Digital Preservation
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Strategic Roles

In order to better support the strategic priorities outlined above, we recommend centralization of staff and resources where possible. The current structure puts much of the responsibility at the collection level, which has led to siloization in some cases. Providing more opportunities for collaboration and crossover will minimize duplication of effort and further the goal of this strategic vision, which is to better support digital preservation activities across the institution. A suggested first step to counteract the decentralization of both physical and digital preservation efforts across the IU Libraries is the creation of a Preservation Working Group, charged with sharing best practices across physical and digital preservation as well as content types and collections; creating better opportunities for outreach through a speaker series; and providing knowledge and resources to departments outside of the Libraries where necessary/possible.

Strategic Goals

 

Goal2016 Metric2017 MetricAligning Priority
Establish policies necessary for Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR) status
  •  Library-wide policy fully in place by the end of the year
  •  Initial documentation in place for TDR status
I
Develop centralized digital stewardship workflows (digital forensics, migration, normalization, emulation)
  •  Test at least three strategies based on the content needs assessment and build sample workflows
  •  Establish more solid workflows; Build pathways for migration from various formats and systems
II
Provide training for non-preservation staff
  •  At least one training per year
  •  At least two trainings per year
II
Establish centralized support for digital stewardship activities
  •  Delineate roles, establish clear public documentation on the wiki where tools and resources can be shared
  •  Clarify locations and relationships of all related staff organizationally
II
Strategically build staffing to support digital preservation
  •  Hire staff knowledgeable about digital curation for key roles, e.g. Research Data Management Librarian and Records Manager
  •  Refine needed skills for regular positions (e.g., include digital skills in archivist and subject librarian positions)
III
Establish connections across IU Bloomington campus
  •  Undertake institution-wide survey of digital assets and needs
  •  Provide digital preservation outreach and consultation for non-library content holders, identify content that should be managed by the IUBL's digital repository; Establish a workflow to move items from DAMS like Widen into Libraries' repositories
IV
Establish connections across IU campuses
  •  Ensure ESS work includes long-term preservation in assessments of content needs
  •  Develop collaborations across various campuses at the administrative level; Establish a solid understanding of where resources and staff reside within the greater institution and make this publicly available
IV

Resources

The cost of digital preservation at Indiana University is spread across the digital curation lifecycle and the institution. The Assistant Dean for Library Technologies is responsible for the recommending spending priorities for Digital Preservation, Digital Collections Services, IT and hardware, and the Libraries’ developers. However, much of the initial cost of digital preservation is carried by individual special collections, especially in terms of staffing. Larger partner projects, such as MDPI, have been funded at the institutional level. This project has involved the development of technical resources, a partnership with an outside vendor, and ongoing project management by staff within the Libraries and UITS. Other digital preservation efforts are not as well-resourced, so effective resource management and strategic prioritization of projects will be key in ensuring effective digital preservation at Indiana University without placing undue burden on staff or budgets.

Risks

 

RiskImpactProbabilityMitigating Action
    
    
    
    
 
Current staff may not have the skills needed to fill digital preservation needsHighLow to MediumUndertake assessment of existing staff and skills
Recruiting new staff may take a long time or may not obtain applicants with the necessary skillsHighHigh
Develop stronger staff retention measures across the Libraries and ensure a high quality of work life; Establish new means for recruiting top candidates, such as recruiting from abroad from more skilled pools, targeting iSchools with established digital curation programs, or establishing student positions that explicitly lead to full-time employment; Establish postdoc position
Existing staff will not have time to obtain new skills or focus on new projectsHighHigh
Provide strong administrative oversight in terms of digital preservation to target the most important projects; Establish expectations for staff to allow for focus on new projects and skills
Collaboration between units and outside of the Libraries may be difficult to establish
MediumHigh
Ensure continued administrative buy-in at both Libraries and institutional level; Clarify roles and responsibilities of individual staff and across newly-developed collaborations
Funding for new staff or initiatives may be difficult to obtain or maintain
HighHigh
Ensure the prioritization of digital preservation at the institutional level; Establish the most strategic staff and resource needs first and work to fill gaps where possible

Appendix I

See PDF document and 2016 Digital Collections and Preservation Survey Results.