SPEC Kit 329: Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials · 61
Centralization: our situation will likely be exacerbated by the fact that the Libraries’ IT staff will soon be subsumed by
the university’s IT staff in its efforts to centralize functions. We can expect greater delays in acquiring and managing
digital storage when we lose our dedicated IT staff who were previously responsible for these tasks.
All is in flux and subject to change, but we are developing a DAMS and staffing to develop that system is slender. We
have one programmer on the job, making progress. Need to address security/privacy issues more fully than we have and
develop comprehensive (rather than case by case) strategies.
Amount of storage: continually asking for more. Explaining how this is different than a preservation repository, which
the materials will go into but until they are processed. Ensuring stability of the files.
Amount of storage: current university infrastructure does not have capacity for a large amount of born-digital material.
Future upgrades should take in to account an exponential increase in expected storage need. Secure access: For those
items we choose not to or cannot store on campus, choosing a cloud-based solution is difficult because of PATRIOT Act
issues. This is an ongoing issue. Staff expertise: IT staff are not necessarily versed in maintaining archival quality records.
This is primarily a staff training issue, not a technological one.
Amount of storage: We nearly ran out of space this year due to the way the servers were configured and allocated. The
problem was that a server had been called into service to temporarily house a system from a failing server. This issue
was temporary, as the system is being migrated to a new server, but it is indicative of space budgeting problems. We
have not always been accurate in our predictions of space needs. We have recently moved to a VMware solution that
should help by providing greater flexibility. Cost: This has historically been a problem. Initially, collecting areas that
took in or created digital content were expected to pay for their own servers, but in recent years this has become an
accepted part of the Libraries IT department’s responsibilities. Our costs have also gone down as a result of a move to
VMware. Technical skills: most recently this has been in the area of awareness of the need for (and skill in integrating)
things like integrity checking and monitoring systems in general. This will be the next step in special collections/archives’
collaboration with Libraries IT staff.
Amount of storage has previously been a challenge, but has become less of a problem with the fall in storage costs in
recent years. Future storage needs for large-scale ingest of born-digital special collections materials will probably be
integrated into university-wide planning for digital repositories, a digital asset management system, and networked
storage &continuity planning. Technical skills of special collections staff in managing born-digital materials has been
a challenge, which was initially solved by contract staff with the required skills, and now by hiring a Digital Special
Collections Librarian as permanent staff with the required skills. Providing access to born-digital special collections is an
ongoing problem, with no unified solution. ETDs are available through a DSpace instance the university web-archive is
hosted externally, with Archive-It. Copies of other born-digital materials in special collections or university archives fonds
are usually provided to researchers on a cost-recovery basis, using optical disks. Future development of a library digital
repository will greatly facilitate access to the latter materials.
Amount of storage needed and “non archive” approach of central university IT unit. Still under discussion.
Amount of storage required and costs of storage. Staff resources and funding for managing born-digital records. Time
resources for those with technical skills for storage management.
Amount of storage required. Cost.
Amount of storage: working with library IT to provide server space.
Amount of storage starting to manage temporary alternative file management systems. Ease of access challenges of
ongoing equipment management. Technical skills commitment from institution.
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