Digital preservation

Tools, procedures and infrastructure

The National Library of Australia has undertaken a pragmatic but principles-based approach to managing and preserving its digital collections.

This approach is evident in the Library’s readiness to find and if necessary develop tools and practices to address the challenges suggested by the principles involved in keeping its digital collections accessible.

The tools and procedures produced by such an approach are often speculative, but because they are based on an intelligent analysis of principles, and because they are tested in managing actual collection management problems, they often work quite well. In turn, they provide a platform of experience that the Library reflects on and uses in developing further tools and practices.

The key underlying infrastructure the Library uses for both archiving and ongoing management of its digital collections is described under its Digital Services Project. The Digital Object Storage System (DOSS) is the primary arrangement for storing and refreshing data, while the Digital Collection Manager (DCM) is being developed as the metadata repository and management system that can manage a range of automated preservation processes, as well as other needs.

Other important components of the Library’s growing suite of tools, procedures and infrastructure supporting digital preservation, include:

How digital resources are created

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What digital materials will be preserved

Initial processing

  • procedures for processing physical format digital publications selected for preservation.
  • procedures for recovering data from physical format carriers dependent on obsolete software and hardware. (N.B. This is not a routine procedure and is only resorted to when digital materials have not been identified in time to be managed by other routine procedures.)
  • audio archiving and preservation specifications (available in RTF (47 KB) or PDF (91 KB))
  • procedures for archiving email collections into the Manuscripts collection (project brief only).

How digital resources are named and described

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Repository and management frameworks to support preservation

  • tentative definitions of the requirements of reliable digital archives. The Library participated in an RLG/OCLC Working Group defining the attributes of trusted digital repositories, and has been a supporter of the development of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model developed by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. Comments on the model have been provided, and it has been helpful in evaluating the digital archiving and preservation arrangements the Library has developed.

Data security and authenticity

  • specifications for data backup, security and disaster recovery for the digital collections (not publicly available).
  • investigations into whether defining the essential characteristics (or significant properties) of classes of digital objects which must be retained by any preservation action would help in managing the Library’s digital collections. (In summary, the investigations did not lead to any useful way of defining classes of objects. In most cases, the Library wishes to maintain the full functionality of the digital objects it is preserving.)

How ongoing access will be provided

  • investigations into means of providing ongoing access to digital collections. As well as taking a keen interest in all approaches being explored by others, the Library has undertaken some limited but successful trials of migrating HTML files from one version to another, and inconclusive trials of emulation software for particular applications. The Library is particularly keen to propose and trial a number of accessibility pathways for different kinds of digital collection materials, taking advantage of emerging services such as file format registries and software archives.

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