Digital Preservation Practices in the Library
Annotations by Edith Martinez
Definition of Project
The project consists of the topic of digital preservation practices in the library. The articles examined are about how academic libraries preserve their digital material. Several articles were chosen since they look at how any type of library can implement digital preservation methods and enhance their current digital preservation methods. Several surveys were also examined which included two surveys that were helpful to see how satisfied some libraries were on their current digital preservation methods. The project will look at current practices, ways to enhance digital preservation practices in the public and academic libraries.
Annotations
Akter, T. (2013). Digital preservation of library materials. International Research: Journal of Library and Information Science, 3(1), 20-29.
This article examines how digital preservation is important in the library and how the digital age has changed the ways libraries need to preserve their items. The author notes what the nature of digital preservation is which he discusses that it’s the preservation of data bits, metadata, ensuring data can be found, retrieving and accessing the data, and providing means to re-create and re-present the experience using the data. This articles helps libraries learn more about digital preservation and how they can start implementing this practice in their library. Some of the practices include selecting materials to preserve, using touch screen technology of Microfilm, and the challenges and issues of technology. This article presents what digital preservation is, practices used, and systems used for this practice. The topics most helpful from this article for a librarian would be selecting material and technological issues and challenges because it provides information of problems they may face when practicing digital preservation.
Berger, S. (2009). The evolving ethics of preservation: Redefining practices and responsibilities in the 21st century. The Serials Librarian, 57(1-2), 57-68. doi:10.1080/03615260802669086
This article looks into the ethical practices of digital preservation, a topic underrepresented in the literature on digital preservation. Berger writes that there is no one definition of preservation ethics, but that ultimately preservation ethics… “concerns why we must save the cultural record, who does so, what is selected, and how it is done” (p.58). The author shows how the ethical practice of digital preservation has changed in the last twenty years, how many scholars have contributed to the ethics of preservation, and that not everyone agrees with the several concepts developed in the last twenty years. Some concepts include preserving the past is important for the advancement of humanity, that standards help scope ethical practices in preservation, and that they do guide ethical principles in decisions made. The author also shows how the challenges of digital material can make the ethical practice of digital preservation more difficult. Some of the difficulties include mutability, quantity, fragility, need for active intervention, technological limitations, and variable ownership. Ethical practices in the library are an important part of digital preservation and should be used.
Gaur, R. C., & Tripathi, M. (2012). Digital preservation of electronic resources. DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, 32(4), 293-301. doi:10.14429/djlit.32.4.2522
This article focuses on the digital preservation of many e-resources that are offered in the library. Libraries spend a lot of their budget on e-resources including e-journals, e-books, and online databases. Most of these items will probably needed to be preserved for future use. This article offers a variety of procedures, practices and policies that can be used to enhance current preservation methods of e-resources. The article mentions that the following practices should be required because of the fast pace of technology: encapsulation of information of content, efficient management of hardware and software technology obsolescence, effective recovery automatic enforcement of IP rights, mechanism, effective ways to ensure authenticity, and processing power. It also mentions the issues and challenges that occur when preserving digital content like, the selection of content, strategies for preservation, and the use of metadata. This information can greatly help libraries that are looking for information on how to start their digital preservation practices on e-resources or who already have certain procedures and policies and want to improve their practices.
Geller, M. (2013). Digital preservation and the small academic library. Against the Grain, 20(4), 30-32. doi:10.7771/2380-176X.5144
This article is about the digital preservation tools that a small academic library, Lesley University, is using. A Collection Management Librarian wrote this article to show how a small academic library is able to digitally preserve their digital material which include text files, graphic files, audio and visual files, and data files. The author discusses the system, Portico, and why it was chosen as their system for digitally preserving. When Lesley University joined the Portico, Portico committed to preserve 5,300 journals. In the first year of its membership with Portico, 23 percent of its journal titles were preserved with a cost of $18.71 per title. It’s an informational article about how a small academic library is able to have a digital preservation system in a small academic library. It also shows their practices and how these systems will also help them in digitally preserving e-books. This article can help librarians in deciding what kind of digital preservation system they will need that will benefit their library.
