dependable digital resources. It does this by preserving digital data in the long term, and by promoting and disseminating a broad range of data in archaeology. The ADS promotes good practice in the use of digital data in archaeology, it provides technical advice to the research community, and supports the deployment of digital technologies.

The charging policy has the goal...

to follow charging levels base[d] on four elements of work: Management and Administration; Ingest; Dissemination; and Storage and refreshment. Emphasis on any of these four elements may differ according to archiving service and the nature of projects with which they routinely deal. In addition day rates may vary.

Available Online did some calculations and gave the following estimate:

If the entire project funding had been around £200,000k, the dissemination and preservation costs would only be 3.5% of the total funds.

Yes, that cost is fairly low and should be manageable.

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Technorati tag: Digital Preservation

Blog post: Microsoft watermarks clutter up public domain works...

David Rothman has an interesting comment in his blog:

I’ve knocked Google for watermarking every bleepin’ page of public domain works. Now, out of fairness, here’s the same grumble against Microsoft. When I downloaded a PDF for a quick look at Of Old People and the Things that Pass, I saw a corporate watermark repeated hundreds of times. Mind you, I think both Google and Microsoft should get public credit at the starts of digitized works. But everywhere?

When marking a work with an identifying graphic (e.g., watermark), how much is too much? Is something on the bottom of every page of a book, for example, acceptable?

The standard in marking paper-based books was something like a stamp on the inside of both covers and likely on 1-2 interior pages. That, of course, did not stop someone from making a photocopy of a page, but did help to identify the book if it was stolen. Is the watermark on every digital page to assure that a page cannot be copied (although making the copy could be Fair Use)? Or to assure that everyone knows who created the digital copy (publicity)? I don't know the answers, but I find the questions to be interesting.

Rothman also comments on the limitations being placed on the use of these digital assets. At least the creators of these digital assets are telling us what our rights are to the works. That is much better than being left in the dark.

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Technorati tag: Copyright

Blog post: Federated search is part of collection development

Today I'm the guest blogger on Federated Search Blog. My post comes on the heels of the Library Camp @ Syracuse that occurred last week, which focused on collection development during its second day. Federated search is part of collection development, as Ed Shephard reminded us during his presentation. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that.

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Technorati tag: Federated Search

NARA asks for public comments

This was posted to the Archives discussion list.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is giving public notice that we propose to enter into a non-exclusive agreement with The Generations Network, Inc. (TGN) to digitize and further expand public access to archival holdings in NARA's custody. Your comments on the terms of the proposed agreement are invited. Comments must be received by April 9, 2008.

Please go to http://www.archives.gov/comment/tgn-preamble.html for an overview of the draft agreement and a link to the agreement.

I find it interesting to see NARA gather public comments on its digitization initiatives. You might remember that last September, NARA posted its draft Plan for Digitizing Archival Materials for Public Access, 2007-2016 and asked for public comments (related blog post). The finalized plan will be posted here when complete. These are national assets that they want to digitize -- and in this case with a for-profit company -- so it is important that we (the people) understand what they are agreeing to do and the impact on our access. In this case, the highlights of the proposal, according to NARA, are:

1. The records to be digitized will be mutually agreed to, with NARA having final approval.
2. The partner in this proposed agreement, TGN, is in the business of converting records of historical and genealogical value into digital form, and publishing them on the Internet and on other digital media.
3. NARA will receive digital copies of all holdings that are digitized as part of this agreement. As with all of NARA's digitization agreements, there will be no charge for researchers at any time to access the digital copies in any of NARA's research rooms.
4. Benefits to researchers included in this agreement are: free access to the digitized images and indexes in NARA's research rooms nationwide; links to and from NARA's online Archival Research Catalog; and the opportunity to purchase copies of the documents in digital format.
5. Individual project plans will be established that identify the specific records to be digitized and specify metadata and other details that will apply to those records.
6. The first selection of archival materials will be a test project and, upon its mutually satisfactory review, the parties will define and continue to define additional archival materials to be digitized and will produce project plans for succeeding projects.
7. NARA's agreement with TGN will be non-exclusive. NARA has already reached digitizing agreements with other entities and will continue to consider additional agreements.
8. TGN will pay all costs for conservation, metadata creation, pulling and refiling records, and digitizing the records.

