Role of Long Term Storage in Digital Collections: From Digital Dark Ages to Digital Renaissance
Store - How should digital content be stored for the long term?
Vicki Gruzynski- Organizer/Presenter Laura Osterhout- Rochester Regional Library Council Erin Rhodes- Colby College, Special Collections
Presentation Slides and handouts
- Storage Introduction, Storage Slides
- Storage Outline
- Storage Handout
- Webinar Video. You will need to have Windows Media software on your computer to view the recording
- Participant Evaluation
Notes
- Webinar will help:
- Provide a better understanding of storage requirements
- Provide a better understanding of useable metadata for long term storage
Storage
What are storage needs
- Manage content (files + metadata=objects) as objects
- Includes any type of content (images, text etc.)
- Need at least 2 copies of objects in at least two locations
Well managed collections
- Basic information for each deposit
- Minimal metadata for objects
- Common (or normalized) file formats
- Controlled and known storage of content
- Multiple copies
Importance of Metadata
- How do you know what the object is?
- Metadata identifies the objects
- How do you use the content in the future?
- Metadata makes the objects understandable
- How do you know the object is authentic
- Metadata will allow you to trace the object over time
- Metadata= Long term preservation
Object level metadata
- PREMIS metadata=Preservation metadata=Administrative (Management), Structural (Understandable and useable) and Descriptive (findable and useable)
- Content (What it is)
- Fixity (Has the object changed)
- Provenance (Audit trail, chain of custody)
- Reference (Identified as this content)
- Context- Preserve linkages with other objects
Number of copies
- Minimum 2
- Optimum 6
- Example: Video files are too large to store 6 copies, possible legal restrictions on storage and locations
Storage Media Options
- Content (objects) are kept on storage media
- Options include: online (networked PC), near-line (external hard drive), offline (DVD)
- Factors for choosing options include:
- Cost: available resources for preservation
- Quantity: Number and size of files
- Expertise: skills required to manage
- Partners: archiving geographic distribution
- Services: Outsourcing
Storage Considerations
- Multiple, geographically distributed copies
- Storage partners
- Hosted services such as DURACLOUD