Here Today AND Tomorrow: Preserving Government Online Information

1
Here Today AND Tomorrow Preserving Government
Online Information
Library
Texas
of

• Presented by
• Cathy Hartman, University of North Texas
  Libraries
• Kevin Marsh, Texas State Library and Archives
  Commission
• Coby Condrey, Texas State Library and Archives
  Commission

2
Overview

• Precursors (Identifying Needs Resources)
• Coby Condrey
• Planning (Fitting Resources Together)
• Cathy Hartman
• Implementation (Putting Resources to Work)
• Kevin Marsh
• Future Directions (Expanding Our Scope)
• Coby Condrey

3
Precursors (Identifying Needs Resources)

• Our Vision
• Building Blocks

4
Our Vision for the Future...

• Texas government information will be preserved
  for future researchers for electronic
  publications just as for printed ones.

5
Building Blocks

• Texas Library Association Government Documents
  Round Table - Catalyst
• Foundations - TRAIL, TSLAC mission, and the
  existing program for printed publications
• Standards - Preservation Metadata, Open Archives
  Information System (OAIS)
• Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund Grant

6
Planning (Fitting Resources Together)

• GIT Government Information Team
• Developing Specifications (Hardware Software)
• Setting Standards
• Collection Development Plan
• Memorandum of Understanding
• Preservation Metadata

7
Government Information Team (GIT)

• Broad-based team research - archivists,
  catalogers, records managers, IT professionals,
  depository librarians, reference staff
• Team consensus decision-making - a blend of
  perspectives

8
GIT Accomplishments

• Formulated "Collection Development Plan"
• Created "Memorandum of Understanding" for
  adoption by partner libraries
• Developed "Preservation Metadata Set"

9
Standards

• Standards for the Electronic Depository Program
  component of the Library of Texas are outlined in
  two working documents
• Collection Development Plan
• Memorandum of Understanding

10
Collection Development Plan
Purpose - to articulate a method for selecting
state electronic publications for inclusion in
the Electronic Depository Program
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Collection Development Plan Components

• Background of the project
• Definitions of key terms
• Statement of the purpose of the Collection
  Development Plan
• Statement of guiding assumptions
• Process for selection of state publications for
  inclusion in the program
• Retention plan

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Collection Development Plan Key Terms

• Legal definitions of "depository library" and
  "state publication"
• Technical terms such as "MIME"
• Electronic depository library - a library
  designated to receive and store state electronic
  publications for the purpose of providing
  continued public access to said publications

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Collection Development Plan Key Terms (continued)

• Version or edition - a publication is considered
  a new version or edition (issue, release, update)
  when significant changes to the original
  publication are made. Examples of significant
  changes include changes in the content (data),
  changes in the programming language, or the
  addition of sound or graphics.

14
Collection Development Plan Guiding Assumptions

• The people of the state of Texas have a basic
  right to no-fee access to state publications.
• It is the responsibility of state government to
  provide access to state publications and to
  preserve state publications for future access.
• All documents that meet the statutory definition
  of a state publication are considered worthy
  candidates of selection for inclusion in the
  electronic depository collection.

15
Collection Development Plan Selection Process

• Using the existing TRAIL system and the Dublin
  Core element set that describes publications,
  selection is based on two Dublin Core fields
• MIME type
• and
• Publication type

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Collection Development Plan Selection Process
(continued)

• MIME types the first phase of project includes
• HTML format
• Adobe portable document (PDF)
• Word processing documents
• Spreadsheet documents
• Slideshow documents
• Databases
• Text format (.txt)
• Zipped files (.zip)
• Other similar (text-like) file types

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Collection Development Plan Selection Process
(continued)

• MIME types later phases of project will include
  more difficult MIME types, such as
• Audio (examples - .rm, .ram)
• Video
• Mapping data and software (ex., GIS)
• Other complex file types

18
Collection Development Plan Selection Process
(continued)

• Publication type TRAIL defines 30 publication
  types that are included in the first phase of the
  project, such as
• Agency rules, policies and procedures
• Executive orders
• Legal opinions and advice
• Legislation, proposed legislation, and statutes
• Legislative appropriations requests
• Periodicals - newsletters and magazines
• Reference resources
• Complete list at www.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/deposit
  orystudies.html

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Collection Development Plan Selection Process
(continued)

• When a state publication matches one of the
  designated "MIME (file) types" and the
  "publication type" matches one or more of the
  thirty (30) designated publication types, the
  state publication will be included in the
  Electronic Depository Program.

