1. Metadata for preservation: the Cedars perspective
Michael Day
UKOLN: UK Office for Library and
Information Networking
University of Bath
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

2. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
Presentation Outline
Digital preservation issues
The Cedars project
Preservation metadata initiatives
OAIS - an ISO reference model for an Open Archival Information System
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

3. Digital preservation (1)
All strategic considerations relating to the survival of library and archive materials and the information contained in them
However:
A growing reliance upon digital information resources - both surrogates and information 'born digital'
No formal mechanisms ensure that digital resources are preserved for long-term use
No universal legal-deposit for digital (networked) publications
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

4. Digital preservation (2)
A definition:
"... the planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies necessary to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable."
Margaret Hedstrom (University of Michigan)
From:“Digital preservation: a time bomb for digital libraries”. Computers and the Humanities, 31, 1998, pp
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

5. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
CPA/RLG Task Force
Task Force on the Archiving of Digital Information
Report published May 1996
Commissioned by the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA) and the Research Libraries Group (RLG)
Report was a sign that the digital preservation problem was being taken seriously at the highest levels
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

6. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
UK responses
JISC/BL/NPO
Warwick strategy workshops (1995, 1999)
Digital Archiving Working Group
Arts and Humanities Data Service
Strategic Policy Framework (July 1998)
Public Record Office
Electronic Records in Office Systems (EROS)
National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD)
Consortium of University Research Libraries
Cedars project (JISC eLib)
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

7. Cedars - CURL exemplars in digital archives
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

8. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
The Cedars project
The Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL) interested in the roles and responsibilities of research libraries
JISC eLib Phase 3 - “Hybrid Libraries, Large Scale Resource Discovery and Digital Preservation”
Cedars project funded by JISC through the CURL Libraries from April 1998 for 3 years
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

9. Cedars project partners
Project led by universities of Cambridge, Leeds and Oxford
Collaboration with:
Arts and Humanities Data Service
Research Libraries Group
British Library
National Preservation Office
UKOLN
Publishers
etc.
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

10. Cedars project objectives
To promote awareness
To identify and disseminate
appropriate strategies for collection management
appropriate strategies for long-term preservation
Based on a realistic sampling of current digital resource collections
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

11. Cedars metadata report
AIW01: “Metadata for preservation”
Identified and described relevant projects and associated issues (August 1998)
Foundation for metadata implementation within the Cedars project
AIW01.html
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

12. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
Four metadata roles
1. Technical metadata
Recording technical details about the original hardware and software environment to support preservation strategies (emulation, migration, post hoc rescue, etc.)
2. Rights management metadata
Recording intellectual property rights ownership, deposit agreements, access agreements, etc.
3. Intellectual preservation metadata
Preserving the integrity and authenticity of digital resources (context and cryptography)
4. Resource discovery metadata
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

13. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
Metadata initiatives
Digital Rosetta Stone (DRS) model
Pittsburgh University
Functional Requirements for Evidence in Recordkeeping
University of British Columbia
The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records
National Library of Australia
PANDORA project
Digital Services Project
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

14. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
RLG Working Group
RLG Working Group on the Preservation Issues of Metadata
Report published May 1998
Limited to a consideration of data elements that describe digital image files
Sixteen metadata elements
Three experimental implementations: extended Dublin Core, USMARC and XML
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

15. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
The OAIS model (1)
Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
ISO initiative
Co-ordinated by the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS)
An OAIS is defined as an:
“... Archive that has accepted the responsibility to preserve information and make it available for one or more Designated Communities”
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

16. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
The OAIS model (2)
The reference model:
“establishes a common framework of terms and concepts which comprise an Open Archival Information System” - from the Foreword
Facilitates the description and comparison of archives
A basis for further standardisation
A basis for conformance
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

17. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
OAIS functional model
Data
Management
Descriptive
info.
Descriptive
info.
Access
requests
Ingest
CONSUMER
PRODUCER
other info.
SIP
AIP
Archival
Storage
DIP
AIP
Administration
MANAGEMENT
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

18. Information Packages (1)
The OAIS reference model defines a generic Information Package
Further subdivided into:
Submission Information Package (SIP) -used by the producer
Archival Information Package (AIP) - used internally
Dissemination Information Package (DIP) - used by the consumer
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

19. Information Packages (2)
An Archival Information Package (AIP) comprises two separate objects:
Content Information
The information that is the primary object of preservation. Containing a Digital Object and any Representation Information (technical metadata) needed to transform this object into meaningful information
Preservation Description Information
other metadata “which will allow the understanding of the Content Information over an indefinite period of time”
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

20. Information Packages (3)
Descriptor
Archival
Information
Package
Packaging
Information
Derived from
Delimited by
identifies
Content
Information
Preservation
Description
Information
Further described by
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

21. Preservation Description Information (PDI)
Reference
Information
Provenance
Information
Context
Information
Fixity
Information
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

22. Packaging Information
Content
Information
Preservation Description
Information (PDI)
Packaging Information
Package 1
Descriptive
Information
about Package 1
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

23. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
Conclusions
Digital Preservation is increasingly becoming an important issue for libraries, archives and other organisations
The creation and maintenance of relevant metadata can contribute to the solving of some digital preservation problems
The OAIS reference model provides a common framework of terms and concepts
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

24. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
Relevant Web pages
UKOLN Metadata Web pages:
Cedars Web pages:
OAIS reference model:
ref_model.html
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999

25. Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999
UKOLN
UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information Commission (formerly the British Library Research and Innovation Centre), the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC’s Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath, where it is based.
Third Metadata Workshop, Luxembourg, 12 April 1999