Implementing Digital

Preservation Strategy:

Collection Profiling at the

British Library

Michael Day, Akiko Kimura, Maureen Pennock The British Library

Ann MacDonald University of Kent, Canterbury

Michael.Day@bl.uk

Digital Libraries 2014, London, 8-12 September 2014

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Presentation outline

• The British Library context

• Identifying high-level collection types

• Developing a framework for collection profiling

• Some challenges

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The British Library context (1)

• The British Library is increasingly a digital library

– The result of digitisation activities and partnerships that have

been operating over many years, covering many different

content streams, e.g. books, newspapers, maps, sound

content, manuscripts and archives

– The collection of ‘born-digital’ content, initially through

negotiation or voluntary deposit, e.g. geographical data,

personal archives

– Since April 2013, facilitated through the Legal Deposit

Libraries (Non-Print Works) Regulations 2013, e.g. for

collection of e-journals, eBooks and Web content (domain

harvesting)

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The British Library context (2)

• Infrastructures

– Investment in the means to acquire, store and manage large

amounts of digital content, the Digital Library System (DLS)

• Strategies

– British Library Content Strategy, 2013-2015

– British Library Digital Preservation Strategy, 2013-2016

• Digital Preservation Team

– Established in 2005, now part of Collection Management

– Enabling the implementation of appropriate and timely

preservation practices across the Library

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The British Library context (3)

• Documenting preservation requirements, includes:

– What content do we have and what is important about it?

(collection profiling)

– Assessments of file formats, preservation tools, workflows,

etc. to inform preservation planning

• Aims of collection profiling:

– Documenting key knowledge about the Library’s top-tier

digital collections

– Considering preservation requirements / preservation intent

for these collections

– A tool for liaising with curators and collection specialists

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Identifying high-level collection types (1)

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Identifying high-level collection types (2)

• Taxonomy of high-level collections:

– No standard list of content types

– Various lists are available on the Library website and

catalogue, but they are inconsistent

– Needed a pragmatic starting point for collection profiling:

• Developed a new taxonomy based on the Library’s

existing digital asset register

• Attempted to identify logical groupings, e.g. ignoring

distinctions between digitised and ‘born-digital’ content,

where possible

• It is not perfect (subject to revision)

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Identifying high-level collection types (3) Type Collection

News Content Digitised newspapers

Web content

Sound recordings

Born-digital newspapers

Books Digitised printed books

NDLP eBooks

Voluntary deposit

Manuscripts / Archives Digitised Manuscripts

Digitised archives

Personal digital archives

Music Digitised Music Collections

Sheet Music

Maps Digital mapping supplied by Ordnance Survey

(GIS)

Digitised maps

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Identifying high-level collection types (4) Type Collection

Academic journals NPLD eJournals

Voluntary deposit e-Journals

Subscription e-Journals

Voluntary deposit

Theses eTheses

Patents Patent databases

Web archives Open UK Web Archive

Legal Deposit UK Web Archive

Sound / multimedia Archive sound recordings

Sound Archive (field recordings)

Digitised sound / video

Stamps Digitised stamps

Photographs Digitised photographs

Printed ephemera Digitised ephemera

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Collection profile framework (1)

• Main inspirations:

– MIT Libraries - Digital Content Reviews (DCR) for Life Cycle

Management

– Purdue University Libraries - Data Curation Profiles

– National Library of Australia - Preservation Intent Statements

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Collection profile framework (2) Summary Content Type (from high-level list).

Brief Description.

Location.

Curators / collection owners.

Interviews held.

Legal Deposit status.

Creation status.

Accrual status.

Number of digital objects (approximate).

Background An introduction to the content type, providing background on the collection/s

covered by the profile.

Acquisition Identifying the main current acquisition routes for collection content.

Preservation Intent Summary of points agreed by curators / content owners, identifying the main

characteristics of collections that will need to be preserved.

Acquisition Format Identifying the main formats currently being acquired (where collections are

complex, this does not need to be exhaustive).

Issues Highlighting any specific current challenges.

Profile Metadata Information about the completed collection profile itself, e.g. identifying

creators, dates, and status / version number.

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Current draft profiles

• Draft profiles worked on so far:

– e-Journals (including Legal Deposit content)

– eBooks (including Legal Deposit content)

– Web content (including Legal Deposit content)

– Archives and manuscripts

– News content

– eTheses

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Some challenges

• Collections

– The complexity of collections - many are modular

aggregations of many other kinds of content, e.g. text,

images, video, sound, games, software, data, etc.

– Rapidly changing user-expectations - it is difficult to specify

preservation intent (and it will change over time)

• Collection profiling and preservation planning

– Integrating collection profiling with other digital preservation

activities

– Collection profiling is just a starting point (profiles will need to

be reviewed on a regular basis)

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Thank you