Hieveryone- thanksverymuchforcomingtoday.Andhappypreservationweek!

I’mLaurenWork,andI’mtheDigitalPreservationLibrarianhereatUVa.IstartedinthispositioninJanuaryofthisyear,soifwehavenotmetyet;hello!

Justasabriefintroductiontomyplacewithinthelibraryforthosewhomaynotbefamiliar- I’mpartofthesmallbutmightyContentStewardshipgroupofthelibrary,whichisresponsibleforoverseeingthephysicalanddigitalpreservationofcollections,withthegoalofmakingthempermanentlyaccessible.

Withinthisgroup,I’mpartofPreservationservices,andcanbefoundonthesecondfloorofAldermanLibrary,inroom202.Pleasefeelfreetocomesayhello.

1

So,whatdoIdoasthedigitalpreservationlibrarianhereatUVa?

I’mresponsibleforthesustainablepreservationofuniversitydigitalresources,and“digitalresources”runsthegamutfromwebsitestoarchivalharddrivesandfloppydisks,toborndigitalscholarship.

Ipersonallyalsoseemyroleasahighlycollaborativeconduitinthelibrary,connectingandservingthedigitalpreservationneedsandworkflowsthatrangefromSpecialCollectionstosoftwaredevelopmenttoCollectionAccess&Description,toscholarlycommunicationanddigitalhumanitiesandbackagain.

Soreally- muchlikemycoworkersintraditionalpreservation,Iingest,stabilize,secureandmonitoruniversityresourcestomakethemsustainablyaccessible- Ijustgettousemyhandsabitless,andstareatscreensabitmoretodoso.

2

Iframedthistalkasadigitalpreservation“primer”forafewreasons:First,alliterationisfun!

Second- forthosenotdirectlyinvolvedindigitalpreservationwork,evenwithinlibraries,thesubjectofdigitalpreservationiskindofabroad,sweepingconcept.

Andshortdetail,(suchasthedetailIjustgaveaboutmyownposition),don’treallyofferinsightintothepractice ofdigitalpreservation-whatdoesit lookliketo“do”digitalpreservation?Iaimtobreaktheseconceptsintocomponentpartsandgiveyousomeusecasestohelpincreaseunderstandingtoday.

Lastly, Iformedthistalkasa“primer”becauseIthinkit’skeytounderstandtheconceptsthatformthebasicbuildingblocksofdigitalpreservation,asultimately itallowsforbetterunderstandingofwhyandhowweapproachimportantdigitalpreservationprojectshereatUVa.

Mygoalisforyoutoleaveheretodayknowingmoreaboutdigitalpreservationasawhole,andwithanunderstanding abouthowweareundertakingdigitalpreservationworkatUVa thatties intothecommunityofconceptsandbestpractices

3

surroundingdigitalpreservation.

3

So.Let’s startatthebeginning.Whatisdigitalpreservation?

TheLibraryofCongress,oneoftheleadersinthelibraryandpreservationfield,hasthisdefinition:

Howmanypeople,basedonthisdefinition,wouldhaveanideaofwhatIdoalldayasyourdigitalpreservationlibrarian?

4

Here’saslightlymoredetaileddefinitionfromtheAssociationforLibraryCollectionsandTechnicalServices.

Ok,nowwe’retalkingaboutpolicyandactivemanagementaswellasaccess todigitalcontentovertime- we’regettingclosertowhatitmeanstoactivelyengageindigitalpreservation.

AndIwanttopausehereforamomenttosay- Iamrunningusthroughthesedefinitionsbothasanintroductiontodigitalpreservationasaconcept,butalsotoprovideaquicksnapshotofthehistoryofthefield.

5

AndIwanttoprovidethishistorybecause, inthemidtolate90s,whenthisversionoftheApplecomputerwasthehottestthinggoing,itwasalsothetimewhenpeopleinthelibraryandculturalheritageworldwerereallytryingtogettheirheadsaroundwhattodowiththehugevolumesofdigitalcontentbothbeingproduced andalsosittingonobsoletemediafromscholarsanddonorsontheirshelves.

