Steps in a Digital Preservation Workflow Bill LeFurgy, Library of Congress March 7, 2012 Hosted by ALCTS, the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services

What is Covered Here A high-level introduction to workflows in a digital preservation context Outline of how to conceptualize a workflow, including life cycle considerations Variables that influence the design and execution of workflows Consideration of some existing models, architectures and tools

Workflow Advice in a Nutshell Start where you are Ask questions –What do you need to do? Which content (limited is ok) How to manage/preserve/make available (limited is ok) –What capabilities do you have? Staff Infrastructure/services –What is a basic workflow that you can undertake? Develop a model –Test –Revise, improve –Repeat

What is a Workflow? Sequence of connected steps to accomplish an activity from start to finish Declared as the work of a person or group of persons Often repeatable over time Abstract representation of actual work Can be simple or complex

Workflows in a Digital Preservation Context Sequence of steps involved to place digital content under preservation control (however defined) Highly variable according to institutional policy, capacity, content typeone size does not fit all Variability includes scale, maturity, complexity, process, tools, automation… Continual development from community experience Distinct from digitization! (But can be linked)

Workflows in an Institutional Context Workflows are developed as part of an overall institutional approach, which is informed by current community concepts (i.e., OAIS) Workflows are one element of an interlinked institutional approach

Planning and Starting a Workflow Ideally, an institution will have policies that drive workflows Goportis Project:

Digital Life Cycle In developing a workflow, consider a digital life cycle modelthe basic stages content moves through from creation to providing ongoing management/access over time JISC

Digital Life Cycle Models and Digital Workflows Concepts are closely related Life cycle models are high-level abstractions of stages that digital content move through during stewardship Models often represented as diagrams to give the big picture of what digital stewardship involves Diagrams can be useful in identifying generic workflow sequences Diagrams vary in detail and complexity

DigitalNZ:

Digital Curation Centre:

CASPAR:

At the most basic level…. Workflow and Preservation Tasks Workflows focus on concrete actions needed to process individual batches or streams of content (images, video, etc.)

Penn State Libraries: Narrative use cases can be used to model workflow processes

Workflows can tie steps to specific tools

Archivematica:

Carolina Digital Repository: Workflows can refer to distributed services

Public Record Office Victoria: Workflows can drill down into details for one process, such as ingest

Portico: Workflows can be described without recourse to flow chart diagrams

Incremental Development is the Key Everybody is looking to optimize and do better! Important thing is to establish and document basic policies, processes Useful to start with a pilot workflow and modify, extend as needed Workflows usually change over time based on experience, improved tools, other factors Learn by doing

For More Information A Framework for Distributed Preservation Workflows, Archivematica, Carolina Digital Repository, CASPAR, Digital Curation Centre, Goportis Project, Portico, approach/preservation-step-by-stephttp:// approach/preservation-step-by-step Responding to the Call to Curate: Digital Curation in Practice at Penn State University, Review of Data Management Lifecycle Models, Select for Success Key Principles in Assessing Repository Models, Taverna and myExperiment: Tools for creating and sharing workflows, labs.org/download/attachments/ /SCAPE-IntroductionToTaverna-myExperiment- HackathonYork2011.pptx (PPTX) labs.org/download/attachments/ /SCAPE-IntroductionToTaverna-myExperiment- HackathonYork2011.pptx The Design and Implementation of an Ingest Function to a Digital Archive, Wellcome Library Digital Curation Workflow (PPT), Yale Digital Preservation Service Level 1 Matrix (PDF),