Paper

Management and Preservation of Physical-Format Digital Publications

A National Library Position Paper on the Role of Australian Legal Deposit Libraries
DRAFT, February 1998


Executive Summary and List of Recommendations

  1. Introduction
  2. Ensuring Long-Term Access: Principles and Issues
  3. International Developments in the Management and Preservation of Physical-Format Digital Publications
  4. National Coverage, Legal Deposit and Collecting of Physical-Format Digital Publications
  5. Access to Physical-Format Digital Publications
  6. Preservation
  7. Cataloguing Physical-Format Digital Publications

Appendix 1: Fields Specific to Cataloguing Physical Format Electronic Publications and Relevant ABN Field Designation


Executive Summary and List of Recommendations

There is an urgent need for Australian libraries and collecting institutions to collectively address the management and preservation of Australian physical-format digital publications which form part of the national documentary heritage. While information delineating the problems of dealing with digital publications is abundant, useful accounts of actual projects are limited. Australian libraries need to invest some funding and effort on practical investigations that will address preservation and access issues.

Australian participation in the development of international standards relating to the preservation of physical-format digital publications is important, and the National Library proposes to provide a continuing role in co-ordinating Australian developments.

A co-operative approach to the collecting of Australian physical-format digital publications by the legal deposit libraries is required to make sure that this material is comprehensively represented in Australian collections. As part of this, the designation of the National Film and Sound Archive as a legal depository is an essential step. Increased reporting of holdings to the National Bibliographic Database is another desirable development.

Fair dealing and library provisions should apply equally to physical-format digital publications, and legal deposit libraries need to find a common position on the use and distribution of these materials. Licensing arrangements should not be able to restrict or limit fair use.

Preservation efforts for physical format digital publications need close co-ordination, funding support and will involve approaches to publishers. Any work being undertaken on physical-format digital publications needs to be informed by similar work on online digital publications with a view to integrating both digital formats.

Recommendations

  1. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries co-operate in the development of a national model for a national digital archive.
  2. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries co-ordinate funding proposals designed to establish the national digital archive.
  3. That the National Library of Australia continue to provide the necessary forums and venues needed to ensure the continuation of the process.
  4. The National Library continue to develop and maintain contacts with overseas institutions with a view to publicising Australian initiatives and issues in the area of digital preservation, monitoring relevant work being carried out elsewhere, and sharing experience and expertise.
  5. The National Library share this information with the Library community via the PADI WWW site and the NATSTATLIBS discussion list.
  6. State libraries share any relevant information they have on international developments by the same means.
  7. That each state library accept responsibility for active collection of their own state's output of physical-format digital publishing.
  8. That the legal deposit libraries formulate a set of guidelines aimed at ensuring that as much of Australia's physical electronic publishing heritage as possible is collected. In some cases this may be by sampling.
  9. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries support the designation of the National Film and Sound Archive as a national legal deposit repository for physical-format digital publishing.
  10. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries co-operate in the drafting of a statement on the use of legal deposit physical-format digital publications in libraries.
  11. That state libraries in those states with more than one deposit library review policies for the deposit of physical-format digital publications with a view to simplification.
  12. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries explore the development of a joint-use standard licence for situations where libraries must enter a licensing arrangement for the use of physical-format digital publications.
  13. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries accept the principle of preserving what they can in the best way they can at the present time.
  14. That the National Library of Australia and the state libraries investigate their research needs as decided at the National Consultative Meeting in October 1997, identifying what is currently known, what gaps and barriers exist, looking for relevant research work already underway, and looking for potential partners for research and for research funding.
  15. That this activity be coordinated by a national working group consisting of representatives from the preservation services sections of the National Library of Australia and all state libraries, with other people enlisted to help as necessary from other areas of these libraries or from other organisations.
  16. That the National Library of Australia and state libraries contribute to a fund to support a modest but focused research effort aimed at addressing the highest priority research needs.
  17. That the National Library of Australia and state libraries formally ask publishers and software providers to discuss practical ways they could assist the preservation effort by means such as the level of information provided with publications, the supply of "preservation-friendly" versions, and the maximum use of backwards and forwards compatibility standards. This assistance would be requested in the context of bona fide respect for publishers' commercial interests.
  18. That institutions contribute data, at least at the minimum level prescribed for physical format electronic publications, to the NBD in order to provide a source of copy cataloguing and holdings information for these resources.
  19. That the ABN field Actions Note (NTA) and at least subfields a and 5 (preservation action and NUC symbol of institution) be used to record information on intent to permanently retain and/or reformat for continued access.

