Digital preservation

Anne Kenney and Nancy McGovern on Ten Good Reasons to Pursue Digital Preservation

Listen to Anne Kenney and Nancy McGovern from Cornell University Library discuss ten good reasons to pursue digital preservation.

A Survey of Open Archival Information System Usage in Canadian Museums

The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model is a framework for digital archives designed to help ensure that digital assets are properly documented and that an asset’s authenticity and integrity are established. The model has been widely accepted by the digital archiving community, yet Canadian museums have been slow to adopt it. The Canadian Heritage Information Network conducted this survey to learn why.

Canadian Museum of History’s Digital Collection Inventory: A Case Study Applying the Digital Preservation Toolkit

This case study recounts the digital inventory process undertaken by the Canadian Museum of History as a first step in developing a digital preservation plan and policy.

CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance

The CARE principles for Indigenous data governance are people- and purpose-oriented, reflecting the crucial role of data in advancing Indigenous innovation and self-determination. These principles complement the FAIR principles by encouraging open and other data movements to consider both people and purpose in their advocacy and pursuits.

Charter on the Preservation of the Digital Heritage

The charter is a declaration of principles focusing on advocacy and public policy issues, the technical issues being covered in the Guidelines for the preservation of the digital heritage, prepared for UNESCO by the National Library of Australia. The charter is expected to help Member States prepare their national policies inspiring responsible action for preservation of and access to the digital heritage. (Description taken from the website)

CHIN Digital Preservation Case Study – 8th Hussars Museum

The 8th Hussars Museum of Sussex New Brunswick, with the assistance of the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN), applied tools in the Digital Preservation Toolkit to produce a digital preservation policy, plan, and procedures to help ensure long term access to their digital assets, including images, audio recordings, collections management records, and similar content. This case study takes a look at how CHIN’s Digital Preservation Toolkit can be applied to smaller museums where finances and human resources are limited.

CHIN Digital Preservation Case Study – Medalta Museum

In 2011, the Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) conducted a survey on the state of digital preservation in Canadian museums and found that while museums often held digital assets, few museums had a formal policy or plan for the long-term preservation of these assets. In response, CHIN developed a Digital Preservation Toolkit, consisting of resources produced by both CHIN and its partners, which helps museums create digital preservation policies, plans and procedures. Medalta Museum, a mid-sized museum in Medicine Hat, Alberta, has partnered with CHIN as part of its flood recovery exercise to develop its own digital preservation plan and policy. This case study is an account of that activity, and it is hoped that other mid-sized museums may benefit from the work found herein and the resulting documents.

Collections without Borders: Sustaining Digital Content at Cultural Institutions

While cultural institutions continue to develop an array of digital content, and products, they often do so without giving enough consideration to the ongoing efforts and resources required to ensure their long-term viability. This case study explores how the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) successfully conceived and implemented a strategy to digitize its permanent collection and develop a durable database infrastructure. It offers a number of lessons for other institutions looking for ways to develop their own capacities and infrastructures, even if that development is more modest or takes place incrementally. The case study also features a useful Health Check Tool for Digital Content Creators in Cultural Heritage Institutions, developed in conjunction with the U.K.'s Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the U.S.-based Ithaka S+R.

Community-Owned Digital Preservation Tool Registry

The Community-Owned Digital Preservation Tool Registry (COPTR) is a wiki providing information on digital preservation tools and workflows through the contributions of subject-matter experts from around the world. Hosted by the Open Planets Foundation, COPTR is free to use and contribute to, and is also a great place to look when you have hit a bump in the road on your digital preservation journey.

Concepts for Developing Digital Preservation Policies

This course will help you understand how to set up digital preservation policies for your museum. The content assumes basic knowledge of digital preservation. However, for more experienced users, links are included to provide more information and resources. By taking this course, you will understand what a policy, plan and procedure are; learn the steps and the process to develop a digital preservation policy; become familiar with the institutional practices for developing a policy; and determine what a digital preservation policy needs to cover.

CoreTrustSeal

CoreTrustSeal is an international, community-based, non-governmental, and non-profit organization promoting sustainable and trustworthy data infrastructures. It offers a core-level certification based on the CoreTrustSeal Trustworthy Data Repositories Requirements.

Digital Curation Centre

The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) is a world-leading centre of expertise in digital information curation with a focus on building capacity, capability and skills for research data management across the United Kingdom’s higher education research community. Particularly useful are the case studies, briefing papers and how-to guides, as well as the Curation Lifecycle Model, which are all free to access via the DCC’s website.

