I’m Gonna Live Forever! Assessing the Preservation of Digital Collections

Presenters from the session—two women and a man, all wearing conference badges and ribbons—smile at the camera.
From left to right: Ann Marie Willer, Annie Peterson, and Craig Haggit. Photo by Logan Tapscott for ALCTS News.

At the 2019 ALA Annual Conference, the program “I’m Gonna Live Forever! Assessing the Preservation of Digital Collections” explored a new digital preservation assessment training program available for any sized institution. Stacey Erdmen (Arizona State University Libraries), Craig Haggit (Denver Public Library), Annie Peterson (LYRASIS), and Ann Marie Willer (NEDCC) served as panelists.

Why is assessing your digital collections important? So you can detail your digital preservation success, report areas that need further growth, and identify challenges that could prevent that growth. Through the assessment process, institutions can prioritize next steps for improved long-term access to their digital collections with a digital preservation plan.

The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) and their partner, LYRASIS, developed this critical training project with support from a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Preservation and Access Education and Training grant. Between 2017 and 2019, NEDCC and LYRASIS collaborated with regional preservation organizations to develop a framework and self-assessment tool. After two rounds of reviewing the framework, NEDCC and LYRASIS hosted workshops on the Digital Preservation Peer Assessment model and then a training institute for participants to become assessors. A symposium concluded the grant with 50 people discussing the state of digital preservation practice.

By the end of the grant period, the NEDCC had 64 library-related people participating in the peer assessment workshop; trained 20 assessors to have 18 institutions such as public libraries, museum libraries, and university libraries assessed; and published the freely available Digital Preservation Assessment Handbook and Digital Preservation Assessment: Peer Assessment. The handbook consists of the assessment framework, glossary, questionnaire, report template, and a resource list. The separate peer assessment framework provides questions to prompt the staff at institutions to think critically about their digital preservation activities.

Why is assessing your digital collections important? So you can detail your digital preservation success, report areas that need further growth, and identify challenges that could prevent that growth. Through the assessment process, institutions can prioritize next steps for improved long-term access to their digital collections with a digital preservation plan.

The assessment process can be conducted by either co-assessment style (one or more institutions assess each other) or interview style. The assessment structure consists of a pre-visit questionnaire; a series of (onsite or virtual) meetings with institutions’ staff; and a report. During the review, the institution would evaluate their organization; staff and resources; policy infrastructure; process and workflows; and technological resources. After completing the report, the assessor should follow up with the institution to help maintain its momentum toward beginning to implement the report’s recommendations.

First Ann Marie Willer and Annie Peterson Haggit provided an overview of the assessment framework and explained the activities during the grant period; then Craig Haggit and Stacey Erdman (who was unable to present in person) described their experiences as participants in the digital preservation training program. While Haggit’s institution, the Denver Public Library, was assessed, Erdman was trained to serve as a digital assessor. Haggit described his and his colleagues’ involvement with assessing the Denver Public Library. He recommended immediately gathering the library’s stakeholders after the completion of the final report. The Denver Public Library used the report as a tool to conduct a Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts preservation assessment of the physical space and argue for hiring new staff, like a digital archivist. Erdman detailed her experiences receiving training and then conducting a digital preservation assessment. Toward the end of the training, she performed an onsite assessment at Ripon College, a small liberal arts college in Wisconsin. Erdman described her preparations for site visit and her actions during the site visit. She recommended scheduling breaks between the meetings with various library staff members.

Presentation slides and a recording will be made available to registered ALA Annual 2019 attendees.

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