Book Review: Digital Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums
Digital Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums. By Edward M. Corrado and Heather Lea Moulaison. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. 270 pages. $60.00 paperback (ISBN: 978-0-8108-8712-1).
Digital preservation involves careful planning and management and Digital Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums addresses the technology, but more importantly the all-inclusive meaning and objectives of digital preservation. The authors thoughtfully organized the book into four parts grounded in a concept called the Digital Preservation Triad. Management tools that encompass the scope and depth of the project while considering the present and future of the collection are also included.
The first section, “Introduction to Digital Preservation,” covers everything from what, why, and how management deals with the challenges of a digital preservation project. The Digital Preservation Triad is introduced as being composed of management, content, and technology, all interconnected in the life cycle of digital preservation stewardship. This section highlights the fact that management is just as important as the technology used to preserve the content. The second part, “Management Aspects,” discusses the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model. The authors advocate that for a digital preservation project to be successful, communication must occur between management, preservationists, and stakeholders. Commitment to the long-term preservation should hold just as much importance as the plans, policies, technology, and funding for a project. The chapters in this section explain digital management and trends as well as successfully setting up a project while considering all the aspects involved in a digital undertaking.
The next section, “Technology Aspects,” emphasizes that trust is central to any digital preservation project. Trust includes the integrity and confidence of a person or thing that also bears evidence that the digital repository or system can be trusted. Explanation of the audit and certification standards supports the authors’ statement of trust and the need for trustworthiness for everyone involved in the digital process. Various criteria, checklists, and certifications are discussed along with the reasons why all of these measures provide digital preservationists with the structure that creates a successful environment for long-term digital preservation projects. Incorporating these measures will enable stakeholders to trust in and carry their interest for a sustainable digital environment into the future.
The authors provide insight into the organization and retrieval of metadata. The chapter emphasizes that metadata’s accuracy is a continual process that must be accomplished via standards such as Dublin Core Metadata Element sets, National Information Standards Organization (NISO), and Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standard (METS). Various markup languages are defined throughout this chapter and clarify the elements of metadata involved in the description of digital preservation. The final chapter goes over file formats and reminds the reader that there is no one definitive format for all digital archives, but rather determinations will need to be made as to which format a digital archive will use for the particular collection. This chapter is a must read for digital preservation managers and staff because it is especially useful as a resource to examine the descriptive options available to their projects.
Part 4, “Content-related Aspects,” is the final area discussed as part of the Digital Preservation Triad. This area ties together all the reasons why content is not only valuable to, but also the reason for, any digital preservation project. Management, staff, and the technology being used must take into consideration the content. This involves the areas of collection development, copyright, metadata, staffing, and funding. This chapter provides the reader with direction for any digital project, pinpointing steps to consider and succeed in a preservation project. The authors emphasize that the life-cycle of a digital object defines the research data acquired in the collection and creation of that object. The detailed discussion of present and future challenges of any preservation project are a vital resource for anyone contemplating a data management plan.
The book concludes with the authors stating that though any digital preservation project can seem daunting and insurmountable, the Digital Preservation Triad provides three elements that must be present to ensure success: management, content, and technology. They also include additional educational opportunities, directing readers to other sources pertinent to any digital preservation project management. The book includes a foreword by Michael Lesk, a forerunner in digital librarianship and preservation. An appendix provides additional information and resources for preservationists. The book includes technical jargon, but the authors do an excellent job of explaining and providing resources that define the relevant terminology through a thorough glossary. Each chapter is well organized and leads the reader into the next chapter without changing the flow of how to approach a digital project.
The objective of this book is to benefit libraries, archives, and museum personnel in their development of a digital preservation project. This objective succeeds in providing the aspects of such projects. The authors’ use of the Digital Preservation Triad brings management, content, and technology into the life cycle of not just the object, but provides the backbone of a sustainable digital project and this text. The book is full of practical and understandable steps, as well as explains in detail all that must be considered by the organization as well as the managers, staff, and stakeholders. The authors address how management planning must include funding now and in the future, policies to ensure that digital obsolescence does not render the collection closed to generations of the future, and usage of the skills of staff to create the metadata necessary to provide access. This book would certainly be a practical guide that appeals to librarians, archivists, administrators, and managers, as well as professionals seeking answers to questions that should be addressed before or during a digital preservation initiative.—Susan I. Kane, MSLS (susan.kane@alvernia.edu), Alvernia University, Reading, Pennsylvania