II Konferencja Naukowa : Nauka o informacji (informacja naukowa) w okresie zmian, Warszawa, 15-16.04.2013 r. Instytut Informacji Naukowej i Studiów Bibliologicznych, Uniwersytet Warszawski The 2nd Scientific Conference : Information Science in an Age of Change, April 15-16, 2013. Institute of Information and Book Studies, University of Warsaw

1. Digitization for Access and Preservation:
The Evolving Debate in the Cultural
Heritage Community
The 2nd Scientific Conference
Information Science in an Age of Change
Warsaw, April 15, 2013
Krystyna K. Matusiak, Ph.D.
Library & Information Science Program
Morgridge College of Education
University of Denver
krystyna.matusiak@du.edu

2. Digitization for Access and Preservation
2http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/NEHgrant/

3. Conceptual Distinction
I. Digitization as a preservation strategy
 Conversion of analog materials to create high quality digital
copies for preservation purposes
 To capture the content of deteriorating analog materials
II. Digital preservation
 New and increasingly important area of preservation
concerns
 The inherent tension between the nature of digital information and
preservation
 Digitization creates new resources that need to be preserved
 Long-term maintenance to ensure that digital master files remain
accessible, authentic, and intact
Digitization and Preservation
3

4. • Interrelation of digitization and preservation
 Two complementary and sometimes confused goals of
digitization
 Access
 Preservation
 May exist within the same digitization initiative
• The benefits of access
 Extending the reach of libraries
 “Digitization is access – lots of it” (Smith, 1999)
 Expanded access to primary sources
 Search capabilities of digital text
 The ability to bring together scattered research materials
 Making available a new body of research materials
Access and Preservation
4

5. Extending Access
5

6. Access to “Hidden”
Film-Based Collections
6

7. Film-Based Collections
Access and Preservation
Characters in Tibetan dance drama 'Milarepa' or 'devil dance' at Labrang Monastery, 1937
The Harrison Forman Collection. American Geographical Society Library, University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries. http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cdm/ref/collection/tibet/id/647

8. I. DIGITIZATION AS A STRATEGY
TO PRESERVE ANALOG MATERIALS
8

9. • Can digitization be considered a preservation strategy?
 “Digitization is not preservation – at least not yet”
(Smith, 1999)
 “Digitization is NOT preservation”
(Gertz, 2007)
• The preference for the well-established preservation
methods
 Paper facsimiles
 Microfilm
 Photo and film duplication
 The assisting role of digitization
Digitization as a Preservation Strategy?
The Early Approach
9
“Digitization can provide a form of insurance for
preserving content, even though digital surrogates cannot
replace physical originals” (Lynch, 2006)

10. • The concerns of the preservation community
 Digital media is not as durable as paper and other analog
materials
 Uncertainty about long-term access and retrieval of digitized data
 Integrity and authenticity of digital objects
 Loss of data and data corruption
 Stability of digital formats
 Stability of digital storage
 Technological obsolescence
 Hardware and software to read and display data
 Systems for access and retrieval of digital collections
Digitization as a Preservation Strategy?
The Early Approach
10

11. The Endorsement of Digitization as a
Preservation Strategy
• The Association of Research Libraries endorses digitization as
a preservation reformatting strategy (2004)
 Digital conversion as one of the viable preservation options
 Each preservation approach has limitations and strengths
 The concerns of the preservation community are
addressed by emphasizing
 The progress in standardization of file formats
 The development of digitization standards and best practices
 The commitment of the cultural heritage institutions to digital
stewardship and the preservation of digital objects
 A growing experience in refreshing and migration of digital data.
11

12. Digitization as a Preservation Strategy:
Gaining Acceptance
• Digitization as means of preservation when other
preservation methods are not available
 The Endangered Archive Programme (EAP) at the
British Library http://eap.bl.uk/
 Established preservation methods such as microfilming or photo
duplication are not feasible
 The lack of preservation methods in developing countries
 Digitization projects undertaken primarily for preservation of
archival materials and manuscripts that are in danger of
destruction or physical deterioration
 The EAP’s guidelines emphasize the quality of digital images and
standardized formats to facilitate long-term preservation of
digitized objects
12

13. Digitization as a Preservation Strategy:
Gaining Acceptance
• Library of Congress (LC) lists digitization as a preservation method
for at-risk archival materials among other options
 Digitization as a method for preservation of film and audio
recorded on unstable media (Marcum, 2007)
 National Audio-Visual Conservation Center
 Dedicated to the preservation of audiovisual heritage in USA
 Incorporates a variety of preservation workflows, including digital
conversion
13

14. Digitization as a Preservation Strategy:
The Shift in the Debate
• The shift from the emphasis on reformatting to the issues of
usefulness and quality of preserved items
 Digitization for preservation defined as “activities that
result in the creation of digital products worthy of long-
term preservation ” (Conway, 2010)
• The dual nature of preservation
1. Slowing down the deterioration of archival materials
2. Restoring their usefulness as an information source
• Digitization as a preservation approach
 Protects fragile and rare items
 Captures and represents the content of deteriorating materials
 Enhances the usefulness of digitized materials through aggregation,
item-level metadata, contextual information, and digital presentation
14

15. Digitization for Preservation of Audiovisual
Materials
15

16. Enhancing the Usefulness
16

17. II DIGITAL PRESERVATION
17
“Developing long-term strategies for preserving
digital resources presents challenges associated
with the uncertainties of technological change.
*….+
Technology advances, while sure to present
new challenges will also provide new solutions
for preserving digital content” (Arms, 2000).

