Issues and approaches to preservation metadata

Michael Day

UKOLN: UK Office for Library and

Information Networking

University of Bath

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

m.day@ukoln.ac.uk

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Issues and approaches to preservation metadata

Michael Day

Joint RLG and NPO Preservation Conference: Guidelines for Digital Imaging, University of Warwick.

28-30 September 1998

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/sept-conf98/

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Presentation Outline

• Context • metadata• digital preservation• Cedars project

• Preservation metadata issues

• Some current approaches and data models

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Background - general

• Metadata (Making of America II):• Descriptive metadata - e.g. Dublin

Core, EAD, MARC• Structural metadata• Administrative metadata

• Preservation metadata is a specialised form of administrative metadata

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CURL Exemplars in Digital Archives (Cedars)

Project funded by JISC (eLib) through the Consortium of University Research

Libraries (CURL)

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Cedars Objectives

• To promote awareness of issues

• To identify and disseminate -• appropriate strategies for collection

management• appropriate strategies for long-term

preservation

• To produce demonstrators and documentation (guidance)

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Digital imaging• Motivations:

• Improving access• Preservation (continuing access)

• Suitable for long-term preservation?

• Metadata issues• What metadata exists already?• How should this be associated with the

image

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Digital preservation (1)• Technical preservation strategies

• Hardware and software conservation• Emulation• Migration

• All of these strategies depend upon the identification and collection of relevant metadata

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Digital preservation (2)• Authentication

• Intellectual preservation• Identifiers• Cryptographic techniques

• Rights management• Extremely important problem that needs

urgent solution - metadata has potential role.

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Digital preservation (3)

• Integration with other metadata:• Resource discovery• Existing catalogues and finding aids

• Collection Management

• Ensuring that the metadata is itself managed and migrated

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Cedars metadata study

• “Metadata for preservation”

• Preliminary version - August 1998

• Looked at a variety of projects and initiatives from different sectors:

http://users.ox.ac.uk/~cedars/Papers/aiw01.html

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Metadata initiatives

• RLG Working Group on Preservation Issues of Metadata

• Final Report, May 1998

• Identified elements and published sample implementations

http://www.rlg.org/preserv/presmeta.html

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RLG WG elements• Date• Transcriber• Producer• Capture device• Capture details• Change history• Validation key• Encryption• Watermark

• Resolution• Compression• Source• Color• Color

management• Color bar / Grey

scale bar• Control targets

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Data Models

• Important -• Open Archival Information System

(OAIS)• PANDORA• Resource Description Framework

(RDF)

• Cedars Access Issues Working Group

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Conclusions• Preservation metadata is important

• Need for integration of preservation metadata with other forms of metadata

• Cedars is attempting to study issues and develop demonstrators

• Also to formulate guidance for good practice

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Web Pages

CEDARS Pages:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/

UKOLN Metadata Pages:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/

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UKOLN• UKOLN is funded by the British Library

Research and Innovation Centre (BLRIC), the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC’s Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath, where it is based.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/