NDSA – Page 11 – NDSA Blog

It’s here, the 2021 NDSA Fixity Survey!

Do you manage and preserve content? If so, we’d like to know what your fixity practices are! The NDSA Fixity Working Group is back again, with our latest iteration of the NSDA Fixity survey. Please contribute to our longitudinal research designed to gain insight into how organizations worldwide use various fixity methods to ensure the stability of their digital content and to learn how real-world capacity and best practices differ.

The survey is available until June 18, 2021. The survey is expected to take approximately 20-25 minutes to complete. To assist with completing the survey all of the survey questions can be viewed in advance by following the link to this Google PDF.

Interested in the results of our previous study done in 2017? Please check it out on the code book, data, and report on the 2017 Fixity Survey OSF page.

If you have questions or concerns about this survey, please contact the NDSA Fixity Working Group at NDSA-FIXITY@lists.clir.org.

Thank you for helping NDSA and our community define and advance digital preservation!

~ The NDSA Fixity Survey Working Group

Announcing the NDSA Excellence Awards!

The NDSA Excellence Awards Working Group (formerly the Innovation Awards Working Group) is excited to announce the expansion and renaming of the awards to recognize the important contributions that are being made in the areas of sustainability and maintenance. The NDSA Excellence Awards will highlight and commend all forms of creative and meaningful contributions by individuals, projects, sustainability activities, organizations, future stewards, and educators to the field of digital preservation.

Prior winners of the “Future Stewards” award originally proposed the change and worked together with the Excellence Awards Working Group to make it possible. Please see below for more information!

When reflecting on the 2020 NDSA Digital Preservation conference, much of our conversation centered around the “What’s Wrong with Digital Stewardship: Evaluating the Organization of Digital Preservation Programs from Practitioners’ Perspectives” panel discussion, based on the eponymous paper by Karl Blumenthal, Peggy Griesinger, Julia Y. Kim, Shira Peltzman, and Vicky Steeves. Like many practitioners in the field, the paper identified themes and articulated scenarios we had experienced or observed ourselves, particularly around issues of labor, leadership, and funding.

We wondered what we could, and should, do to better acknowledge and celebrate digital stewards for under-recognized maintenance work, and coalesced on proposing a new NDSA award category focused on maintenance and sustainability work, as well as renaming the awards to reflect an expanded scope beyond innovation. We’re each recipients of Future Steward awards, and reached out to the other Future Stewards to co-sign our proposal; we are grateful for their support in collectively raising our voices to suggest change in order to best reflect the state of the field. You can read our proposal here.

-Samantha Abrams, Elizabeth England, and Lauren Work

The Excellence Awards Working Group sees this as one small step, as there is much more work to be done to shift from the continued use of “innovation” as a main driver for recognition not just within the field, but by organizations’ leadership and funders. In short – we need YOU! Review the new Excellence Awards structure here, particularly the newly added Sustainability Award, and get ready to nominate colleagues in a few weeks!

German Translation for the 2019 Levels of Preservation Matrix Now Available

GERMAN TRANSLATION FOR THE 2019 LEVELS OF PRESERVATION MATRIX

The 2019 NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation Matrix has been translated into German. Please find a link to the German translation below.

Citation information and a link to the German translation is as follows:

Lindlar, Micky (Orcid: 0000-0003-3709-5608); Rudnik, Pia (Orcid: 0000-0003-4081-9646) (2021). NDSA 2019 Digital Preservation Levels Translation: German Translation of Version 2.0.

2.0 in German https://osf.io/3na96/ and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4718661

Translators’ note:

In the English version of the Levels of Digital Preservation, the term “content” is used synonymously with “digital content” (see https://www.dpconline.org/blog/introducing-the-new-ndsa-levels-of-preservation).

In the German translation, the term “content” is translated as “digital content” in each of the four levels and in the associated catalog of measures. This makes it clear that the measures described in the LoPs refer to digital (content) objects with both physical, logical and semantic properties and that the focus is not only on semantic-intellectual content.

The functional areas “Control” and “Content” have been provided with additions in the German translation for the purpose of better understanding and for conciseness; these additions are in parenthesis in each case: In the “(Zugriffs-)Kontrolle” functional area, the control measures described refer primarily to access rights for persons and software applications and to associated access measures (such as deleting a file). The addition of “(essenzielle Eigenschaften)” to the “Content” functional area was made to clarify that the measures described here relate in particular to technical properties, such as file formats, which are regarded essential for digital content in the context of long-term archiving.

The additions were made in consultation with the NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation Steering Committee.

*If you would be interested in translating the Levels of Digital Preservation V2.0 into another language please contact us at ndsa.digipres@gmail.com.

DEUTSCHE ÜBERSETZUNG DER 2019 LEVELS OF PRESERVATION MATRIX

Die 2019 NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation Matrix wurden ins Deutsche übersetzt. Die deutsche Übersetzung ist über den unten aufgeführten Link erreichbar.