18. Terminology
18

19. Digital Curation
• A set of policies and techniques to ensure that digital
data are available and usable now and in the future
• Creating high quality digital objects of enduring value
 Focus on managing digital objects from their creation
 Enhancing the usefulness through valued-added
functions and preservation of digital objects
• Digital preservation represents an important aspect of
digital curation
19
Digital curation involves maintaining, preserving and
adding value to digital research data throughout its
lifecycle.
Digital Curation Centre (DCC): http://www.dcc.ac.uk/digital-
curation/what-digital-curation

20. 20
• Creating digital objects of enduring value
 Supporting current intended use and likely future use
 The use-neutral approach with the notion of digital masters
and derivatives for immediate access
 Adhering to digitization standards and best practices
 Use of open, non-proprietary formats
 Authenticating digital objects in regard to
 Origin
 Digital format
 Providing item-level descriptive metadata and contextual
information
 Developing an institutional approach to digital preservation
 Setting up a policy for data backup, refreshment, and
migration
 Establishing an infrastructure for digital preservation
 Recording preservation metadata
 Practicing responsible custody of digitized materials
 Digital preservation needs to be active, dynamic, and ongoing
Digital Curation in the Context of Digitization

21. Dimensions of Digital Preservation
• Technological
“A range of managed activities to support the long-term
maintenance of bit streams to make sure that digital objects
are usable” (Rieger, 2008).
• Key issues
 Preserving the media on which digital files (bit-stream) are recorded
 Preserving the means of interpreting, reading, and utilizing the bit-
stream
• Digital preservation strategies
 Refreshing
 Migration
 Emulation
• Infrastructure
 Institutional or shared repositories
21

22. 22
A repository whose mission is to provide reliable, long-term
access to managed digital resources to its designated community,
now and in the future (RLG/OCLC, 2002)
Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model
Trusted Digital Repositories

23. Dimensions of Digital Preservation
• Contextual
“Digital preservation is about more than keeping the bits, those
streams of 1s and 0s that we use to represent information. It is
about maintaining the semantic meaning of the digital object and
its content, about maintaining its provenance and authenticity,
about retaining its ‘interrelatedness,’, and about securing
information about the context of its creation and use” (Ross,
2012).
• The lack of contextual information turns digital data into “a digital
cemetery”
 Users have to be able to understand and interpret the bits to turn them into
useful information
• A new area of research
 Users and contextual information in building digital preservation systems
(Chowdhury, 2010)
 A Framework for Contextual Metadata Used in the Digital Preservation of
Cultural Objects (Beaudoin, 2012)
23

24. Conclusion
• Digitization can be considered a viable preservation strategy if
 Original materials are fragile, damaged, or recorded on unstable analog
media
 There is no other preservation method available
• It should be part of a comprehensive approach to access and preservation
 Conservation efforts need to be applied to maintain original items
 High-quality digital representations of deteriorating materials
• A renewed attention to preservation efforts, especially in the
area of visual resources, audio, and video
• Digitization should be undertaken as part of a larger digital
curation framework
 Focus on enhancing the research value of digitized materials
 Practice active digital preservation
 Address multiple dimensions of digital preservation
• New directions in research on digital preservation 24

25. Conclusion
25
“To fail to embrace digitization for
preservation of collections, either locally or in
collaboration with others, is to risk
organizational obsolescence”
Conway, P. (2010). Preservation in the age of Google: Digitization, digital
preservation, and dilemmas. Library Quarterly, 80(1), 61-79.

26. 26
• Arms, C. R. (2000). Keeping memory alive: Practices for pressing
digital content at the National Digital Library Program of the Library
of Congress. RLG DIgiNews, 4 (3).
http://webdoc.gwdg.de/edoc/aw/rlgdn/preserv/diginews/diginews4-3.html
• Arthur, K. et al., for the Association of Research Libraries (2004).
Recognizing digitization as a preservation reformatting method.
Microform and Imaging Review , 33 (4).
• Beaudoin, J. E. (2012). A Framework for Contextual Metadata Used in
the Digital Preservation of Cultural Objects. D-Lib Magazine,
18(11/12), 3.
http://dlib.org/dlib/november12/beaudoin/11beaudoin1.print.html
• Chowdhury, G. (2010). From digital libraries to preservation research:
the importance of users and context. Journal of Documentation,
66(2), 207-223.
• Conway, P. (2007). The Relevance of Preservation in a Digital World.
NDCC.
http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/6Reformatting/04Relevanc
eOfPreservation.php
• Conway, P. (2010). Preservation in the age of Google: Digitization,
digital preservation, and dilemmas. Library Quarterly, 80(1), 61-79.
References

27. 27
• Gertz, J. (2007). Preservation and Selection for Digitization. NDCC.
http://www.nedcc.org/resources/leaflets/6Reformatting/06PreservationAn
dSelection.php
• Lynch, C. (2006). Mass Digitization: Implications for Information
Policy. http://www.lib.umich.edu/mdp/symposium/NCLIS-report.pdf
• Marcum, D. B. (2007). Digitizing for access and preservation:
Strategies of the Library of Congress. First Monday, 12(7), 1.
• Rieger, O. (2008). Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization:
A White Paper, CLIR Publication 141 (Washington, D.C.: Council on
Library and Information.
• RLG/OCLC (2002). Trusted Digital Repositories: Attributes and
Responsibilities.
https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/activities/trustedrep/re
positories.pdf
• Ross, S. (2012). Digital preservation, archival science and
methodological foundations for digital libraries. New Review Of
Information Networking, 17(1), 43-68.
• Smith, A. (1999). Why digitize? Council on Library and Information
Resources. www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub80-smith/pub80.html
References

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Dziękuję
Thank you
Contact:
Krystyna K. Matusiak, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Library & Information Science Program
Morgridge College of Education
University of Denver
e-mail: krystyna.matusiak@du.edu
Questions?