Transcript Slide 1

Preserv
Preservation Eprint Services
Preservation services for institutional repositories
http://preserv.eprints.org/
Why preservation services?
Scenario: Digital lifecycle begins with author creation and deposit of paper or data
content into the institutional repository (IR). Growing number of IRs with expanding
content.
Problem: Authors and IR editorial staff typically have content management skills, but
preservation expertise is more thinly spread.
Solution: Third-party preservation services. Adapt IR software to disseminate content to
centres of preservation excellence. Minimally to separate the access and archiving
functions of IRs. The British Library is the exemplar preservation service provider in
Preserv.
An OAIS approach: three models
OAIS Reference Model
1
PRESERV is investigating these OAIS based models to
recommend a hierarchical range of preservation services to
suit different institutional requirements and cost models.
Support for the models is being built into EPrints software
for testing.
2
1. Service provider model (as above)
2. Institutional model, for the multirepository institution
3. Repository model, minimal preservation
support built into IR software
3
LOCKSS and SRB? These can be viewed as special cases of the
preservation service provider model, where the 'service provider' is a
distributed network of managed content nodes. The first requirement is for
a partnership network. This is not being investigated in PRESERV
currently, but may be the basis of future work.
Latest: A format profiling service for IRs using PRONOM and ROAR
The profile represents the range of formats of objects
found in the IR. Assessing this profile is one of the
major factors in determining preservation needs. But
does IR policy determine the profile, or vice versa?
PRESERV is finding out. As part of this process,
format profiles will be produced for IRs in the
Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR)
http://archives.eprints.org/ by harvesting IR content
using OAI-PMH and determining format using the
PRONOM-DROID automated file format identification
tool, produced by the UK National Archives.
1. A search is performed in
ROAR for archives
containing soton
(Southampton domain)
2. Clicking the Formats
button generates a format
summary for all matched
archives
3 Clicking a bar shows a
breakdown of all files
identified as that format (e.g.
PostScript 2.0) and
associated OAI records
Should IRs be responsible for
preservation?
4. Clicking the OAI record
identifier shows the Dublin
Core record (from which the
files were located)
Note: While some PostScript
documents also have a PDF
version, many do not: this
could be the basis for an
alerting service to prompt the
migration of preservationunfriendly formats
For: Institutional commitment to content
accepted into service.
Against: Cost, open access papers
published and preserved elsewhere.
Bottom line: It's an institutional decision,
and should be based on the broad IR
policy. The primary objective of IR policy
should be to grow content and provide
access. Policy can elaborate preservation
requirements to enhance the objective but
should not detract from it.
Southampton team
Leslie Carr
Jessie Hey
Steve Hitchcock
Tim Brody