The Connecticut Digital Archive:Preservation and Presentation Services for Cultural Heritage Organizations
September, 2014
Analog =Non-existent:
If it isn’t online, I don’t want it
Unconnected =Invisible: If I can’t find it online I won’t
use it
Collections =Data: I want things that I can manipulate
Value =Reusable: I want to do what I want with it
Storytelling =Visualization: I want to use things in “apps”
What We Have Seen: Using Primary Resources in Work and Play
Connecticut’s digital cultural heritage is:
• Ephemeral
• Fragmented
• Not easily discoverable or reusable
• At risk
The Dilemma of Modern Records
How do we insure that resources that exist in digital form today will reliably exist and be accessible in the future?
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Four “-ity”s of Digital Resources
• Sustainability (Durability, Persistence)The digital object can be maintained and accessed over time
• Authenticity (Reliability)The digital object is reliably true to the original
• InteroperabilityThe ability of one standards-based object to be used in any other standards-based system
• ReusabilityObjects can be used in ways not related to original purpose
• Digital representations of analog originals
• Born digital objects with no inherent “original “form
• Still Images
• Data Sets
• Documents
• Moving Images
• Complex objects
Digital repositories organize data…
..allow it to be used in one environment …
… and reused in another.
Preservation-quality Digital Repository Services
• Are expensive to build and maintain:
• Require large initial investments in technology infrastructure;
• Require large investments in human resources
• Require large ongoing investments in systems maintenance;
• Require large ongoing investments in feature development;
• Are expensive to purchase:
• No “complete solutions”
• Features/services that are lacking must be added ad-hoc and may not easily integrate
Shared Digital Repository Services
• Collaborative programs can make it possible for everyone to share the benefits and the cost of:
• Standards-based management systems
• Large-scale repository storage and preservation systems
• Negotiated connections to national and international aggregators
• Shared governance
• While retaining local ownership and control of content
What is the CTDA?
• A service of the University of Connecticut Libraries
• A partnership with the Connecticut State Library
• Preserves, manages, and makes available permanently valuable cultural data and other records produced and collected by non-profit educational, cultural, and memory institutions based in Connecticut
• The service hub in Connecticut for the Digital Public Library of America
Content Owners Discovery & AccessInfrastructure
Aggregators
PreservationInfrastructure
Deposit Agreements & MOUs
Organization Sites
The CTDA Today
ctdigitalarchive.org
Ownership vs Stewardship
• Organizations retain ownership of all metadata, primary content objects and derivatives.
• Metadata contributed as a CC0 license
• Content objects and derivatives may have access restrictions—to master files for example—or be completely open.
Use Only What You Need:
• Preservation Services
• Management Tools
• Metadata Services
• Presentation Channels
• Aggregation Services
• Reformatting Services
Content in Action (For Example)
UConn Archives CT State Library CHI
External Channels
Connecticut Collections
CTDA Central Repository
CTDA Hosted Management System
CTDA Hosted Presentation Channels
Connecticut CollectionsDPLA iConn
External ManagementSystems
Preservation Services*
• Secure, redundant storage
• up to 500GB without charge
• Preservation activities
• Migration (for supported file types)
• Verification
• Authenticity guarantees
*Note: Some services are fee-based
Presentation Channels and Aggregation Services*
• Viewers for supported file types
• Web search engine indexing
• OAI-PMH harvesting
• Indexing in the Digital Public Library of America, iConn
• Inclusion in Connecticut History Illustrated (for content you specify)
• Open APIs, embed codes, for indexing, content extraction, viewer re-use
• Custom presentation channel scoped to organizational content *Note: Some services are fee-based
Metadata and Management Systems Services*
• Basic system training
• How-to documentation from the CTDA website
• Metadata consultation
• Data migration and conversion
• Custom forms and interface design
*Note: Some services are fee-based
Reformatting Services
Reformatting services are charged on a cost-recovery basis
• Digital capture of flat material: paper, photos, graphics, reflective and transparent, up to 12” X 18” (and larger for some document types)
• Bound-volume digital capture
• Basic audio conversion of limited formats
• We do not currently offer moving image conversion services
For More Information
Slides and text available at: http://www.slideshare.net/Gcolati/
Visit the CTDA Website: http://ctdigitalarchive.org
Contact the CTDA at: [email protected]
or talk to me directly:
Greg ColatiAssistant University Librarian for Archives, Special Collections, and Digital CurationUniversity of Connecticut [email protected]