Andtheyweregrapplingwiththesedefinitionsandwhattheymeantintermsofpolicy,standards,stewardshipandtechnologicaldevelopment.

6

Strideswerefirstmadeontheadministrative&policyend,assomehadargued,successfully,thatthebiggestimpedimentstodigitalpreservationwereorganizational,ratherthantechnical.

Soapproachesfromthattimeintheaughts includedtheseFiveOrganizationalStagesforDigitalPreservationfromKenneyandMcGovern,theTrustedRepositoryAuditCertification,andotherhighlevel,workflow,policyandstrategyrelatedwork.Allveryimportant.

7

However- muchoftheprogressofthesepolicyandstrategy-relatedapproachesdidnotaddresswhatpractitioners- thoseactuallyresponsibleforstewarding,ingesting,andprotectingthedigitalcontent - shouldactuallybedoingtotakeaction ondigitalpreservation.

8

So,in2012,theNationalDigitalStewardshipAlliance,aninitiativefromtheInformationInfrastructureandPreservationProgramattheLibraryofCongress,setouttochangethat- withasimple,techplatform-agnostic,modularapproachtoactuallydoingtheworkofdigitalpreservation.It’smeanttohelpguideboththosejustbeginningwithdigitalpreservationprogramsaswellasorganizationstryingtoadvancetheirexistingwork.

Fivemajorconceptualareaswereidentifiedasimportantareasforaction- waystoevaluatewhatyourorganizationisdoingtomitigateriskofloss,andtoidentifyconcretenextstepstotakefordigitalpreservation.

Thisismeanttobealivingdocument,withanunderstandthatit isworkinprogressasthedigitalpreservationfieldgrowsandchanges,andastechnologydoesthesame.

Andithelpsformthebasisofourcurrentapproachestodigitalpreservation,aswe’llseeinaminuteaswegothroughusecaseshereatUVA- butIwantedtoprovidethisbriefhistorytoshowhowtheworkwedocomesoutofactionableguidanceforpractitionersandstrategistsalike.Andtheseapproachesarereflectedinthetoolsandpolicythathavecontinuedtoemergeanddevelopaspeopledotheworkof

9

digitalpreservation.

9

Solet’sdiveintosomeoftheworkandplanningwe’redoinghereatUVa.

10

Scholarshiphascontinuedtotakemanyformsovertheyears,andIcouldgiveanentiretalkjustonpreservingthewebsites, images,databases,audio,socialmedia,and3Ddatathatnowmakeupcomponentsofmodernscholarship.AndmaybeIwillinthefuture!

ButtodayIwantedtofocusonourdigitalpreservationworkrelatedtooneofthemostsweepingchangesinacademia asawhole- thatofelectronicthesesanddissertations.Manylibrariesstoppedacceptingpapercopiesfordepositandpreservationwithinthelastseveralyears,andsopreservingdigitalscholarshipforlong-termaccesswithinanacademicrepositoryisoftheutmost importance.

HereatUVa we’recurrentlyapproachingthepreservationoftheseassets inseveralways,butI’lltouchontwotoday.

11

Thefirstisataverygranularlevel- thatofPDF/Aorarchivalformat.

Currently,studentssubmitaplainPDFtoLibra,andtherearenootherformatrestrictionsbeyondthat.Andthereareopportunitiestoprovideamorestable,standardizedformofPDFthatwillrendermorereliablyinthefuture.

We’reinthebeginningstages,butareworkingtowardestablishingPDF/A,asapotentialfuturestandardforthesisdeposit,whichmanyotheracademicinstitutionshavedonetohelpbetterpreservetheirscholarship.

12

Sowhatisit?Simplyput,PDF/AisaninternationalpreservationstandardforPDFthatiswidelyadoptedasaformat.It isdeviceindependent,meaningitcanbeopenedonmorethan1typeofreader,andisentirelyselfcontained.

Selfcontainedmeansthatthedocumentitselfisstructuredtocontaineverythingneededforanaccuraterepresentationofitscontents.AnditalsomeansnoexternallinkstofontsorexecutablefileslikeJavascript,novideo,andnoencryption.