Digital Obsolescence Case Study - Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada

The Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada manages and displays portions of the National Currency Collection. In 2001, the museum decided to digitize the collection to facilitate auditing and collection management, and work began in earnest in 2002. There are approximately 100,000 artifacts in the collection. We had two concerns about the digitization process. One involved the entries in our database, which included small versions of images, and the other was the large versions of the images themselves. This case study only addresses the images.

Digital Preservation Coalition

The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) is an international leader in digital preservation advocacy and guidance. Despite being a membership-based organization, many DPC resources are offered for free on their website. Particularly useful for those just getting started are the “Novice to Know-How” online courses, Rapid Assessment Model and Digital Preservation Handbook

Digital Preservation Decision Tree Model to Establish Whether a Digital Resource Should be Preserved (2021 version)

This resource provides a digital preservation decision tree that helps cultural heritage institutions decide which of their existing digital resources should be preserved for the long term.

Digital preservation format literature review

As a deliverable to Canada’s National Heritage Digitization Strategy, members of the Digitization and Digital Preservation Discussion Group (a national information group based in Ottawa) produced the following literature review as a first step in identifying digital format recommendations for long-term digital preservation. The following document summarizes the findings of that review in a series of easily referenced tables indicating the digital formats that various major organizations recommend or accept for long-term preservation. Tables are organized according to format type, including text, still images, moving images and audio.

Digital preservation inventory template for cultural heritage institutions

The digital preservation inventory template is used during the problem definition stage of any digital preservation activity. Even if your institution does not choose to pursue digital preservation activity, it should at the very least take stock of what resources it has, how long they are expected to be kept, what risks exist with access to these resources, and what potential impacts may arise as a result of losing access. If your institution should decide that some degree of digital preservation is merited, the information completed using this template will serve in the development of your digital preservation policy, action plan, and procedures.

Digital Preservation Plan Framework for Cultural Heritage Institutions (2021 edition)

Once a need for digital preservation has been identified, use this newly revised framework to consider various potential solutions and to select the one that best fits the needs and resources of your institution.

Digital Preservation Policy Framework: Development Guideline Version 2.1

A well-thought-out digital preservation policy must be tailored to meet the needs of the organization that will use it. As such, no one policy is suitable for all museums. There are, however, common components that should be considered in the development of any such document, and these are captured in this guideline. This is version 2.1 of the guideline, last revised in October 2012, and developed by Nancy Y. McGovern, Director, Digital Preservation Management Workshops.

Digital Preservation Policy Framework for Museums and Galleries

This policy framework is tailored to standards and practices suitable for digital preservation in museums and galleries, which generally preserve digital assets differently from archives. Specifically, museums and galleries document information about digital assets in the existing collections management systems rather than in a formal digital archive. While the core principles remain the same, the standards and practices differ.

Digital preservation recommendations for small museums

Smaller cultural heritage institutions often do not have the resources to implement the archival systems recommended as best practices by the digital archiving community. Yet they hold digital assets that require preserving. These recommendations, produced by the Canadian Heritage Information Network, provide concrete steps that can be taken by small to medium-sized museums and similar cultural heritage institutions to preserve their content in the best way possible, within the resources at their disposal.

Digital Preservation Survey: 2011 Preliminary Results

In the fall of 2011, the Canadian Heritage Information Network launched a digital preservation survey to collect accurate and timely information about the scope and the state of digital assets held by its member organizations. This report provides an overview of the information received, as well as an analysis of the results, on a question-by-question basis.

Digital Preservation Toolkit

In response to member feedback in the 2011 CHIN Digital Preservation Survey, CHIN has identified and produced a number of easy-to-use tools that help museums assess their own needs for digital preservation and guide them in the development of digital preservation policy, plans, and procedures. All of these documents (which are organized by chronological order of use) are accessible to museum professionals and volunteers who may have no formal training in the field of digital preservation.

Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment

The Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA) represents the main intellectual outcome of a period of pilot repository audits undertaken by the Digital Curation Centre throughout 2006 and 2007. It presents a methodology for self-assessment, encouraging organisations to establish a comprehensive self-awareness of their objectives, activities and assets before identifying, assessing and managing the risks implicit within their organisation. (Description taken from the website)

Electronic Media Collections Care for Small Museums and Archives

This resource provides information on the steps that can be taken to improve the longevity of electronic media collections. Taking action now will help to prevent information loss in the future.