I've highlighted #4 above. Free access from NARA reading rooms, but perhaps not free access from the NARA web site? mmm....am I reading that correctly? How do you feel about that? Do you mind paying for increased access from your computer to NARA documents?

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Technorati tag: Digitization

TAPE guidelines for analogue open reel tapes

From the Digital-Preservation discussion list.

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TAPE has published web-based guidelines for digitisation. They describe the digitisation workflow for analogue open reel tapes as a step by step approach for the production of digital copies from analogue tapes from a technical point of view. Most of the workflow may also be applied to audio cassettes. The workflow was written by Juha Henriksson (Finnish Jazz & Pop Archive) & Nadja Wallaszkovits (Phonogrammarchiv, Austrian Academy of Sciences).

The workflow is mainly aimed at newcomers in the world of audio tape digitization. It contains references to other literature and many detailed photographs.

You will find the workflow at http://www.jazzpoparkisto.net/audio/

The TAPE project, Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe, http://www.tape-online.net, is supported by the Culture 2000-programme of the EU.

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Jill's schedule & two upcoming digitization workshops

I want to alert you to two upcoming workshops that I'm doing and ask you to spread the word about them.

April 6, 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. -- Digitization 101 workshop at Computers in Libraries conference, Crystal City, VA. Cost $159/person.

Description:

The agenda includes a look at what digitization is, the five major steps in the digitization process, how project managers create a successful digitization program, copyright and other intellectual property issues, how to market a digitization program and get it funded, trends, and more.

June 15, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. -- Digitization Essentials workshop at the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference, Seattle, WA. Cost $299/SLA-members, $399/non-member.

Description:

Digitization is much more than converting a physical or analog object into its digital equivalent: it efficiently repurposes crucial information resources to improve their use by staff, colleagues, and end-users. For libraries, digitization can open the collection to a much larger user-base, whether that user-base is comprised of researchers, students, or business people. A dangerous trap for digitization efforts is to focus on the conversion process instead of other, mission critical, pre-scanning issues such as selection criteria, preservation of original documents, metadata creation, software and hardware concerns, integration into existing systems, and legal issues. These issues and more will be discussed in this workshop.

In addition to these two workshops, the following events are on my schedule through June:

• Mar. 18 -- Presentation, Tour of InfoIsland, Second Life (web conference for Education Institute)
• Mar. 19 -- Presentation, Second Life & Libraries, Wheeling, IL (North Suburban Library System)
  
• Mar. 25 -- Workshop, Emerging Technology: Introduction to Second Life, Liverpool, NY (CLRC)
  
• Mar. 27 -- Presentation, Social Networking Tools & Second Life, Cortland, NY (Postponed from December due to the weather) (SUNY Cortland Library)
  
• April 7 -- Cybertour of Second Life's Info Island International, Crystal City, VA (Computers in Libraries)
  
• May 22 -- Presentation, 2.0 In Your Library, Kalamazoo, MI
• June 16 -- Panel Discussion, What's all the Buzz about Social Networking, Seattle, WA (SLA Annual Conference)
• June 17 -- Panel Moderator, Building Bridges, Creating Partnerships, Seattle, WA (SLA Annual Conference)

For more information on any of the events on my calendar, please contact the sponsoring organization or me. If you would me to speak at your event, please give me a shout.

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Technorati tags: Digitization, Second Life, Social Networking Tools, SLA2008, CIL2008

Anyone using Archon?

I received a question via email asking about Archon and how it compares to Greenstone. As I look quickly at Archon, it seems like that software is meant for creating digital finding aids. (see also) It's stated purpose is different than Greenstone, which "is a suite of software for building and distributing digital library collections." This person compares Archon to the Archivists Toolkit that has also been released, which is also for finding aids. I do see Archon described as being software for a digital library, but its own web site doesn't seem to describe it that way. However, both are open source software.

So...here are the question... Is anyone using Archon? If yes, what other products did you consider (e.g., Greenstone, DSpace, etc.) ? What are you using it for (e.g., finding aids, digital objects)?

I -- and a person in Florida -- thank you for your replies!

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Technorati tag: Greenstone

Event: Planning the future with Planets: a preservation planning tutorial

From the DIGITAL-PRESERVATION discussion list.

