The Connecticut Digital Archive:Preservation and Presentation Services for Academic Libraries in Connecticut

September, 2014

What We Have Seen: Using Primary Resources in Work and

Play

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”

Connecticut’s digital cultural & academic heritage:

• 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?

2???2014

??101110010

110101101

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

• Interoperability

The ability of one standards-based object to be used in any

other standards-based system

• Reusability

Objects 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

Organ

ization

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

Local Collections Management System

CTDA Central Repository

CTDA Hosted

Management System

CTDA Hosted Presentation Channels

Locally Developed PresentationDPLA iConn

External Management

Systems

Preservation Services*

• Secure, redundant storage

• up to 0.5TB without charge

• Additional subsidized storage by subscription or

POSF

• 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: ctda@uconn.edu

or talk to me directly:

Greg Colati

Assistant University Librarian

for Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Curation

University of Connecticut Libraries

860.486.4501

greg@uconn.edu