Thebestwaytothinkaboutthisconceptistothinkaboutanexperiencethatmanyofushavehad– attemptingtoopenanolderdocumentorfilethatmaydisplaybrokenimages,orstrangeblockoftextwherefontshouldbe.PDF/Apreventsthesethingsbyself-containment,andprovidesuswithbetterpreservationstrategiesforourscholarlycontent.

13

Thesecondapproachfordigitalpreservation isatahigherlevel,withtheAcademicPreservationTrust.

UVa istheleaderofAPTrust,whichisaconsortial effortofacademicinstitutionstopreservetheir digitalscholarlycontent.APTrustpoolstheresourcesofitsmemberstobuild,support,andscalealarge,cloud-basedrepositorysystem.Thisallowsforbestpracticesofdigitalpreservationincludinggeographicdistribution,redundancyandrecoveryofcontent,fixitychecking,storageofmetadata,andmore.

Sotheseareafewthingswe’reactivelyworkingonforthepreservationofdigitalscholarship.

14

Whataboutuniversityordonordigitalcontentthatonlyexistscurrentlyonunstablemedialikefloppydisks,CDs,orharddrives?Whatarewedoingtopreservethiscontent?

PicturedisanactualexampleofafloppydiskfromSpecialCollections.

Iamsuremanyofyouhavesomethingsittingunderyourdeskorinaclosetthatyouaredyingtogetridof,orwonderingifweevenhavethehardwareanymoretoexaminetheseitems.

15

LetmeintroducetoyouFRED- ourforensicrecoveryofevidencedevice,andanimportanttoolforthedigitalpreservationoflegacymediafromawiderangeofsourcesattheuniversity.

IfthatsoundslikeCSItoyou- it’smeantto.Thedigitalpreservationfieldhasfounditselfdovetailinginsomewayswithcrimesceneinvestigation,inthatweaimtosecurely,andwithoutimpact, obtain,examine,andstabilizethecontentsofmedia-butforthepurposesoflongtermpreservationandprovenance,notevidence.

Again,thisissimilartomycolleaguesintraditionalpreservation- theymayreceiveanitemforpreservationandnoticemold,oraninsect.Theywouldidentifyanyissues,andtakestandardizedsteps,suchasplacingtheiteminafreezertostabilize&isolatetheitem.Similarly,IcanidentifyvirusesorcorruptfileswiththeFRED,andtreatthemaccordinglytoensurethatthecontentitself isstabilized,andthatitcannotharmotherworks,muchlikeisolatingamoldybook.

We’veactually justreceivedournewFRED,andI’mveryexcitedtogetitupandrunning,butIthoughtwecouldtakeaquickspinthroughwhatthistypeofdigitalpreservationlookslikewhenyouactuallygetcontentoffofthefloppydisk.

16

16

Hereisourfloppydiskagain.Ontheoutsidelabel, itclaimstobean“archive”fromMay-Novof1990.

Toreviewtheactualcontentonthislegacymedia,wemightgothroughseveralpreservationsteps,including:

Aninventoryandphotographoftheitemitself,

acarefulreviewoftheobjectfordamagethatcouldimpactboththepreservationoftheactualobjectandtheabilitytoreadthemediaonitfordigitalingest,

usehardwaretoinsertthephysicaldiskandconnect ittoawrite-blockedportontheFRED,toensurewedon’taccidentallywritetoorchangeanyfiles

WewouldthencreatethediskimagewithanopensourcesoftwarecalledBitCurator,

Wecanalsodothingslikeperformavirusscan,runchecksforsensitiveinformationsuchascreditcardinformationorsocialsecuritynumbers, andcreatechecksumstoallowustolatervalidatethatthediskimagehasnotchanged,andsoon.

17

17

Soyoumaybewondering- whyadiskimage?Severalreasons.Adiskimagecaptureseachsectorbitforbitonadiskandpreservestheentirefilesystemstructure.Animagealsocapturesallsegmentsofadisk,includingdeletedfiles,versionsoffiles,andunallocatedspace,whichcancontainotherhiddenfiles.Soifyousimplycopiedthefilesoverinsteadofcreatingadiskimage,wemightmissotherpotentiallyimportantinformation.

