Library:Circle/Digital Preservation at cIRcle
Digital Preservation at cIRcle
Overview
Digital preservation is the "active management of digital content over time to ensure ongoing access."[1] In adherence with UBC Library’s Digital Preservation Policies, all digital materials deposited to cIRcle should undergo some level of digital preservation. Recommendations, best practices, and efforts specific to cIRcle’s digital preservation activities are broadly outlined here.
cIRcle uses DSpace (an open source repository platform) to process and hold digital objects, though content is generally accessible via UBC Library’s Open Collections (OC), which brings together locally created and managed content from UBC Library's open access repositories.
If you have any questions about cIRcle’s digital preservation activities, please contact the cIRcle Office.
cIRcle Policies and License Permissions
cIRcle’s digital preservation activities apply to digital objects accepted to cIRcle, adhering to the section 2 (cIRcle Acquisition Policy) of the cIRcle Digital Repository Mandate and Policies.
- Components of a digital object under inclusion for digital preservation activity include the intellectual content of the object, object metadata (descriptive, administrative, etc.), and licensing/permissions information as it pertains to UBC Library.
Per section 8 (Preservation of Materials in cIRcle) of the cIRcle Digital Repository Mandate and Policies, “UBC Library undertakes to preserve Materials in cIRcle for the long term by means of regular backups, by minimizing the effects of information technology obsolescence and by preserving the authenticity, security and accessibility of the Materials.”[2]
Per section 3 (Grant of License) of the cIRcle Non-Exclusive Distribution License, upon submission to cIRcle, the rights holder “grant[s] to UBC the … right to use, reproduce, display, convert, sublicense and distribute, in any format and any medium, [the] Submission … for the purposes of security, back-up, preservation and use of the Submission in accordance with this License.”[3]
Identifiers
Upon approval in DSpace, a digital object is assigned a handle, which is stored in the URI metadata field, visible publicly, and preserved per standard cIRcle digital preservation workflows.
- Metadata may also include existing (e.g. publisher) Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), captured in the Publisher DOI metadata field, visible publicly, and preserved per standard cIRcle digital preservation workflows. Existing/Publisher DOIs are stored and preserved differently than Open Collections DOIs.
OC DOIs are assigned upon ingest to OC, and visible publicly on the OC item page. OC DOIs are not manually or automatically added back to the digital object’s metadata, and thus not preserved per standard cIRcle digital preservation workflows.
File Formats
Per section 4 (Technical Requirements) of the cIRcle Digital Repository Mandate and Policies:
- "a) All Materials must be submitted in digital form.
- b) A list of preferred digital file types may be found in the File Format Guidelines, which are revised from time to time. The UBC Library cannot guarantee the preservation of information presented in other format types, although reasonable efforts will be made.”[4]
cIRcle’s Archivematica pipelines are configured to normalize files for preservation, as desired and appropriate.
Preservation and access formats are chosen so they are compliant with open and ubiquitous rendering viewers/tools.
Archivematica
cIRcle uses Archivematica, an open source digital preservation system, to perform such tasks as checksums and file format normalization and create Archival Information Packages (AIPs), in order to provide long-term sustainability of content.
- Archivematica provides an integrated suite of free and open-source tools that allows users to process digital objects from ingest to archival storage in compliance with the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) functional model and other digital preservation standards and best practices.
- All digital material accepted to cIRcle should eventually be processed through Archivematica for long-term storage.
- AIPs are checked for fixity on an annual basis, to ensure digital files have not changed unexpectedly over time.
An AIP unique universal identifier (UUID) is assigned by Archivematica upon AIP creation. AIP UUIDs are not manually or automatically added back to the digital object’s DSpace metadata, and thus not visible publicly nor preserved per standard cIRcle digital preservation workflows. Generally, Archivematica AIPs are named following the handle identifier, to provide association with the digital object (or community/collection) in DSpace.
Storage
cIRcle’s DSpace instance is hosted on the EduCloud Server Service, which provides local and remote backups. EduCloud is a self-managed, private higher education cloud server service that meets all British Columbia provincial requirements under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FIPPA) legislation.
Archivematica AIPs stored in the UBC Network File System (NFS), a storage system that is no longer offered to new clients by UBC IT.
Backups across systems have regular pre-determined time intervals and pre-determined retention periods. They are continually monitored & managed by UBC IT.
Memberships and Contributions
UBC Library Digital Preservation Team
The Head, Digital Programs and Services is the sponsor and a Digital Repository Librarian is a member of the UBC Library Digital Preservation Team. This Team discusses and provides consultation on issues of digital preservation across units at both the UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan campuses.
COPPUL Digital Stewardship Network (CDSN)
UBC Library is an active collaborator and participant in various initiatives led and/or coordinated by the COPPUL Digital Stewardship Network (CDSN).