Zitiationsangabe und Link auf die deutsche Übersetzung:

Lindlar, Micky (Orcid: 0000-0003-3709-5608); Rudnik, Pia (Orcid: 0000-0003-4081-9646) (2021). NDSA 2019 Digital Preservation Levels Translation: German Translation of Version 2.0.

2.0 auf Deutsch https://osf.io/3na96/ und https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4718661

Anmerkung zur Übersetzung:

In der englischen Version der Levels of Digital Preservation wird die Bezeichnung “content” synonym zu “digital content” verwendet (s. https://www.dpconline.org/blog/introducing-the-new-ndsa-levels-of-preservation)

In der deutschen Übersetzung wird der Begriff “content” in den vier Levels sowie in dem dazugehörigen Maßnahmenkatalog jeweils als “digitaler Inhalt” übersetzt. Dies macht deutlich, dass sich die in den LoPs beschriebenen Maßnahmen auf digitale (Inhalts-)Objekte mit sowohl physischen, logischen als auch semantischen Eigenschaften beziehen und der Fokus nicht nur auf semantisch-intellektuellen Inhalten liegt.

Die Funktionsbereiche “Control” und “Content” sind in der deutschen Übersetzung zum Zwecke der besseren Verständlichkeit und zur Konkretisierung mit Ergänzungen versehen worden, die jeweils in Klammern stehen: Im Funktionsbereich “(Zugriffs-)Kontrolle” beziehen sich die beschriebenen Kontroll-Maßnahmen vordergründig auf die Zugriffsrechte für Personen und Softwareanwendungen und auf damit verbundene Zugriffsmaßnahmen (wie z.B. Löschen einer Datei). Die Ergänzung des Funktionsbereichs “Inhalt” um den Zusatz “(essenzielle Eigenschaften)” wurde vorgenommen, um zu verdeutlichen, dass sich die hier beschriebenen Maßnahmen insbesondere auf technische Eigenschaften wie zum Beispiel Dateiformate beziehen, die im Kontext der Langzeitarchivierung als essenziell für digitale Inhalte angesehen werden.

Die Ergänzungen erfolgten in Abstimmung mit dem NDSA “Levels of Digital Preservation” Steering Committee.

Call for Proposals open for NDSA Digital Preservation 2021!

The NDSA is very pleased to announce the Call for Proposals is open for Digital Preservation 2021: Embracing Digitality (#DigiPres21) to be held ONLINE this year on November 4th, 2021 during World Digital Preservation Day.

Submissions from members and nonmembers alike are welcome, and you can learn more about session format options through the CFP. The deadline to submit proposals is Monday, May 17, at 11:59pm Eastern Time.

Digital Preservation 2021 (#DigiPres21) is held in partnership with our host organization, the Council on Library and Information Resources’ (CLIR) Digital Library Federation. Separate calls are being issued for CLIR+DLF’s 2021 events, the 2021 DLF Forum (November 1-3) and associated workshop series Learn@DLF (November 8-10). NDSA strives to create a safe, accessible, welcoming, and inclusive event, and adheres to DLF’s Code of Conduct.

We look forward to seeing you online on November 4th,

~ 2021 DigiPres Planning Committee

Good Migrations: A Checklist for Migrating Your Digital Preservation Infrastructure

My, how time flies. About half a decade ago, in 2015, I became one of the NDSA Infrastructure Interest Group co-chairs. This was part of the NDSA transition from being hosted by the Library of Congress to a new host, which would eventually be CLIR/DLF. Earlier that year, the Infrastructure Working Group (as it was known back then) drafted a document designed to be a checklist for system migrations. The draft was put out to the community for comments, but then, as the influence of the Library of Congress faded into the background during the move from one host to another, so did the main impetus for publishing the checklist. Ah, the sweet irony of a migration checklist being forgotten during a migration!

However, the checklist was not completely forgotten: it existed as a potential project in my head, one that I was interested in completing once other projects wrapped up. Yet the years passed and there were always other projects. Finally, in the summer of 2020, two events occurred: several significant projects finally did conclude and Nathan Tallman, an NDSA Coordinating Committee member and former co-chair of the Infrastructure Interest Group, reached out to me asking about the status of the Migration Checklist. “It’s time,” I thought. And it was.

With that preface, I now introduce to you, “Good Migrations: A Checklist for Migrating Your Digital Preservation Infrastructure.” This checklist has changed significantly from its 2015 version due to the incredible amount of community feedback received in 2020. The 2020 Good Migrations Working Group; which consisted of myself, Nathan Tallman, Paige Walker, Linda Tadic and Matt Schultz; not only incorporated the community response, but also placed the checklist into a Levels of Preservation framework in order to better highlight how migration steps match preservation areas. Over the past six months, we have worked diligently to clarify scope and provide a comprehensive yet still succinct checklist that will hopefully aid those who are tackling a migration process.

NDSA is interested in feedback from anyone who is using the Good Migrations checklist. Based on the level of community interest, NDSA may consider a followup working group to gather illustrative use cases to accompany the document and document methods for accomplishing checklist items. Please let us know if you use the Checklist and have found it to be of assistance.

