Transcript Perpetual Access Reflections: how long is “forever?” Ann Okerson ALCTS-CRS Costs of Continuing Resources in Libraries January 25, 2009

Perpetual Access Reflections:
how long is “forever?”
Ann Okerson
ALCTS-CRS
Costs of Continuing Resources in Libraries
January 25, 2009
Contexts for perpetuity (“forever”)
• Long-lived organizations:
– Seem to be about values, education,
knowledge, people coexisting
– Examples: universities, museums, libraries,
governments, religions
• Shorter-lived organizations:
– Often associated with businesses,
communications, clothing, etc.
– Examples: manufacturing, gadgets,
transportation
• Examples of long-lived formats in library
work:
– Manuscripts, books, microform, IF
– On the right media - properly cared for
Digital – the newborn
• Is a medium (10-15 years of real life in
the wider community)
• Some successful attempts related to
long-term digital access so far are
mostly for journals:
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National library initiatives (KB, Australia, etc.)
Government services such as PMC
OCLC initiatives
LOCKSS 1999
Portico 2001
Other projects, collaborative and local
• We don't yet know how most of these will
fare over time
License definitions
• "Perpetual access" language in
licenses goes something like this:
If the agreement is terminated, for
whatever reason (trigger events such
as ceased subscription, ceased title,
ceased publisher), continuing access
to material that was licensed will be
provided (1) in mutually agreed upon
archival digital form (DVD, tape,
download) or (2) ongoing online
access – through (i) information
provider or (ii) third party archive.
There is also the possibility of local
load by licensee
License language
• Is this adequate language?
• Is current license language wellintentioned but “hollow?”
• Would such language stand up in court?
– no organization can be contractually
bound to perpetual: they can offer a best
effort, including best effort to find a
successor
• Do libraries insist on adequate perpetual
access?
– We try our best but we may sign anyhow
– We say we are unable to pay additional $$
for assurances – beyond the high costs we
are already incurring for e-resources
• Is perpetual access being confused with
long-term preservation issues?
E-content: perpetuity risk assessment
• Least risk:
– Mainstream western journals – increasing
number of options and some shared
understandings about goals
• More at risk:
– Aggregations of periodicals
– Aggregations of e-books
– Often there are no 3rd party arrangements,
no residual products, less standard contract
language (maybe none)
• Most risk:
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Databases
Visual, sound, multimedia materials
News sources, “grey literature”
Growing rapidly; long-term access not
tackled
Print and perpetuity
• Seems to be gaining a kind of
favor or attention re. perpetuity
• Some libraries still cancel print
only if sure there are
appropriate backup provisions
• Interesting new initiatives:
– CRL/CDL-UC initiative: print archive
in 2 locations, for 4600 licensed
journal titles
– RLG/OCLC “shared print”
supporting initiatives
• These initiatives cost money
(time, delivery mechanisms)
Other unresolved issues
• License/lease vs. ownership
• Perfect vs. good enough
– Archiving services that "obey" publishers,
i.e., use the versions publishers provide
them
– Migrate content only or functionality? Is it
an integral part of the content?
– Details such as completeness, accuracy
• Cost? Unknown and not cheap
• Huge rights issues for "born digital" and
new media (blogs, uTube)
• How many e-archives do we need?
Many? Few?
• Standards?
Consider these things
• “Perpetual" is a function of the confidence we
have in the life of our institutions
• If a community *wants* perpetuity, that group
has to invest in it, however they do so
• Librarians’ blithe assumption = “perpetual” is
good, but:
– Old material gets less and less use. More and
more older material will get less and less use –
as there is more and more of it
– Time winnows - do we have unrealistic
expectations?
– Resisting winnowing *very* expensive
• In addition to talking about perpetual access,
we must discuss how much we hope to
access in perpetuity: why, for whom, and for
how long?
• Finally, who will have the right to turn off the
perpetual machine and under what circs?