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Katherine Skinner Executive Director, Educopia Institute Program Manager, MetaArchive Cooperative An Age of Discovery, ARL-CNI Washington D.C. Friday, October 16, 2009 Slide 2 Why do we need to collaborate? What are some basic principles of collaborative networking? What do they look like in practice? MetaArchive Cooperative MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/092 Slide 3 Collections Books, journals, newspapers, unique items, etc. Services Building, disseminating, and preserving collections Once solitary; now defies such boundaries Competition vs. collaboration issue Viability at stake MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/093 Slide 4 Adjust to a more collaborative mindset to accomplish two preservation goals: 1. To preserve the digital collections we create Maintain integrity so that we can continue to access both born digital and digitized materials 2. To preserve our own institutional missions Outsourcing a core mission is a dangerous proposition MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/094 Slide 5 Collaborative Network: An association of autonomous entities collaborating to achieve common or compatible goals. Source: Wikipedia.org MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/095 FLEXIBILITYFRAGILITY Slide 6 Enables communities to work together on a common solution to a common problem Demands attention to organizational structure in order to work Requires three key elements: A common cause Solid institutional buy-in Attention to the organizational arrangement that governs the partnerships MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/096 Slide 7 Management of Accountability How do you allocate responsibility and tasks Legitimacy How do you assure members of your clout and value Conflict How do you settle disputes and issues of authority Commitment What carrots can you use for enticement and motivation Design How do you set up and maintain your management structure (distributed, centralized) Source: Milward and Provan. A Manager's Guide to Choosing and Using Collaborative Networks, 2006 MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/097 Slide 8 8 Slide 9 A distributed digital preservation cooperative for digital archives, based on LOCKSS Founded in 2003; supported by combination of sponsored funding (NDIIPP, NHPRC), consulting fees, and membership fees Provides digital preservation infrastructure and training and models to enable other groups to establish similar networks MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/099 Slide 10 10 12 US Members + Lib. of Congress 2 Overseas Members Slide 11 Auburn University Boston College Clemson University Emory University Florida State Univ. Folger Shakespeare Lib. Georgia Tech Pontifcia Universidade Catlica Rice University Univ. of Hull Univ. of Louisville Univ. of North Texas Univ. of South Carolina Virginia Tech Library of Congress NDLTD SDSC 11MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/09 Slide 12 Collections Technical Infrastructure Organizational Infrastructure MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0912 Slide 13 Format-agnostic solution Subject- and genre-based archives Southern Digital Culture Electronic Theses and Dissertations TransAtlantic Slave Trade Early Modern Literature Newspapers (coming soon) MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0913 Slide 14 MetaArchive provides a cost-effective cooperative structure: secure distributed digital preservation of archives based on re-use of LOCKSS for archives Network participation as a MetaArchive- LOCKSS cache is simple and cheap MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0914 Slide 15 Preservation solution needed a long-term, sustainable infrastructure Question arose: Whos in charge of a Cooperative of peer institutions? Sought guidance legal team, librarians, archivists, and IP specialists Created core structure in 2006: charter, membership agreement, papers of incorporation, business plans, etc. MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0915 Slide 16 Separating the administrative apparatus and member institutions provides a clear line of leadership and responsibility helps to keep any one members goals from unduly influencing the cooperatives direction gives leverage for external partnerships 16 MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0916 Slide 17 reducing our short- and long-term costs Investing in a commonly-owned solution, not purchasing a service Sharing technological development and organizational tasks decentralizing our activities Safety in this brave new world of digital preservation may well reside in shared knowledge and shared commitment decreasing dependence on third-party solutions There is room for various types of solutions Increased capacity for acting as a community of cultural stewards MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0917 Slide 18 Outsourcing core services = risky proposition Core missions: Building collections Disseminating collections Preserving collections Cannot focus on the collections at the expense of the services need both in order to carry our missions forward MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0918 Slide 19 Dr. Katherine Skinner 404 783 2534 katherine.skinner@metaarchive.org MetaArchive - ARL-CNI 2009 - 10/16/0919