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Planning the future with Planets: a preservation planning tutorial

Austrian Computer Society, Vienna, Austria

14-15 April 2008

www.planets-project.eu/events/pp-vienna-2008/

All organisations need to manage their information assets for as long as they are required, with some information needing long-term preservation. Management of digital information requires different processes from those used for printed material. It is more vulnerable and, due to rapid changes in technology, there is a significant risk that it will become obsolete and inaccessible. The impetus for digital preservation is more obvious for libraries, data centres and archives, whose primary mission is to safeguard information and provide sustained access to cultural and scientific knowledge.

A crucial process in preserving digital information and data is to make the right decisions at appropriate times to ensure no valuable information is lost. In the Open Archival Information System Reference model (OAIS) this process is called preservation planning. The Planets project (www.planets-project.eu) has taken preservation planning as its research focus and aims to develop a distributed, open source, and interoperable environment of tools and services that will support organisations in this decision making process.

In order to provide more detailed knowledge of these services and developments, Planets is organising a two-day tutorial on preservation planning. The event is intended to offer a complete overview of preservation planning and to provide attendees with the opportunity to learn about Planets' approach and technique. In addition attendees will be able to provide input and help shape Planets' future research and development in this area.

Who should attend?

Library and archive institutions, repository managers, systems developers and integrators, and anyone involved in the long-term preservation of digital materials.

Benefits of attendance

• Understanding of the various aspects of preservation planning
• Awareness of the range of services and tools Planets will be delivering
• Input into Planets' future research and development
• Knowledge of the 'utility analysis' methodology and practical skills in building objective trees for different types of digital objects
• Hands-on experience with Plato, a Planets preservation planning tool

Format and Programme

Day one will deliver an overview of the Planets project and the products and services it will be providing, along with presentations on the preservation planning process and Planets' contribution to this. Day two will provide hands-on experience of the Planets approach to preservation planning, including exercises in building objective trees and an introduction to the Planets preservation planning tool, Plato.

The full programme can be found at:

www.planets-project.eu/events/pp-vienna-2008/programme/

Course fees and registration

The fee for the event is €90. To register, please go to:

www.planets-project.eu/events/pp-vienna-2008/register

Closing date for registration is 4 April 2008.

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Contact Planets

Sign up for Planets news and announcements via the RSS feed at: www.planets-project.eu

For more information on the project, please contact: info@planets-project.eu

Planets - Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services, is a four-year project co-funded by the European Union under the Sixth Framework Programme to address core digital preservation challenges.

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Technorati tag: Digital Preservation

MCN 2008: Call for Proposals

From the HISTORY-DIGITISATION discussion list.

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ARE YOU READY TO SUBMIT?

Because we are ready to hear from you, MCN is planning something special for this year's conference in Washington D.C. We've already lined up a few special sessions that might be of interest:

--Leveraging our Washington, DC location, MCN 2008 will feature special technology sessions. One of these will focus on key aspects of collections imaging; organized by Alan Newman, Chief of Digital Imaging and Visual Services at the National Gallery of Art, it will consist of two parts: an expert panel at the conference venue and an on-site visit to the National Gallery of Art's imaging facilities.

--Diane M. Zorich, Museum Information Management Consultant, will be leading a panel looking at the national issues that impact our day-to-day business. What are some of the big topics that you need to get up to speed on? We'll take advantage of being in the nation's capital to rev up your engines. Diane and her panelists will have some answers, if you have the questions. In fact, maybe you'll have some answers as well.

--Joyce Ray, Associate Director of Library Services for the IMLS, will be leading a panel composed of top-level officials from funding organizations to give conference attendees a view from 30,000 feet. What are funders looking for in projects? What technology trajectories are they seeing now and what seems to be looming on the horizon for future funding.

--Richard Cherry, Directory of Operations, Skirball Cultural Center, is putting together a series of "how to" workshops for the opening day of the conference high-lighting some of the technology tools that are powering the museum industry and the museum partners who use them. You'll have the opportunity to get in and get your hands dirty as well as asking the hard questions.


AND NOW...we need to hear from you.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
MCN 2008 LET'S DO I.T. RIGHT!

