DigitalKoans

The Library of Congress has released the International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation. The report was a collaborative effort by the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, JISC, the OAK Law Project, and the SURF Foundation.

Here's an excerpt from "Purpose and Background of the Report":

This Report was undertaken:

1. to review the current state of copyright and related laws and their impact on digital preservation;
2. to make recommendations for legislative reform and other solutions to ensure that libraries, archives and other preservation institutions can effectively preserve digital works and information in a manner consistent with international laws and norms of copyright and related rights; and
3. to make recommendations for further study or activities to advance the recommendations in the Report.

The Digital Curation Centre has released Frequently Asked Questions about the DCC Curation Lifecycle Model.

Here's an excerpt:

The DCC Curation Lifecycle Model provides a graphical, high level overview of the stages required for successful curation and preservation of data from initial conceptualisation through the iterative curation cycle. The model can be used to plan activities within a specific research project, organisation, or consortium to ensure all necessary stages are undertaken, each in the correct sequence. It is important to note that the description, preservation planning, community watch, and curate and preserve elements of the model should be considered at all stages of activity.

Presentations from the JISC-PoWR workshop are now available.

Presentations from the LIFE² Conference are now available.

LIFE² is the second phase of the LIFE project, which the below excerpt from the project's home page explains:

LIFE (Life Cycle Information for E-Literature) is a project looking at the life cycle of the collection and preservation of digital material. The project is a collaboration between University College London (UCL) Library Services and the British Library and funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

Digital Preservation Europe has released several new briefing papers:

• The Challenge of Appraising Science Records
• Persistent Identifiers for Cultural Heritage
• Preservation of Digital Audiovisual Content
• Preservation of Earth System Model Data

Elsevier has announced that Portico will preserve e-books from ScienceDirect starting in the third quarter of this year. ScienceDirect contains over 4,400 e-books.

Cornell University Library's Data Working Group has deposited its Digital Research Data Curation: Overview of Issues, Current Activities, and Opportunities for the Cornell University Library report in the eCommons@Cornell repository.

Here's the abstract:

Advances in computational capacity and tools, coupled with the accelerating collection and accumulation of data in many disciplines, are giving rise to new modes of conducting research. Infrastructure to promote and support the curation of digital research data is not yet fully-developed in all research disciplines, scales, and contexts. Organizations of all kinds are examining and staking out their potential roles in the areas of cyberinfrastructure development, data-driven scholarship, and data curation. The purpose of the Cornell University Library's (CUL) Data Working Group (DaWG) is to exchange information about CUL activities related to data curation, to review and exchange information about developments and activities in data curation in general, and to consider and recommend strategic opportunities for CUL to engage in the area of data curation. This white paper aims to fulfill this last element of the DaWG's charge.

A recently updated description of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation's Shared Digital Repository Project is available at Indiana University's Project: Shared Digital Repository page.

Here's an excerpt:

Description: The Shared Digital Repository (SDR) leverages the tradition of leadership in collaboration among the institutions of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). The SDR operates under the leadership of the Repository Administrators (Indiana University and the University of Michigan), which also provide a large part of the funding. Additional governance and financial support are provided by the charter participating libraries of the CIC, and by other libraries and library consortia wishing to archive digital content.

Outcome: The SDR offers persistent and high-availability storage for digitized book and journal content, beginning with the Google content from the CIC members and later extending to other digitized content. The SDR will leverage technology investments and developments at the University of Michigan to build (through IU/UM collaboration) more generalized versions of Michigan's services and gain efficiencies from Michigan's investments. . . .

Milestones and status:

As of April 11, 2008, the SDR contains:

• 1,122,007 volumes
• 791,460 titles
• approximately 393 million pages
• 213,379 individual volumes in the public domain (19% of the total)

Timeline:

• Early 2008: Bloomington backup storage installed
• January-March 2008: Page turner mechanism with branding; ability to publish virtual collections (UM-specific version); assessment of global searching functionality; access mechanisms for persons with visual disabilities
• September-December 2008: Mechanism for direct ingest of non-Google content; compliance with the required elements in the "Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC): Criteria and Checklist"

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) has released Survey of Canadian and International Data Management Initiatives.

Here's an excerpt from the "Introduction":

Research libraries have a role to play in this emerging data-intensive environment. A 2007 CARL survey found that most CARL members are interested in managing research data, but few have a formal data archiving policy. CARL has formed a Research Data Management Working Group to assist members in collecting, organizing, preserving and providing access to the research data and to formulate a cooperative approach for CARL.

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the types of data management activities being undertaken in Canada and internationally. This review documents the various options available for libraries, and will pave the way for a more detailed investigation by the Working Group of the potential roles for libraries.