Sowe’veimagedourdiskimage- andthisiswhattheresultlookslike.Thehighlightednumberendingin.aff.txt istheaccompanyinginformationfilefromourdiskimage,whichisthefileendingin.aff rightaboutit.Theaff extensionisanadvancedforensicformat,whichisanopenformatforthestorageofdiskimagesandmetadata.Whatyouseeinthistextfileissomeofthatmetadata, includingourchecksumsandsomebasictechnicalmetadataaboutthedisk.

18

Andhereisacloserviewofdocumentsthatarepresentonthefloppy- youseeaPDF,andmbox,whichisanemailformat,somedocs,andsomethingcalledbibtex,whichisreferencemanagementsoftware.

Sothistypeofdigitalpreservationprocessallowsustopreservecontentthatbygettingitoffoflegacymedia,whereit isatriskandinaccessible,allowsustomakesurethat informationiscaptured,ingested,stabilizedandsecurelypackagedinawaythatwillthenallowustodothingslikemovethedigitalobjectstoSpecialCollectionstoallowthemtoapplytheirexpertiseforthenextstepsofthecollection,andsendthedigitalobjectstoourrepositories.

19

Changingbacktotheborn-digitalpartofthepreservationpuzzle,Iwanttotalkabitaboutsomeoftheworkwe’redoingtohelpingest,stabilize,andpreservevariousformsofcommunicationrelatedtotheuniversity,aswellashowwearethinkingaboutwaystomaketheserecordsaccessible.

Aswe’reallwellaware,wenowhavemorewaystocommunicatethaneverbefore.Andthevastmajorityofthiscommunicationiselectronic,andsomeveryephemeral.I’lltouchontwotypesofcommunicationthatwe’verecentlybeenfocusedon:emailandsocialmedia- namelyTwitter.

20

We’llstartwithemail.Thevastmajorityofcorrespondence- beitfromwriterswhoplantogifttheirpapersandcorrespondencetoSpecialCollections,universitypresidentsfulfillingtheirduties,orjusthumbledigitalpreservationlibrarianemailingwiththeirbossmanytimesaday- allofthishappensoveremail.

Andweareresponsibleforthepreservationofthiscontentwhenitcomestimeforadonororpresidenttodeposittheircorrespondence.Whileprintingemailsmayhavebeendesiredornecessaryinthepast,thereareseveralwaystoapproachthedigitalpreservationofemailmessagesnow.

Thefirst,andoneofthemostbasic, isshownonthescreennow.Downloadingyourownemailarchive- thisisanexamplefromGmail.Hasanyonedonethis,evenforbackup? Youcangetyourcalendar,contacts,emails,etc.Andthisisonewaytohavepeopletransfertheiremailsforpreservation

Buttherehasalsobeennewdevelopmentsinthetoolsavailablethatensurethesecuredelivery,andpreservationof,correspondence

21

21

Onetoolwe’vebeenworkingwithrecently,andarecurrentlydevelopingatestdonorusecasefor,isEPADD,whichisanIMLS-fundedprojectoutofStanfordthatisasoftwarethatsupportarchivalprocessesaroundtheappraisal,ingest,processing,discoveryanddeliveryofemailarchives.

Sothistoolisgreatinthatitismodularindesign,andthedifferentmodules(appraisal,process,discovery,etc.)canbesetupindifferentpartofthelibrary.Forinstance,asthedigitalpreservationlibrarian,Imayberesponsiblefortheinitialingestinthe“appraisal”module.,shownhere,whileSpecialCollectionsmayhousethediscoveryanddeliverymoduleslocallyinareadingroom.

Thismodularsetupallowsmetodothingslikereviewemailfortechnicalissues,helpdonorssetuptheirinitialingest,reviewfiletypes,andensurecontentissafeandstablebeforemovingthecollectiontoanothermodule,suchasprocessing.