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1. Introduction

For a number of years electronic publishing has been providing both opportunities and challenges to writers and publishers as they attempt to take advantage of this new medium to express and communicate ideas. It has also provided libraries with an unparalleled opportunity for increasing access to library materials, as well as challenges in collecting and preserving digital publications.

Physical-format digital publications are part of the broader category of digital publications. Many of the recommendations in this paper relating to physical-format digital publications will also apply to online digital publications. Much work on managing and preserving online digital publications is being carried out in parallel with the work described here.

Physical-format digital publications need to be reflected in the nation's documentary heritage collections. Libraries which have accepted responsibility for preserving Australia's published output will need to play a major role, as neither publishers nor other organisations are likely to be in a position to take on a long term preservation responsibility. However, long term accessibility will require ongoing cooperation between libraries, publishers and others to overcome the significant technical, legal and economic challenges.

In attempting to work out the implications of electronic publishing for libraries, a number of key events and initiatives have taken place over the last few years. In 1995, the National Preservation Office organised the Capturing the Rainbow conference which examined a range of issues associated with multimedia preservation. One of its main outcomes was the development of a set of principles for the preservation of and long-term access to Australian digital objects. These principles were accepted by conference participants, archivists, librarians, publishers and several relevant peak body organisations, forming the basis for future action.

In 1996 the National Library of Australia released a discussion paper entitled National Strategy for Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications. The purpose of the paper was to initiate debate on the many issues raised by electronic publishing, both physical format electronic publishing and online publishing. A major emphasis of the discussion paper was that of guaranteeing current and permanent access. Specifically, the paper addressed legal deposit, access conditions including copyright and fair dealing, resource discovery, development of technical and descriptive standards, and the organisation of virtual resources. Comments were invited and were received from a wide range of individuals and organisations. These comments were positive and indicated to the National Library that it should continue to progress these issues at a national level.

The National Library was convinced that solutions to many of the difficulties inherent in handling and preserving Australian electronic publications could only be achieved through collaborative action by libraries, with deposit libraries playing an important role. However, the precise nature and form of that collaboration remained unclear, and one of the objectives of the discussion paper was to raise this issue. Among its conclusions, the National Strategy paper noted that libraries would need to forge new relationships and understandings with publishers of electronic publications.

It was therefore a major development when forty publishers and deposit library representatives met in Canberra on 27 and 28 October 1997 at the First National Consultative Meeting on the Management of Australian Physical-Format Digital Publications. The purpose of the meeting was to seek agreement on key principles and an understanding of responsibilities related to the provision of long-term access to digital publications in physical form, and the meeting concluded with the formulation of an action plan designed to put in place agreed strategies to further these objectives. While the emphasis of this meeting was on digital publications in physical formats, further workshops in 1998 will focus on online and hybrid digital information.

This paper, 'Management and Preservation of Physical-Format Digital Publications: A National Library Position Paper on the Role of Australian Legal Deposit Libraries', is an outcome of the National Consultative Meeting. It attempts to define a National Library of Australia position on roles and responsibilities for the management of Australian physical-format digital publications. Specific issues addressed are national coverage and collecting, including legal deposit issues, access and copyright, preservation and control. This initial draft is for consideration, comment and discussion by the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL). Throughout the paper, a short summary of the current position is followed by identified issues requiring resolution, and recommendations aimed at moving the process forward.

It is expected that this position paper can then be used as the basis for further liaison with publishers. At present, information on the Australian physical-format digital publishing scene is lacking. There is evidence that it involves an extensive range of parties far wider than traditional print publishers. Self-publishers are becoming more common, and for this reason it is increasingly difficult to determine what is being published. A study of the physical-format digital publishing industry to identify publishers of this material has been proposed, and a brief for a consultancy is being developed by the State Library of Victoria.

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2. Ensuring Long-Term Access: Principles and Issues

The aim of the National Library of Australia is to work with others to find practical, cost effective ways of ensuring the same level of preservation guarantee for this category of publication as for any other.

The National Library seeks to preserve long term accessibility to all the electronic publications it collects. However, there are technical and resource constraints which mean that, even if legal barriers can be overcome, it must set priorities for action. Libraries should take a leading role in identifying the specific technical stumbling blocks to preservation, and in seeking ways to deal with them. It is necessary to invest some effort in practical investigations that can inform decision making. Because the National and state libraries have a shared interest in preserving this kind of publication, these investigations and the decision making should be undertaken cooperatively.

As well as identifying research needs, libraries need to find resources to carry out the research, and partners to supply the required technical expertise. Even if technical and legal problems can be overcome, preservation is likely to be resource intensive in the foreseeable future. Libraries will need to know the scale of costs they are likely to be asked to commit to, but they are also likely to need additional resources to meet their preservation responsibilities for these publications while maintaining responsibility for existing - and growing - collections in other formats.

