General
- Basic bibliography.
Topic outline
Topic 1
- Topic 1: Basic concepts
Digital Preservation and Libraries -- early documents:
- Long term preservation of electronic materials; report of a JISC/British Library Workshop. 1995. http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/papers/bl/rdr6238/paper.html
- Preserving digital information. Research Libraries Group, 1996. http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/past/rlg/digpresstudy/final-report.pdf
- Conway, P. Preservation in the digital world. CLIR, 1996. http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/conway2/
- Digital preservation needs and requirements in RLG member institutions. Research Libraries Group, 1998. http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/past/rlg/digpresneeds/default.htm
Topic 2
- Topic 2: New preservation paradigm: guaranteeing access to digital materials
Discussion / Exercise topics:
1. What selection criteria might you apply if someone donated a digital collection to the library? Example, a retiring professor offering his “manuscripts” on a variety of physical media from the past 20 years.
2. What type of digital loss have you or your institution suffered? What was the main cause of loss?
3. What are the essential elements of your institutional web page. would you want to preserve? Consider the designated user community’s need for the following: Content, Structure, Context, Physical/Visual elements, Functionality/Behavior.
Topic 3
- Topic 3: Presence of digital materials in libraries
- Format recognition tools:
- Discussion / Exercise topics:
1. Make a chart indicating the different digital holdings in your institution collections according to whether they are born digital or digitized, and whether they were created internally or externally.
Do you know exactly which formats / versions you have? If not, how could you find this information?
Topic 4
- Topic 4: Management of digital materials
Discussion / Exercise topics:
1. Using a list of your digital collections (see Theme 3 exercise), what level of responsibility should your institution assume for preserving each of them? Use chart 9-1 of the UNESCO Guidelines (p.45) to take into consideration aspects such as institutional obligations, interest, and capacity in taking the decision.
2. Using the characteristics of a reliable digital preservation systems, shown in Section 8.6 of the UNESCO Guidelines, discuss with your colleagues which institutions in your country currently meet these criteria. If they do not meet them now, what could be done for them to demonstrate their trustworthiness in the short- to mid-term?
Topic 5
- Topic 5: Trustworthy digital repositories
Discussion / Exercise topics:
1. Take the TRAC Criteria Checklist for Organization structure & staffing (A2) and replace the word “Repository” with “Cataloguing Dept.” and explain what evidence (documentation) exists to demonstrate the department’s current ability to carry out its responsibilities.2. Take the TRAC“Criteria Checklist” for Organization structure & staffing (A2) and describe your institution’s current status regarding staff competence and institutional support.
Topic 6
Topic 6: Major international initiatives and resources