~Sibyl Schaefer, Chair of the Good Migrations Working Group

Request for Participation in Fixity and Staffing Survey Working Groups

Proposals have been accepted by the NDSA Coordinating Committee for starting up the Staffing Survey Working Group and the Fixity Survey Working Group. Both surveys were last published in 2017. If you are interested in participating in either of these groups please read the scope of work for each and complete the form below by April 2, 2021.

It is expected that work for both surveys would start Spring 2021 and end about a year/year and a half later, with groups generally meeting on a monthly basis. Work would also be done between meetings to review the survey questions and results, and to write a final report. We especially welcome participation from international NDSA members and members who have not previously participated in NDSA groups.

Fixity Survey Scope of Work: Review of survey, survey deployment, data analysis, writing final report

Staffing Survey Scope of Work: Survey redesign, survey deployment, data analysis, research, writing final report

If you have questions, please contact:

Fixity: Carol Kussmann (kussmann@umn.edu)

Staffing: Lauren Work (lw2cd@virginia.edu) or Elizabeth England (elizabeth.england@nara.gov)

Please complete this form by April 2, 2021.

NDSA Welcomes Two New Members

Today, the NDSA Coordinating Committee unanimously voted to welcome two new members. Each of these members bring a host of skills and experience to our group. Please help us to welcome:

University of Wisconsin – Parkside: UW Parkside’s primary mission is to document the history of the University of Wisconsin – Parkside by collecting both analog and digital materials from across campus, including two predecessor institutions (UW-Kenosha and UW-Racine). Most of their digital content consists of materials which have been digitized, but are receiving more born digital content from the university. They have also begun to work on community-driven digital collections and have worked with the Parkside and local communities to collect materials related to the pandemic, and with professors and students to preserve Community-Based Learning projects.
Town of Concord Archives: The mission of the Town Archives is to collect, catalog, preserve, and provide access to the permanent and historically significant records of the Town of Concord Government. The Town Archives supports the Town and its residents by preserving Town records and making these records known and available to researchers, students, genealogists, scholars, authors, and anyone else who may wish to research the workings and history of New England town government. The Town of Concord Archives has recently begun its journey in digital preservation with digitization projects, born-digital record collecting, and digital preservation systems.

Each organization has participants in one or more of the various NDSA interest and working groups, so keep an eye out for them on your calls and be sure to give them a shout out. Please join me in welcoming our new members. A complete list of NDSA members is on our website.

In future, NDSA is moving to a quarterly process for reviewing membership applications. Announcements for new members will be scheduled accordingly.

~ Nathan Tallman, Vice Chair of the NDSA Coordinating Committee

Call for Volunteers: NDSA Task Force on Membership Engagement and Recruitment

The NDSA Leadership group is spinning up a new group around NDSA Membership and invites you to consider volunteering for the Task Force on Membership Engagement and Recruitment. The focus of the Task Force will be to examine membership engagement, benefits/drawbacks of the current model type, and recruitment efforts of the NDSA. Through research and surveying members of the consortium, a primary goal of the Task Force is to provide recommendations that will move the NDSA towards a culture that is more inclusive, collaborative, intentional, and that has well defined metrics around recruitment and engagement. If interested, please complete the form, which can be found here by March 5, 2021.

~ Jes Neal

Three New NDSA Members

Since January 2021, the NDSA Coordinating Committee unanimously voted to welcome three new members. Each of these members bring a host of skills and experience to our group. Please help us to welcome:

Arkivum: Arkivum is recognized internationally for its expertise in the archiving and digital preservation of valuable data and digitized assets in large volumes and multiple formats.
Colorado State University Libraries: Colorado State University Libraries’ digital preservation activities has focused on web archiving, targeted born-digital collecting, along with collection development and preservation guidelines for its digital repository.
Vassar College Libraries: Vassar College Libraries are committed to supporting a framework of sustainable access to our digital collections and to participate locally, nationally, and globally with other cultural and professional organizations and institutions in efforts to preserve, augment, and disseminate our collective documentary heritage.

In future, NDSA is moving to a quarterly process for reviewing membership applications. Announcements for new members will be scheduled accordingly.

~ Nathan Tallman, Vice Chair of the NDSA Coordinating Committee

Virtual 2020 NDSA Digital Preservation recordings available online!

Session recordings from the virtual 2020 NDSA Digital Preservation conference are now available on NDSA’s YouTube channel, as well as on Aviary. The full program from Digital Preservation 2020: Get Active with Digital Preservation, which took place online November 12, 2020, is free and open to the public.

NDSA is an affiliate of the Digital Library Federation (DLF) and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). Each year, NDSA’s annual Digital Preservation conference is held alongside the DLF Forum and acts as a crucial venue for intellectual exchange, community-building, development of good practices, and national agenda-setting for digital stewardship.

Enjoy,

Tricia Patterson; DigiPres 2020 Vice-Chair, 2021 Chair