Whatever work is undertaken should take account of the degree of integration that can be achieved between physical-format digital and online digital publications. The National Library's preferred strategy is one that integrates both digital formats. Libraries need to consider options and articulate their interests so that decisions and commitments can be made that lead to a national model.

Recommendations

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3. International Developments in the Management and Preservation of Physical-Format Digital Publications

The National Library has been actively developing procedures to manage the physical-format publications in its collections. Activities focussed first on storage and security of the collections then moved on to research in a range of associated preservation problems. In addition, the Library's PANDORA project for archiving Australian online publications includes a prototype metadata repository which will accommodate metadata on physical format publications.

The National Library is in contact with a number of overseas institutions, expressly to monitor developments that might inform our own initiatives in Australia, across the full range of digital archiving and preservation issues and also share our own experience and expertise.

To date, reports from institutions have concentrated on the provision of suitable storage and security but there are few practical examples of institutions addressing the greater preservation problems of rapid hardware and software obsolescence.

A number of European institutions, particularly in the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom, have made a start. Building on earlier work, most effort is now being concentrated on the NEDLIB project which has been funded to start in January 1998.

The NEDLIB project consortium is headed by the National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) and includes eight other European national libraries, a national archive and three main publishers. The main goal is to find ways to ensure that both online and offline digital publications of the present can be used now and in the future.

The British National Preservation Office has proposed research into technology preservation, technology emulation and information migration, but this work has not yet been commissioned.

Canada and the United States have not yielded as much practical research as might have been expected despite important papers that have been published on electronic preservation issues by groups such as the Commission on Preservation and Access and the Research Libraries Group. In these countries it appears that the major priorities for libraries are the digitisation of, and provision of on-line access to, endangered printed materials, and the preservation of on-line digital material such as electronic journals. The Library of Congress is studying the media deterioration of CDs but is apparently not yet examining the systems and software obsolescence problems.

Recommendations

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4. National Coverage, Legal Deposit and Collecting of Physical-Format Digital Publications

Current Situation

Issues

Recommendations

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5. Access to Physical-Format Digital Publications

Current Situation

Issues

Recommendations

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6. Preservation

Current Situation

The National Library has been receiving Australian physical format digital publications since 1983. Until recently, preservation efforts have focussed largely on storage and security of these collections. Since the appointment of an electronic preservation officer, a more active program of testing preservation options has been instituted.

There are two critical characteristics that demand an active preservation response: the instability of the media and changes in technology. These characteristics also affect online publications. Many of the distinctions between publishing formats blur in a digital environment, creating the challenge of recognising where similar responses can be used, and where differences need to shape the response.

Issues

There are many issues needing to be resolved in providing a reasonable guarantee of ongoing accessibility. The major issues appear to be:

Recommendations

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7. Cataloguing Physical-Format Digital Publications

Current Situation

Issues

Recommendations

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Appendix 1
Fields specific to cataloguing physical format electronic publications and relevant ABN field designation:

General material designator (TIL subfield h)

This AACR option followed for both minimum and high level records.

Use [computer file]

(note: ALA Guidelines for Bibliographic Descriptive of Interactive Multimedia specifies the use of the GMD [interactive multimedia] for this type of CD ROM. This has not been generally adopted by other libraries)

File characteristics area (FCA)

Contains the file characteristics of computer files, including type of file and number of records, etc. when available

Physical description area (COL)

ABN follows the optional practice in AACR2, 9.5B1

Option, if the GMD [computer file] is used, the term 'computer' can be omitted from this field.

Otherwise use the specific material designation (SMD) terms:

AACR also carries the instruction to be able to indicate the specific type of physical medium:

Notes

Nature and scope (NOG)
eg. Game, Word processor

System requirements (NOG)
Mandatory. Provides information on equipment required in order to access the item. Begin the note with System requirements:

Include, when readily available, in the order listed: make and model of the computer required for access; the amount of memory required; name of operating system; software requirements; peripherals (eg. game paddles)

Actions note (NTA)
Recommended. Use at least subfields a, and 5 (preservation action, and NUC symbol of institution).

eg. NTA |a5|Permanent preservation/reformatting|ANL

Other notes specific to physical format electronic publications include:

Organisation and arrangement (OAR)
Case file characteristics note (NTC)
Technical details note (TED)
Documentation note (IFD)
Chronological coverage note (GEC)
Technical details access note (TDF)
Related computer files note (RDF)

Last updated 18 February 1998

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