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Collection Development Plan Versions or Editions

• All "issues" of a state periodical publication
  "published" on a regularly scheduled basis will
  be selected for the Electronic Depository
  Program.
• For "versions" "updated" biannually, annually,
  weekly, etc., a "snapshot" of these dynamic
  electronic publications will be captured on a
  regular basis for inclusion in the program.

21
Collection Development Plan Versions or
Editions (continued)

• Generally, a "snapshot" of a dynamic publication
  will be captured at least at the beginning of
  each legislative session (2 year cycle)
• Current planning allows for weekly or bi-weekly
  capture of these pages

22
Collection Development Plan Retention

• Retention of the selected publications will be
  permanent.

23
Collection Development Plan

• Text of the Collection Development Plan available
  at
• www.tsl.state.tx.us/trail/depositorystudies.html
• Status of the Collection Development Plan
• Version 1.0 approved by the Working Group on
  February 2, 2001.

24
Memorandum of Understanding

• Purpose to establish the respective roles and
  responsibilities of the Texas State Library and
  Archives Commission and the University of North
  Texas Libraries (UNT), in a partnership
  arrangement designed to ensure permanent storage
  of and access to electronic state publications
  for the State of Texas.

25
Memorandum of Understanding

• General provisions
• Texas government information is in the public
  domain.
• Hardware, software, files provided by TSLAC must
  be returned to TSLAC should a partner withdraw.
• Partners will cooperate in disaster recovery
  planning.

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Memorandum of Understanding

• Partner library responsibilities
• Provide free, open access to public.
• Provide space, power, network connections, staff,
  bandwidth, written procedures.
• Provide routine maintenance - backups, security,
  upgrades, verifying and loading files, etc.
• Assure persistent URLs.
• Notify partners if withdrawing - 3 months.

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Memorandum of Understanding

• TSLAC responsibilities
• Recognize partners as official sites.
• Provide links to partner sites.
• Provide hardware/software for the Electronic
  Depository program.
• Provide state document files to partners.
• Establish an "archival" site.
• Assist with staff training and initiate review of
  technology for possible system upgrades.

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Memorandum of Understanding

• Status of MOU
• Completed and signed by TSLAC and UNT August
  2001.

29
Implementation (Putting Resources to Work)

• Preservation Metadata
• Processing Electronic Documents
• Acquisition
• Enhancement
• Distribution
• Notifications

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Preservation Metadata Set

• Components
• based on work of National Library of Australia
• most information supplied by reporting liaisons
  or by automated process
• critically important fields
• harvest date
• others???

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Acquisition

• Notification of Availability - TRAIL
• Review for Appropriateness
• Harvest
• Compare for Completeness

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Acquisition (continued)

• Completeness Issues
• Simple Plain Text PDF Files
• Complex HTML Files
• Text
• Images
• Scripts
• Links to Continuation Pages

33
Enhancement

• Preservation Metadata
• Automated Assignment
• Staff Intervention
• Validation
• Conversion to XML
• Review Comparison

34
Distribution

• To Electronic Depository Libraries
• Native Format
• Via FTP or E-Mail
• Depository Loads to Server
• To Electronic Depository Archive
• Native XML Formats

35
Availability from Depositories

• Depository Library Adds Value
• Loads Publication Files to Server
• Verifies Functionality
• Verifies Link from Bibliographic Access Record in
  TRAIL

36
Bibliographic Access

• TRAIL
• Local Partner's Catalog
• via MARC "surrogates"
• via Other Enhancements
• Based on Local Cataloging Priority
• Additional Access Points

37
Notifications

• Cataloging at Texas State Library
• Metadata Review
• Additional Bibliographic Access Elements

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Notifications (continued)

• MARC Batch Export
• Based on Service for Print Publications
• Includes Both New Updated Records
• Distributed to Depositories Weekly

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Timeframe

• GIT formed Spring 2000 began planning
• Spring 2000 - August 2001 development of project
  parameters, bid specifications agreements with
  partners
• September 2001 - April 2002 bid process and
  vendor contract negotiations
• May 2002 - August 2002 installation and testing
  of hardware and software creation of initial
  collection
• Fall 2002 public debut of service

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Future Directions (Expanding Our Scope)

• Assessing Impact
• On-going Activities
• Future Phases

41
Impact

• On Patrons / Researchers
• On Print Depository Libraries
• On Electronic Depository Libraries
• On the Texas State Library
• On Other Stakeholders

42
On-going Activities

• Launch Fall 2002
• Scheduling Automated Harvests
• Responding to Reports of Updated Documents
• Upgrades Maintenance
• Evaluation of Service

43
Future Phases

• More Complex Document Types
• Additional Hardware Software
• Migration Planning

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Conclusion

• Discussion
• Questions Answers