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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 55 | February 2002
Digital Archiving: A Progress Report
Electronic information resources are now an everyday affair for most people working or researching in libraries. At the National Library of Australia digital archiving has become a mainstream activity and there is always some interesting new development taking place.
The National Collection of Australian Online Publications (the PANDORA Archive) continues to grow and now contains almost 2000 titles using 320 gigabytes of storage space. About one third of these titles have been gathered more than once to illustrate the changing nature of web sites, and many are gathered on an ongoing basis to capture new issues of serial publications.
PANDORA continues to grow in terms of its organisation as well. A separate article in this issue of Gateways, reports on the new partners that have joined during the last six months contributing actively to the work of archiving publications for the Collection.
Another version of the Digital Archiving System is due for release in March. This is software developed by the Library to enable collection managers in each of the partner agencies to gather web publications for the Collection, to record information about publications and manage access to them. This will improve the overall efficiency of workflows and provide some eagerly awaited enhancements.
The Collection now contains about 80 commercial publications. As is the case for the freely available publications, permission to archive is negotiated with the publisher. With commercial publications it is important the Archive does not compromise the financial interests of the publisher and to protect this access, restrictions are applied for a period of time. Typically, publishers require access to be restricted to use in the reading rooms of one or more of the partner agencies, with access to offsite users being blocked for a period ranging from three months to five years, depending on the nature of the publication.
Access is managed by the Digital Archiving System software. To see this in action, refer to the archived copy of Australian Library News at http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/21843. Each issue of this serial is restricted for three months from date of issue and is automatically released for networked access once that time has expired.
The Library and the Australian Publishers Association have collaborated on developing a Code of Practice for Providing Long-term Access to Australian Online Publications. The two organisations have recently reached agreement on the Code and will now ask a small number of publishers to trial it. The Code recognises that safeguarding Australia's published cultural heritage is a concern shared by publishers and the Library. It outlines the conditions and responsibilities that each partner agrees to observe in order to ensure Australian online publications remain available for use into the future.
The Library is constantly reviewing its selection guidelines for the National Collection of Australian Online Publications and assessing how to expand collecting to the extent permitted by limited resources.
While pursuing the selective approach to archiving, the Library has remained interested in the work of other agencies such as the Internet Archive and the Royal Library of Sweden, both aiming to collect and preserve entire domains. The Library recognises the value of a comprehensive snapshot to supplement its selective approach and is discussing with the Internet Archive possible cooperation to extend archiving of Australian online publications.
The Library, ScreenSound Australia and the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts are currently working together on a proposal for the legal deposit of non-print publications, including electronic publications. This work will include consultation with other stakeholders including the publishing industry and the academic sector.
To date, web publications formatted as databases have been obstacles for any agency attempting digital archiving. We intend this year to seek the participation of one or two publishers of such databases in a project to test a proposed solution to this long-standing problem.
The importance of persistent identifiers in the management of digital information resources was reported in the August 2001 issue of Gateways. The Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL) at its last meeting agreed in principle to a proposal from its Digital Issues Working Group for an Australian Digital Resource Identifier (ADRI). This proposal outlined the structure and format of the ADRI and recommended that the National Library be involved in the development of a central ADRI registration tool that can be used by State libraries or by publishers. The Library is working with the Digital Issues Working Group, to make progress on this proposed national schema for persistent identification.
The Library's Digitisation Project has been operational since August 2001 with the team aiming to produce nearly 40 000 digital copies of collection material by the end of June 2002-photographs, postcards, cartoons, drawings, transparencies, negatives, maps, sheet music and manuscript material.
Material for digitisation is selected from the Library's collections in accordance with the guidelines established in its Digitisation Policy 2000-2004 at www.nla.gov.au/policy/digitisation.html.
In undertaking a digitisation program, the Library is aiming to
facilitate access by Australians, regardless of their location, to unique
Australian documentary materials. The digitised collections also promote
an understanding of Australia and the Australian experience to those who
may wish to access the collections from overseas. The Library is working
collaboratively with other cultural organisations to digitise related
collections in particular subject areas and formats to form a significant
body of Australian digital information.
Margaret Phillips
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Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au