a repository year: planning and implementing a digital repository at the computer history museum...
TRANSCRIPT
A Repository Year: Planning and Implementing a Digital Repository at the Computer
History MuseumPaula Jabloner, CHM
Katherine Kott, Consultant
ALCTS PARS Digital Preservation Interest Group, January 27, 2013
Topic summary
• Project background• Creating functional
requirements• Selecting repository
software• Selecting storage
infrastructure• Future plans
“…we will define the digital repository as the systems and workflows that support digital asset management and digital preservation.”
Digital Repository Best Practices for Cultural Heritage Institutions
Computer History Museum by the numbers
1st permanent exhibit opened in 2011
60+ terabytes of digital objects including our truly unique historic software collection
15 terabytes anticipated yearly rate of growth
500+ oral histories
3,000 moving images
5,000 linear feet of archival materials
10,000 photos
35,000 artifacts
CHM Ecosystem
• MIMSY collections management system for permanent collection
• HD video production team needs
• Website for discovery• ~ 50 FTE
Assumptions based on immediate needs & time constraints
• Use existing tools and systems • Open source software
• No additional resources
• Preservation layer will be built on common commodity storage hardware that are modular and extensible
• Creation of a digital repository is an on-going commitment by CHM
No punch cards!
The Digital Repository Team
Katherine Kott, Ton Luong, Heather Yager, Paula Jabloner, Al Kossow, Vinh Quach.
Project Charter Year One
Objective DeliverableUnderstand the scope of CHM digital collections √ Inventory of current digital holdings
Stabilize interim storage for digital collections 1/2 New interim storage system installed
Identify and document best practices √ Consultant’s reportEstablish policies and procedures for managing and preserving digital collections
√ Policy and procedure manual
Ensure staff are familiar with digital collection management policies and procedures
Training & education program for collections staff based on policy & procedures manual
Evaluate and select software (digital asset management) system
√ Core Team software recommendation
Evaluate and select digital preservation (storage infrastructure) management system
√ Core Team preservation system recommendation
Model and test implementation of digital object management and preservation workflow
√ Prototype system in place to support all phases of digital object lifecycle
Share project findings with other organizations √ Present papers, share findings through blog posts, etc.
Gather Requirements from Stakeholders
OAIS Framewok: Four activity categories
• Creation and Ingest
• Metadata Management
• Storage and Archival
• Publishing and Information Retrieval
Define functional and non-functional requirements
• Functional requirement example:– Does the system support manual entry of
minimal metadata?
• Non-functional requirement example:– What are the infrastructure (hardware and
software) requirements?
Software selection
• Evaluation of five open source software packages against functional requirements resulted in selection of…
Lessons learned--recommendations
• It is possible to get a prototype system up and running in one year
• Hardware procurement was trickier than anticipated
• A similar process/solution could be helpful for:– Small stand-alone museums and archives
with limited resources– Cultural heritage organizations within larger
institutions—especially those with diverse content
Future plans
• Additional funding from google.org will enable CHM to:– Complete testing of prototype infrastructure– Create procedures and workflows– Ingest 35+ terabytes of diverse content– Incorporate metadata for digital assets into
discovery layer
Thank you
Backplane wiring of the CDC 7600 supercomputer, c. 1969The wiring was done by hand and had to be precise to within a fraction of an inch to optimize the speed of the machine
Paula Jabloner ---- [email protected]
Katherine Kott [email protected]