Digital life cycle management at the National Library of Scotland Simon Bains, Digital Library Manager August 2005

What is digital life cycle management? “It is one of those phrases that seems to have as many interpretations and meanings as ‘digital library’” [Helen Shenton, Life cycle collection management] “actively to manage the resource at each stage of its life-cycle and to recognise the inter-dependencies between each stage and commence preservation activities as early as practicable” [Digital Preservation Coalition] “Life cycle collection management is evidence-based stewardship that documents the relationship between all the stages in a collection item’s existence over time” [Helen Shenton, Life cycle collection management]

Why use it? Economic reasons Best value; resource allocation; benchmarking Strategic reasons Integrated policies and strategies; context for new areas Access Internal and external interoperability Infrastructure Digital Repositories: “collections management policies should cover: selection, acquisition, organisation, storage, access, de-selection, and preservation” [QA Focus Briefing Document, UKOLN] Format-neutral collection management Unified approach to care of hybrid library collections

The British Library Application of approach used for paper-based materials to digital objects Identifying the costs of each stage Demonstrating the long-term consequences of decisions at the start of the cycle Digitised masters: €77 per object over 10 years Purchased born digital: €128 year 1 costs for a digital monograph €51 year 1 costs for a traditional monograph Unable to make long-term or complete costings at this stage

The British Library BL formula for the lifecycle of digital masters: K(t)=s+ipr+cons+r+cap+q+m+acs(t)+p(t) K(t) total cost over period of t years s selection cost ipr cost of checking IPR cons conservation check r retrieval and reshelving cap capture of master q quality assurance/derivatives m metadata creation acs(t) access cost over time p(t) preservation/storage over time Helen Shenton (2003), Life Cycle Collection Management, Liber 13(3/4)

Why use it at the NLS? Growing quantity and complexity of digital collections: Increased digitisation Increased purchase of born digital resources John Murray Archive Hosted services (IRIScotland) Legal deposit of digital publications (including web archiving) Strategic commitment to collaborate/interoperate Selection informed by stakeholders Ability to provide multiple access points and experiences LTScotland; Public libraries; BBC etc.

Why use it at the NLS? Legal and cultural imperatives to establish a ‘Trusted Digital Repository’: Scottish Executive digital media strategy Cultural Commission report Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 Which will: Be interoperable Avoid duplication Be usable and accessible In order to: Become a component of the Scottish Distributed Digital Library Become a component of a shared legal deposit libraries infrastructure

Digital life cycle model (digitisation) Selection IndexingCapture Indexing DeliveryStorage Access/preservation

Selection NLS strategy to widen access NLS strategy to expand digitisation How do we know what non-users want? Thinking bigger (3 years) No limit on proposals No limit on project scope Unknown quantities John Murray Archive Funding

Selection Prioritised projects Selection panel Project proposals Curator consultation Stakeholder consultation Market research Cost

Indexing Digital Images Database (DID) Microsoft Access (migrating to SQLServer) Dublin Core and RLG schemas, plus local fields Bibliographic information (e.g. book) Component information (e.g. page; image) Additional indexing terms (e.g. people, places, keywords) Image metadata (e.g. file format, size, colour palette, ppi, compression etc.)

Indexing DID Basic recordImage metadata & image Complete record 1. Record creator2. Digital camera operator3. DID Indexer 4. Database Administrator 1.Desc. Metadata; rights; indexing terms 2.Image creation; match image files to DID records; Image metadata 3.Add authority controlled indexing terms; QA and sign off 4.Manage RDMS; export/import, design, backups

Indexing DID Basic recordImage metadata & image Complete record Screengrab of DID record creation window

Delivery Web features Workflow bottleneck Word on the Street Exposed to Google Version of DID Aim to deliver generic infrastructure based on DID DID migration NLW Digital Mirror Market research and selection supports: Maps, treasures, photographs, treasures

DID Basic recordImage metadata & image Complete record

Delivery Descriptive metadata is key Create once, use many times JMA strategy – access content from: Web pages Interactive exhibition kiosks Timelines Topic maps Teaching aids “The strategy to maximise digital access…will mean the NLS investing at least 40% of the available funds for digitisation in descriptive metadata” [A Digital Access Strategy for the John Murray Archive at the National Library of Scotland]

I sat back in my chair, dumbstruck. I punched the air with both arms and shouted "Yahoo!" It was there, recorded in the National Library of Scotland's web site. As I read it, line after line came flooding back, familiar once more I had been looking for the full lyrics to this song for ten years…No one else had ever heard of it. You've got the only copy of the lyrics in print that I've been able to find. Thanks!!!!

Storage Data storage on network servers 19.5TB NAS storage servers Incremental backups and complete snapshots to magnetic tape Increasing data – lengthier backups Automation, e.g. robotic tape system Issues File corruption – filesize and modification date no good; checksums too slow Gap between creation and backup – risk of file loss; replication servers reduce gap but double the cost BL DOM – replicating server architecture removes tape backup from the equation Planning for a resilient and scalable mass storage system using a Storage Area Network (SAN)

Digital preservation planning Work ongoing in a number of areas: Back-up strategy Implementation of unique IDs File integrity (SHA1 checksum) Automated metadata extraction (JHOVE/DAITSS) Strategic commitment to develop a Trusted Digital Repository Part of Legal Deposit Library planning to develop a digital infrastructure for non-print legal deposit materials

Digital Library Strategy Holistic approach Digitised and born digital Analogue and digital Coherent integrated set of policies and strategies Selection Management Preservation Delivery Trusted Digital Repository

Digital communities The NLS is part of the Scottish Distributed Digital Library The NLS is part of the Scottish digital culture community The NLS has a UK-wide responsibility as a legal deposit library The NLS welcomes collaborative approaches to all elements of the digital lifecycle Selection Delivery Preservation Standards

Simon Bains Digital Library Manager