SPEC Kit 329: Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials · 63
Lack dark archive storage structure and toolset. Technical skills to manage stored content appropriately (are currently
working with Fedora and associated management tools). Space: cost of long-term storage, especially for content from
researchers.
Lack of preservation-quality digital repository. The library has designed and implemented a Fedora-based repository
system to serve as a dark archive. Inexperience managing digital files on a server (setting up file structure, etc.) We will
collaborate with other library groups to establish consistent best practices. Safe handling of donated servers. We are
investigating best practices for handling these materials.
Larger institutional inertia on electronic records management has not yet been addressed. Lack of “one size fits all”
solution lowers curatorial enthusiasm for managing born-digital records. Technical solutions/skills/infrastructure also
hasn’t been addressed yet.
Learning what level and type of metadata must be preserved to accompany the growing amount of born-digital assets,
including: adequate Dublin Core records for collections in DSpace embedded digital metadata workflow and seeking
ways to efficiently transfer existing metadata how to address concerns about linking to resources and the possible
transient nature of links. Selecting versions of materials to be preserved. For example, should files be saved as originally
named as received and in the form re-named for local use? Should all formats of images be saved – tiffs, and any
derivatives or wav files and derivatives, or only uncompressed formats? In a way the question is whether we are storing
for preservation or to provide an inventory of formats for delivery and service. Archives are guaranteed preservation only
if stored on enterprise data storage. Redundant, highly available enterprise disk is still costly.
Long-term storage, backup &mirroring, geographic distribution of mirrored sites: Libraries has worked to include
infrastructure expenditure into operating costs. Availability, access restrictions, copyright: library has met these
challenges on an ad-hoc basis.
Network Bottlenecks: Moving large amounts of data across our network has been challenging due to bottlenecks
which result in failed process and excessive transfer times. This is an issue that we are currently assessing. Storage
Capacity: Our present storage capacity has not kept up with the rate of acquiring and generating born-digital materials.
Our institution is presently developing a preservation repository that will have increased storage for items that we are
interested in keeping in perpetuity. Procuring storage is also difficult. A number of library stakeholders with an interest
in digital content will be working on a committee with a member of library IT to address workflow issues that may
improve storage efficiency. Security: We are encountering challenges with providing access to materials that are subject
to copyright. Although we are reformatting items as deemed acceptable under Section 108 we still have to protect these
items from illegal duplication. Thus far, it has been difficult to provide access to these items.
No integrated digital acquisitions plan planning tends to be on a project basis rather than an overall program. Capacity
challenges within our physical technical infrastructure. Ability to manage access based on a wide and changing variety
of licensing and access restrictions.
Not enough available server space for storage. A larger server has been purchased. Lack of staff expertise regarding
born-digital material storage. This has not yet been addressed.
Our biggest challenge right now is in storage capacity, given the fact that we resort to an array of external hard drives.
We are developing a pilot Digital Asset Management System that would expand our capacity. Second would be the
need for developing and implementing metadata to effectively address records retention schedules. Long-term storage
is the final challenge. Our plan is to develop an effective DAM system with an archival system to ensure preservation
and access.
Lack dark archive storage structure and toolset. Technical skills to manage stored content appropriately (are currently
working with Fedora and associated management tools). Space: cost of long-term storage, especially for content from
researchers.
Lack of preservation-quality digital repository. The library has designed and implemented a Fedora-based repository
system to serve as a dark archive. Inexperience managing digital files on a server (setting up file structure, etc.) We will
collaborate with other library groups to establish consistent best practices. Safe handling of donated servers. We are
investigating best practices for handling these materials.
Larger institutional inertia on electronic records management has not yet been addressed. Lack of “one size fits all”
solution lowers curatorial enthusiasm for managing born-digital records. Technical solutions/skills/infrastructure also
hasn’t been addressed yet.
Learning what level and type of metadata must be preserved to accompany the growing amount of born-digital assets,
including: adequate Dublin Core records for collections in DSpace embedded digital metadata workflow and seeking
ways to efficiently transfer existing metadata how to address concerns about linking to resources and the possible
transient nature of links. Selecting versions of materials to be preserved. For example, should files be saved as originally
named as received and in the form re-named for local use? Should all formats of images be saved – tiffs, and any
derivatives or wav files and derivatives, or only uncompressed formats? In a way the question is whether we are storing
for preservation or to provide an inventory of formats for delivery and service. Archives are guaranteed preservation only
if stored on enterprise data storage. Redundant, highly available enterprise disk is still costly.
Long-term storage, backup &mirroring, geographic distribution of mirrored sites: Libraries has worked to include
infrastructure expenditure into operating costs. Availability, access restrictions, copyright: library has met these
challenges on an ad-hoc basis.
Network Bottlenecks: Moving large amounts of data across our network has been challenging due to bottlenecks
which result in failed process and excessive transfer times. This is an issue that we are currently assessing. Storage
Capacity: Our present storage capacity has not kept up with the rate of acquiring and generating born-digital materials.
Our institution is presently developing a preservation repository that will have increased storage for items that we are
interested in keeping in perpetuity. Procuring storage is also difficult. A number of library stakeholders with an interest
in digital content will be working on a committee with a member of library IT to address workflow issues that may
improve storage efficiency. Security: We are encountering challenges with providing access to materials that are subject
to copyright. Although we are reformatting items as deemed acceptable under Section 108 we still have to protect these
items from illegal duplication. Thus far, it has been difficult to provide access to these items.
No integrated digital acquisitions plan planning tends to be on a project basis rather than an overall program. Capacity
challenges within our physical technical infrastructure. Ability to manage access based on a wide and changing variety
of licensing and access restrictions.
Not enough available server space for storage. A larger server has been purchased. Lack of staff expertise regarding
born-digital material storage. This has not yet been addressed.
Our biggest challenge right now is in storage capacity, given the fact that we resort to an array of external hard drives.
We are developing a pilot Digital Asset Management System that would expand our capacity. Second would be the
need for developing and implementing metadata to effectively address records retention schedules. Long-term storage
is the final challenge. Our plan is to develop an effective DAM system with an archival system to ensure preservation
and access.