Theamountofdatarelatedtocontacts,dates,attachments, images,sensitiveinformation,isextremelyusefulinthistool,andallowsyoutosearch,flagcontent,andviewemail(includingchainsofcorrespondence)toreadythecollectionforpreservationanduse.

22

22

ThisisasnapshotofwhattheprocessingmodulelookslikeinEPADDfromatestIranthroughmyownemail- youcanseeit’ssetupforuseinSpecialCollectionsandarchiveswiththeabilitytoconnecttheemailcollectiontobothafindingaidandcatalogrecord,theassignmentwithCollectionandAccessionIDs,andmore.

We’recurrentlyinthetestingstagesofthistoolandworkingwithSpecialCollectionsonausecase,soIlookforwardtohopefullygivinganothertalkonthispreservationworkinthefuture.

23

Sowhataboutsocialmedia?Thisisanewerdigitalpreservationpuzzlethatalsohighlightsissuesrelatedtoprivacy,scale,policy,use&access.

Wehavemanyactivestudentorganizations,departmentsandeventsthatarerelatedtothehistoryandrecordsoftheuniversity,nottomentiondonorswhomaybeactiveonsocialmediaanddesiringtodeposittherecordswiththeUniversity.Howcanwepreservethismaterial?

Oneway,especiallywhenworkingwiththepersonalarchivesofanindividual,is,likeemail,torequesttheirpersonaltwitterarchivefordeposit- thisgiveyoutheentirehistoryofyourtweetssincethebeginningofyouraccountinstable,widelyadoptedformatsthatwecaningestintoourrepositories.

24

Butsometimeswe’ddon’tneedtopreservethetweets ofanindividual- rather,wemaywanttopreservetherecordssurroundinganevent,suchastheupcomingbicenntenial atUva.Inthiscase,wehaveonetoolcurrentlyinusecalledTAGS,whichisopensourceandfreelydownloadableforanyonetousewiththeTwitterAPI.

Thistoolallowsyoutogathertweets aroundahashtaginasimpleGooglespreadsheetformat,whichyoucanseeherewithatestusecaseIranaroundthetimeofAntoninScalia’sdeathearlierthisyear.Thistoolisparticularlyusefulinthatitallowsyoutocapturetheimmenseamountsofmetadatathatarebehindeach140-charactertweet, whichcanbeverypowerfulforpreservationandfuturescholarlyuse.

We’realsoalwaysfollowingthedigitalpreservationandarchivescommunityofpracticeandtooldevelopment.Anexampleofanewprojectwe’refollowingisaMellongrant-basedprojectcalledDocumentingtheNow,whichisaimedtoaddressthisevent-basedcapturescenarioofTwitterforscholarlyuseandpreservation.DocNow isgearedtowardlibrariesandarchives,whonowfindthemselvesstewardingandpreservingcontentfromsocialmovementsandhistoricaleventsthatlargelytakeplaceonline,suchastheprotestsinFerguson,Mo.in2014,aroundwhich

25

thegrantisbased.

25

Thelast itemIwantedtotouchontodayishowwe’reapproachingwebarchivingatUVa aspartofourdigitalpreservationwork.

26

AndIthoughtI’dstartbyshowingofftheveryfirstUniversityofVirginiawebsitepagethatisintheInternetArchivefrom1997.ThisisourincomingLibraryDeanJohnUnsworth’s pageatthetime.

Soifit’s intheInternetArchive,it’s preservedforever,right?Notsomuch.Thewonderful,forward-thinkingInternetArchiveismanythings,buttheyhaveexplicitlystatedthattheyarenot,infactapreservationrepositorynordotheyplantobe.AndI’msureeverysingleoneofus,almostdaily,stumblesintoa404error,orgoestoawebsitethatsuddenlyseemstohavebeentakenoveronlybyads.Theinternetisbrutallyephemeralandever-changinginitsstructureandcontent.Sohowareweapproachingthepreservationofweb-baseduniversitycontentovertime?

27

OneofourapproachesisthroughaservicesomeofyoumaybefamiliarwithcalledArchive-It.ThisisasubscriptionservicefromtheInternetArchivethatallowsustoscope,testandrunspecificcrawlsonspecificwebsitestopreserveselectedcontentatintervalswecanset- thismaybejustaonetimecrawl,oranongoingcaptureeverytwoweeks.

