Revision for area 5 ARCHIVING
JANUS ACTION: Archiving
5A. Print Archiving.
The objective of print archiving is the assurance of persistent and predictable access to information resources over time. Issues that need to be addressed in developing sustainable print archives include:
1. physical condition of materials
2. varying degrees of access to materials (i.e., dark/dim/bright archives)
3. environmental and security controls at archive facilities
4. last copy conditions
5. legal considerations
6. financial sustainability strategies.
Building on print archiving initiatives either underway or under discussion locally and regionally—including CRL’s inventory of on-going print archiving efforts—research libraries will create a working group charged with developing models for coordinated print archiving at the national level. This working group will:
1. review data on various regional and local storage facilities and their:
a. protocols, policies, and service offerings
b. operating costs, and
c. geographic distribution.
2. develop a process for identifying vulnerable print holdings using tools such as OCLC’s Collection Analysis Program;
3. develop business planning models for institutions and organizations that are considering participating in a print archiving initiative.
4. support print archiving efforts currently underway, such as the Virtual Storage program proposed by ASERL, and supported by CLIR, CIC, CRL
5B. Digital Archiving.
Don Waters’ Urgent Action Needed to Preserve Scholarly Electronic Journals cites 4 key actions, the need for which we endorse and which underpin this proposal, namely:
1. Libraries must recognize that preservation of electronic journals is a kind of insurance
2. Qualified preservation archives must provide a minimal set of well-defined services
3. Libraries must invest in a qualified archiving solution
4. Libraries must demand archival deposit by publishers as a condition for licensing.
Moreover, we would add to these a fifth, namely:
5. A broad range of academic and research libraries should be encouraged to affiliate with an appropriate repository.
There is a growing commitment on the part of research libraries to establishing digital repositories—that operate according to emerging certified standards—to store published and locally-created digital materials. As with print archives, these repositories are varyingly dark, dim, or bright. To facilitate and escalate the development of a network of such repositories within the next 5 years, the research library community will create a working group that will:
1. Create an inventory of on-going digital archiving activities;
2. Agree on the definition of a certifiable repository;
3. Based on information and recommendations arising from the CRL/RLG digital repository analysis and auditing, actively support and participate in further developing and refining viable long-term digital repository solutions (Portico, KB, LOCKSS);
4. Reach out to the publishing community, both profit and not-for-profit, to educate, form partnerships, and negotiate new alliances, including presenting programs and laying out business models to SSP, AAUP; and other publishing groups.
December 2005
- Karen Schmidt, Ph.D.
Associate University Librarian for Collections
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign