Applying preservation metadata to repositories For JISC KeepIt course on Digital Preservation Tools for Repository Managers Module 3, Primer on preservation workflow, formats and characterisation Westminster-Kingsway College, London, 2 March 2010 This section by Steve Hitchcock KeepIt project Based on an earlier workshop presented for the Repositories Support Project (RSP), London, January 2008

Applying preservation metadata to repositories Overview of session Why preservation metadata? Background on PREMIS Group work: preservation metadata exercise Teams report back; discussion of findings Conclusions: Are IRs preservation repositories?

How much preservation Is your repository doing? Demonstrate that repositories do more preservation-related work than you might think Show how preservation support is responding to what repositories do Not a tutorial on PREMIS Aims of the session

Metadata designed for managing digital content over a long period of time is commonly referred to as preservation metadata, and typically informs, describes and records a range of activities concerned with preserving specific digital objects. Preservation metadata

Currently, the authoritative reference on preservation metadata Emphasis: implementation Produced a Data Dictionary (v2.0 April 2008) Describes and defines over 100 semantic units, i.e. items of metadata Applicable to preservation repositories. Are IRs preservation repositories? PREMIS: Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies

PREMIS dictionary documents four types of entity: Objects: things the repository stores Events: things that happen to the objects Agents: people, or organisations or software that act on objects Rights: expression of rights applying to objects PREMIS Data Dictionary: entities

PREMIS Data Dictionary: example entry This table taken from V1.0 (May 2005)

Repository software Submitting author Repository administrators Repository policy Preservation tools, e.g. format ID Preservation services PREMIS data: where might it come from?

You will be given a list of selected entries from the PREMIS Data Dictionary The aim is to: identify those entries that can serve your repositories, and indicate where that information (metadata) is, or could be, generated Good luck with your team task! Team task

This was not a test, not a survey, not a tutorial It was about making preservation real for your repository We often think of preservation in an abstract sense, but repositories are already taking actions that affect preservation and contribute towards preservation results You are probably doing more preservation than you think Did we achieve the aims of the session?

It is likely that future revisions of PREMIS will accommodate the emerging Planets model of significant properties. Recording explicitly how a preservation action creates a new representation from an old one. This involves recording the relationship between: the representations the preservation action event the agent used to perform the preservation action and details, such as configuration parameters significant characteristics which guided the choice of preservation action measured differences between the source and the target (outcome information), etc. Updating PREMIS