ThesecrawlsarethenavailablefordownloadandpreservationviaWebArchivefiles,orWARCs,whichisaninternationalstandardforwebaccessiblecontentinanarchivedstate.Thesefilescontainboththeprimaryresourcesinanyformat,aswellassecondarycontentsuchasmetadata,duplicatecrawlevents,andmore.

Oneoftheongoingdigitalpreservationprojectswe’reworkingonrelatedtowebarchivesincludesaconsortial effortwith2otherAPTrustmembers- PennStateandtheUniversityofMiami- tocreateanAITtoAPTrustpreservationworkflowthatwillallowusthesendtheseWARCfilesdirectlyforpreservationinAPTrust.

28

Sowearewelookingtopreserve?Currentlywe’reinthenascentstagesofourprogram,butourfocusthroughthetestingstageoverthelastyearorsohasincludedcapturingdigitalprojectsandscholarshipsuchastheJapanense TextInitiative;

29

Universityadministrationandlife,includingtheBoardofVisitorsmeetingminutesandstreamingvideo,whichareonlyonline;

30

andstudentorganizationsandpublications,suchastheCavalierDaily.

31

Andthat’snotallwe’redoing.Imentionedtheephemeralandever-changingnatureoftheweb.Archive-Itisthecoreofourapproach,butasvideo,audio,andotherinformationonwebsitescontinuestoshift,growandchange,wealsocombineadditionalwebpreservationtoolswithourAITservice,suchaswebrecorder.io,adeveloping,opensourcesoftwarethatmoreeasilycapturesstreamingcontentonwebsites,aswellastoolssuchasWarCreate,aGoogleChromeextensionthatenablesanyonetodownloadtheWebArchive(WARC)filesfromanybrowseablewebpage.

32

There’splentyofdigitalpreservationworktokeepmebusy,butIwantedtotouchonafewitemsthatwe’recontinuingtoworkonandworktowardwithdigitalpreservationatUVA.

Thefirst referstothetransferofborn-digitalcontent.AndbythisImeancontinuouslyworkingtowardthebest,moststablesolutionsforthetransferofborndigitalcontenttothelibraryandarchivesforingest,preservationanduse- withoutneedingaphysicalcarriersuchasaharddrivetodoso.

Therearedevelopingtoolsandstandardsforborndigitalfiletransferthatallowforthepreservationoffilestructure,allowustoprovidemetadataandcreatechecksumsandreceivenotificationofdeliverytoallowthesecureauditandtransferofimportantdigitalmaterials.Sowecontinuetoworktoworktowardthat.

Thesecond, relatedandveryimportantongoingworkrelatestoconnectingtheworkflows,procedures,andstandardshereatUVa.ThisisalargecollaborativeefforttoconnectmyworkwithdigitalpreservationtotheworkflowsacrossthedifferentdepartmentsinSpecialCollections,CAD,andotherstoensurethatwe’reworkingtogethertopreserve,describeandmakeaccessible thegreatworkswehavehereat

33

UVa

Thelast isabitfurtheroutforusasaprocesscurrently,butitwarrantsmentioningaspartofstrivingtoachievethebeststandardsfordigitalpreservation.Andthatisemulation.

33

Emulationcouldprovideastrategytoallowaccess tocontentbypreservingexecutablecontent(suchasdatabases,visualizationsoftware,etc.) initsoriginalstateandrunningitonvirtualmachines.Thiscouldreplaceorsupplementotherdigitalpreservationstrategiesforfileformatssuchasthemigrationoffilestonewerversionsoftheformat.

TheOliveprojectoutofCarnegieMellonisdoingsomeveryinterestingworkinthisarea,andwewouldbeinterestedtopursueithereatUva.

34

Inclosing,Ihopeyoucomeawayfromtodayknowingabitmoreaboutdigitalpreservationasawhole,andagooddealmoreaboutallofourdigitalpreservationworkhereatUVa.

Thanks.

35