FAIR Principles

The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship aim to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse of digital assets. Although originating from the domain of research data management, the principles provide a useful framework for responsible data stewardship in heritage institutions (especially those with a mandate to support scientific research).

Innovating with Collections

A toolkit of curated learning resources is offered by the Ontario Museum Association, in collaboration with Toronto History Museums and Digital Action Research and Training. The toolkit provides introductory readings on key concepts, ready-to-use templates, guidelines, and instructional videos on working with digital collections and oral histories in museums.

International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems Project

The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) Project is aimed at developing the theoretical and methodological knowledge essential to the long-term preservation of authentic records created and/or maintained in digital form. The brochure-style resources Creator Guidelines (PDF format) and Preserver Guidelines (PDF format) are particularly useful for anyone new to the subject.

Les stratégies de gestion et de conservation préventive des documents électroniques (in French only)

This resource, by Catherine Lupovici of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, is a short introduction to the common characteristics of digital documents and the challenges encountered in trying to preserve them for the long term.

Levels of Digital Preservation

The Levels of Digital Preservation is a resource from the National Digital Stewardship Alliance to aid practitioners in building or evaluating their digital preservation program. Originally created in 2013, version 2.0 was released in 2019 along with additional supporting documentation and resources and is available in several languages.

Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard

The Metadata Encoding & Transmission Standard (METS) was developed by the Digital Library Federation as an implementation strategy for preservation metadata. It is not in itself a metadata standard, but it provides a means to exchange metadata and digital resources. The METS schema provides a flexible mechanism for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata for a digital library object, and for expressing the complex links between these various forms of metadata.

National Heritage Digitization Strategy – Digital Preservation File Format Recommendations

This document was produced by members of Canada’s Digitization and Digital Preservation Discussion Group and was submitted to the National Heritage Digitization Strategy steering committee. It identifies file formats suitable for the long-term preservation of heritage content. Selection criteria are applied to formats that have been widely accepted, and each recommended format includes a brief description as well as considerations related to preservation. The document also includes a review of selection criteria and a summary of preservation formats that have been recommended by a number of memory institutions in Canada and abroad.

PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata

The PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata is the international standard for metadata supporting the preservation of digital objects and ensuring their long-term usability. Developed by an international team of experts, PREMIS is implemented in digital preservation projects around the world and is integrated into most commercial and open-source digital preservation tools and systems.

Preventive Conservation and Digital Preservation Requirements for Category A Designation – Audiovisual Collections (Class 9 Objects)

This resource provides guidance on applying for Category A designation of audiovisual materials via the Designation of Institutions and Public Authorities Program, managed by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Space Data System Practices — Reference model for an open archival information system (OAIS)

The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) is a conceptual framework for an archival system dedicated to preserving and maintaining access to digital information over the long term. OAIS is of interest to libraries, archives, museums and other research repositories. The OAIS information model provides a conceptual foundation on which the PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata is based.

Sustaining Digital Heritage

ICCROM’s Sustaining Digital Heritage is an initiative that seeks to collect and disseminate strategies and tools for the preservation and creative use of digital heritage. The overall aim is to enhance the storytelling potential of digital heritage, as well as connect people, bridge divides, spark creativity and promote development.

The DOCAM Research Alliance

Documentation and Conservation of New Media Arts Heritage (DOCAM) was a five-year project aimed at researching solutions for the documentation and preservation of technological arts heritage. The project website provides free access to tools, guides and methods developed by the DOCAM Research Alliance.

The National Archives (UK): Preserving digital records

The National Archives (UK) supports digital preservation across archival institutions in the United Kingdom. They also offer guidance on digital preservation, and free tools such as the file-profiling tool DROID, the technical registry of file formats PRONOM, and the Digital Asset Register Toolkit.

The UNESCO/PERSIST Guidelines for the selection of digital heritage for long-term preservation

These guidelines provide a clear starting point for heritage institutions when drafting policies or making decisions about the selection of digital heritage for long-term preservation.

Toolkit for managing digital collections

This toolkit was developed by members of the London Museum Documentation Network and serves as a companion piece to the Spectrum standard.

Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification: Criteria and Checklist

This document is meant for those who work in or are responsible for digital repositories and who are seeking objective measurement of the trustworthiness of their repository. (Description taken from the website)