Preservation metadata and the Cedars project

Michael DayUKOLN: UK Office for Library and

Information NetworkingUniversity of Bath

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/m.day@ukoln.ac.uk

Metadata for Long-Term Preservation in NEDLIBBibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 25 February 2000

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20002

Presentation Outline• The UK context• The Cedars project

– Aims and objectives– Relationship with the OAIS model– The Cedars outline metadata specification

• A JISC/NSF funded project about emulation strategies (CAMiLEON)

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20003

The UK ContextCPA/RLG Task Force on the Archiving of Digital Information (1996)

– UK response co-ordinated by the Joint Information Systems Committee, the British Library and the National Preservation Office.

– Warwick strategy workshops (1995, 1999)– Digital Archiving Working Group– Digital Preservation Focus

Public Record Office– Electronic Records in Office Systems (EROS)– National Digital Archive of Datasets (NDAD)

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20004

Cedars - CURL exemplars in digital archives

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20005

Cedars project (1)Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL)

– interested in the roles and responsibilities of research libraries with regard to digital preservation.

JISC eLib Phase 3– “Hybrid Libraries, Large Scale Resource

Discovery and Digital Preservation”

Cedars project– funded by JISC through the CURL libraries

from April 1998 for 3 years

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20006

Cedars project (2)A CURL project led by the universities of Cambridge, Leeds and Oxford

– Mixture of libraries and computing services– Three broad groups:

– Data preservation strategies (Leeds)– Content issues (Cambridge)– Access issues - metadata (Oxford)

In collaboration with:– Arts and Humanities Data Service, British

Library, National Preservation Office, Research Libraries Group, UKOLN, publishers, etc.

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20007

Cedars project (3)Objectives:

• To promote awareness• To identify and disseminate

– appropriate strategies for collection management

– appropriate strategies for long-term preservation

• Based on a realistic sampling of current digital resource collections

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20008

Cedars metadata review (1)Metadata for preservation (AIW01)

– Produced by UKOLN (August 1998)– Identified and reviewed relevant projects and

associated issues– The OAIS Model– PANDORA– The Pittsburgh Project– RLG Working Group

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/cedars/AIW01.html

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 20009

Cedars metadata review (2)Four main types of metadata:

– Technical metadata– Recording technical details about the original

hardware and software environment to support preservation strategies

– Rights management metadata– Recording intellectual property rights

ownership, deposit agreements, etc.

– Intellectual preservation metadata– Preserving integrity and authenticity

– Resource discovery metadata

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200010

The OAIS model (1)ISO Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS):

– Consultative Committee on Space Data Systems (CCSDS)

– Draft Recommendation (May 1999)– Establishes a common framework of terms and

concepts which comprise an OAIS– Facilitates the description and comparison of

archives– A basis for further standardisation– A basis for conformance

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200011

The OAIS model (2)

Administration

Ingest

ArchivalStorage

Access

DataManagement

Descriptive info.

AIP

PRODUCER

CONSUMER

AIP

SIP

DIP

MANAGEMENT

requests

other info.

Descriptive info.

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200012

Information PackagesArchival Information Package (AIP):

– Content Information– The information that is the primary object of

preservation. Containing a Digital Object and any Representation Information (technical metadata) needed to transform this object into meaningful information

– Preservation Description Information (PDI)– other information (metadata) “which will allow

the understanding of the Content Information over an indefinite period of time”

– Terms defined in CPA/RLG report

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200013

Preservation DescriptionInformation

PreservationDescriptionInformation

Reference Information

ProvenanceInformation

ContextInformation

FixityInformation

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200014

Cedars and OAISThe Cedars project ...

– has adopted the OAIS taxonomy as a means of thinking about metadata and for the preliminary structure of the draft outline specification of preservation metadata

– the data preservation strategies group has developed a model based on OAIS and outlined a “blueprint for Representation Information”.

http://gps0.leeds.ac.uk/~ecldh/cedars/nasa2000/nasa2000.html

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200015

Cedars metadata (1)Process:

• Elements identified from selected initiatives described in metadata review

• Initial draft, structured according to OAIS taxonomy (February 1999)

• Extended debate about the role of OAIS

• First review draft (December 1999)

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200016

Cedars metadata (2)Reference Information

• Resource Description– Title, Creator, etc.

• Reference labels• Existing metadata

Context Information• Reason for Preservation• Related Information Objects

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200017

Cedars metadata (3)Provenance Information

• History of Origin• Management History• Use History• Known Operating Environments• Rights Management

Fixity Information• Checksum

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200018

Cedars metadata (4)Future developments:

• Initial draft specification– Most comments have now been received– Generally favourable response– Some serious issues that need to be

addressed• Revised draft specification

– For public consultation (from April)• Final project deliverable

– Due June 2000

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200019

CAMiLEON projectEmulation Options for Digital Preservation

• JISC/NSF International Digital Libraries Programme

– University of Michigan– University of Leeds (Cedars)

• Testing emulation strategies for digital preservation

• Now called: CAMiLEON– Creative Archiving at Michigan and Leeds:

Emulating the Old on the New

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200020

ConclusionsFor the project:

– How successful has Cedars been when compared with its aims and objectives?

– e.g., the production of best practice guidelines for metadata

– What will Cedars be able to demonstrate?– Will this lead to the development of digital

preservation services?

For OAIS:– Terminology not widely understood– Need to know more about how it interacts with

other models

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200021

Web pagesCedars Web pages:http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/

UKOLN Metadata Web pages:http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/

OAIS Model:http://ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/ref_model.html

NEDLIB Workshop, Paris, 25 February 200022

UKOLNUKOLN is funded by the Library and Information Commission (formerly the British Library Research and Innovation Centre), the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC’s Electronic Libraries (eLib) Programme and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath, where it is based.

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/