Jantz, R., & Giarlo, M. (2007). Digital archiving and preservation: Technologies and processes for a trusted repository. Journal of Archival Organization, 4(1-2), 193-213. doi:10.1300/J201v04n01_10
This article is about digital repositories used for digital preservation in the academic library of Rutger’s University. It defines the term they use of a “trusted repository” for digital preservation, how to build a “trusted repository”, the storage management system currently used, and the issues regarding digital repositories. The article states that a “trusted repository” should have two major requirements which are… “: (1) the repository with associated policies, standards, and technology infrastructure provides the framework for doing digital preservation, and (2) the repository is a trusted system, i.e., a system of software and hardware that can be relied upon to follow certain rules” (p.196). Rutger’s University libraries decided to choose for their digital repository a storage management system based on Storage Area Network. The Hierarchical Storage Management software permits the management of storage more effectively. This article would help a librarian because it shows the academic library’s issues and practice of digital preservation. It mentions current practices that the academic library is using to preserve digital content like electronic journals published by the library and digital dissertations by using the Workflow Management System.
Li, Y., & Banach, M. (2011). Institutional repositories and digital preservation: Assessing current practices at research libraries. D-Lib Magazine, 17(5-6).
This article focuses on the research of a survey conducted on digital preservation of Institutional Repositories of Association of Research Library members in the spring of 2010. The research surveyed 79 research libraries and shows what the current practices are of Institutional Repositories in digital preservation. The study aimed to find if long-term preservation is part of the mission of institutional repositories surveyed and what plans they have to provide long-term preservation of their information. The results of this survey help show how and what digital preservation practices were used when this survey was taken. In this survey, 51.5 percent of respondents have preservation policies for their Institutional Repositories and 39.9 percent of respondents said that they had no preservation system in place. This article will be useful for librarians because it asks key questions on tools, policies, strategies, copyright issues, content policies, and sustainability. Looking at the results of this survey will give a better understanding of digital preservation practices in libraries.
Meddings, C. (2011). Digital preservation: The library perspective. The Serials Librarian, 60(1-4), 55-60. doi:10.1080/0361526X.2011.556437
This article examines the results of a survey conducted by the Oxford University Press regarding digital preservation. This survey was conducted online and was answered by 475 librarians all over the world including North America, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia, and South Africa. Academic libraries had the largest number of respondents (67 percent) followed by medical, corporate, and government libraries. The questions in this survey were regarding the concerns of digital preservation, what steps are being taken to ensure preservation of digital material, and funding. Some concerns librarians had that had a high percentage of respondents regarding digital preservation were additional costs and lack of staff resources. This article is beneficial in learning about the practices of digital preservation in the libraries. Since this survey is in an anonymous status it shows how some librarians truly feel about certain practices and concerns they have at their library.
Moulaison, H. L., & Million, A. J. (2015). E-publishing in libraries: The [digital] preservation imperative. OCLC Systems & Services, 31(2), 87-98.
There is an increase in public libraries offering e-publishing services to its communities. Now that public libraries are offering e-publishing it’s important for these publications to be digitally preserved. It offers guidelines for libraries who do have these publishing services to consider preserving this digital content. The author also states that some decisions need to be made for digital preservation which include the selection of the material, the technical components that will be used, and ensuring sustainability through funding and rights management. Some libraries do not have the budget or resources for digital preservation, but this article mentions ways public libraries can digitally preserve material when planning strategically. This article shows the practices that some libraries have in place of preserving e-publishing material.
Oehlerts, B., & Liu, S. (2013). Digital preservation strategies at Colorado state university libraries. Library Management, 34(1/2), 83-95. doi:10.1108/01435121311298298
This article shows the digital preservation practices that are used at the academic libraries of Colorado State University. The first part of the article examines national and international standards that can be used and help academic libraries. It presents standards from Europe, US, New Zealand and Australia. It also lists several systems that can be used and summarizes these systems that are used for digital preservation like Archivematica, LOCKSS/CLOCKS, and Portico. The second half of the article shows the practices that Colorado State University Libraries use for preserving digital items. The digital preservation practices touched on digital content, file formats, metadata, systems and technologies, workflow and documentation, F. risk management, and the lessons they have learned so far. This article demonstrates current practices at the academic libraries and how these practices have benefited them in preserving digital material.
Ravenwood, C., Matthews, G., & Muir, A. (2013). Selection of digital material for preservation in libraries. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 45(4), 294-308. doi:10.1177/0961000612452030
This article examines the selection process and methods of digital materials in national libraries. It examines six issues that may arise when selecting digital material for preservation which are resources and volume, criteria, policy, legal and ethical issues, roles and responsibility, and user aspects of selection. This article relates to digital preservation practices in the library because it looks at many different libraries and how their selection process of certain material is done. It gives examples about how certain libraries are selecting web content and it includes surveys regarding digital preservation policies. It gives a glimpse of certain issues regarding libraries and the practices that could take place or are taking place in the library.