Washington D.C. November 12-15, 2008
Call for Proposals and submissions form are now online; please see:
http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/index.asp?subkey=2014

The MCN 2008 program committee wants YOU to submit your ideas for papers, panels, case studies, workshops, roundtables, and poster sessions for this year's annual conference. Join us in the nation's capital for four days of targeted programming emphasizing the how-tos of Information Technology as well as the "why-tos." Prospective presenters are invited to submit proposals in any of the following areas, as well as on other topics:

• Social Networking, Web 2.0 & Web 3.0
• Superior Content, Superior Delivery
• Digital Readiness
• Museum Information Standards
• Issues of National Concern for Museums
• Opportunities for Emerging Professionals Leadership, Sustainability, Accountability

If you've got an idea for a great panel or a workshop use the online form:
http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/index.asp?subkey=2014 to speed it our way.

Not quite sure if it's right for a panel or workshop? There are other opportunities for presentation. If your museum or company is working on a project that you would like to share with all the delegates, opt for our new Case-Study showcase format or if there is a topic you feel might be of national or international concern to delegates at the conference submit that idea for one of our round-table discussions. If you aren't quite sure whether your idea is ready for a full paper or case study, you might like to introduce it at one of the poster sessions held during a coffee break. Any and all ideas welcome.

Online proposals will be accepted from March 3 to March 21, 2008.
http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/index.asp?subkey=2014

If you have questions or need more information please contact:
Holly Witchey, MCN Program Chair 2008
216-707-2653
hwitchey@clevelandart.org

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Library Camp @ Syracuse

Today was the first day of the Library Camp @ Syracuse. The focus of today was the Future of Libraries. As one of the organizers of this event, I'm very pleased about the participation (80+) and information exchange. I've written two blog posts on today here and here.

Tonight we'll spend time playing board and electronic games. Tomorrow will be the Collection Development Conference.

Addendum (3/6/2008): You can find all of my blog posts about the Library Camp @ Syracuse here, including some pre-conference peeks "under the hood."

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Technorati tag: unyunc

Blog post: Five Key Issues in Digitisation - JISC Digitisation Conference, 2007

From the JISC Digitisation blog:

The JISC Digitisation Conference was held at the St David’s Hotel and Conference Centre in Cardiff on 20/21 July 2007. It gathered together some of the leading digitisation projects, funding-bodies, publishers, archives, libraries and many of the key thinkers in the area. There was an international delegate list, drawing in representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the US, Canada and elsewhere.

The full report, including details of all speakers’ presentations, is available to download as a PDF file (303kb).

You can read overviews of the five key issues here, including the issue of sustainability.

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Technorati tag: Digitization

Backing up your digital images?

A woman at yesterday's workshop (Promotion & Use of Digital Projects) asked a question during break about digital preservation that I would like to toss out to you. Please leave comments to tell us how you have handled this situation. Thanks!

At her institution, they are creating digital assets which are being stored on the organization's servers. The IT department backs-up the servers nightly and those backups are stored in a secure location and in the correct environment. However, all backups are not kept indefinitely with backup tapes being regularly reused. In order to ensure that they have the files necessary for any migration efforts needed (or for restoring the production system), I suggested that a backup be made and stored off-site indefinitely (utilizing the services of an company that provides this type of service). In addition, I recommended that they create a new backup yearly and store that one also off-site indefinitely. My assumption is that the backup would contain both the high quality files as well as the access files and metadata (or other associated content). My other assumption is that tapes -- stored properly -- should last for extended lengths of time (10 - 30 years) and that having yearly backups would allow the organization to go back to specific snapshots in time.

My answer above is based on my years working in IT (a previous life), but it may not be what large projects are doing (or recommending) currently. Therefore, please let us know what have you put into practice? What are the holes in my logic?

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Technorati tag: Digital Preservation

Blog post: Flickr used to publicize SRU Archives photos

Quoting the blog post:

The Slippery Rock University Archives is using Flickr to reach out to the larger community. A collection of World War II photographs has been posted to the public.

I mentioned yesterday, in a workshop on the Promotion & Use of Digital Project, that a project could successfully use a photo sharing service to promote itself. What a joy to see an announcement about this project in my email this morning!

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Tehcnorati tag: Marketing