LIS 60631

Introduction to Digital Preservation

Digital Repository Review

Objective: To assess the suitability of a digital repository for digital preservation functionality.

Points: 15 (5% of course grade)

Deadline: Sunday, October 29, 2017, 11:59 PM

Instructions:

In this exercise, you are tasked with the responsibility of evaluating a repository system to
determine how well its features will support digital preservation activities. You will choose one
system from the list of possible systems below and explore its potential for supporting digital
preservation by answering the questions below.

Possible Repository Choices for This Assignment:*

• ArchivesSpace (www.archivesspace.org)—sandbox available at:

http://archivesspace.org/application/sandbox/
• ContentDM (www.contentdm.org) —sandbox available at:
https://sandbox.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/
• ePrints (www.eprints.org)—sandbox available at: http://demoprints.eprints.org
• Fedora (fedora-commons.org)
• Hydra (projecthydra.org)
• Islandora (islandora.ca)—sandbox available at: https://sandbox.islandora.ca
• Omeka (omeka.org)—sandbox available at: http://omeka.org/s/ (scroll down for
instructions)

*You cannot use Archivematica and DSpace for this assignment, as we are already exploring
them extensively for other work in this class.

Questions:

1) What repository system are you reviewing?

Your answer: Hydra (projecthydra.org) which is now Samvera (samvera.org)

2) Describe the purpose of this software and the target audience. Is it designed for a particular
user group or for a particular genre of documents? (2 points)

Your answer: Samvera promotes itself as a highly customizable digital repository software for
information institutions of any size, including libraries, archives, museums and universities. On
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their website, they provide several examples of institutions utilizing their software, which
heavily focuses on university collections. This emphasis on university collections is not
surprising because the project was helmed by several universities in partnership with Fedora
and has since grown under MediaShelf LLC. Samvera touts the versatility of its software to
manage media files and documents, as well as more complex usages such as exhibits and media
libraries. Samvera can present an interactive experience with a collection allowing for fully
accessible media libraries or special collections that can be accessed remotely. Judging by the
examples offered by Samvera of institutions utilizing their software, one can create open or
closed repositories which allows for different levels of protection and privacy. This closed
system enables users to store administrative documents and workflows via Samvera.

3) Browse through the documentation available for the system (user’s guide, programmer’s
guide, and any other information found on the website where documentation resides). Read
the information with the following questions in mind (paste your responses below to each
question, 2 points for each response):

A) Identify and describe the various functionalities of this system (i.e., what tasks and
activities does this system support?).

Your answer: Samvera does support CRUD functionality- create, read, update and delete. Hydra
software allows users to apply XML, create virtual books with RDF, define the relationship
between features and utilize internal search engines. Once again, the unique aspect of
Samvera is that you can apply additional scripts to enhance the functions of the repository
program. Avalon, which is a solution bundle, allows users to manage media files on a time-
based system. Spotlight! allows users to create virtual exhibits. ArcLight enhances the metadata
of objects in the repository. Hyptia is software that was created for the preservation and
management of born digital collections.

B) Does the system support the Open Archival Information System standard (ISO
14721:2012) for ingest, storage, and dissemination of digital objects and associated metadata?

Your answer: It appears that you can implement ISO 14721:2012 via Samvera, but it is not the
default option as a repository model and would require manual application to the software.

C) What metadata description and transmission standards are supported by this system,
such as Dublin Core, METS, PREMIS, etc.?

Your answer: Samvera utilized the Dublin Core metadata standards for the creation and
implementation of metadata. It does appear that metadata standards can be modified within
the software to support other common standards.
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D) Does the repository have the potential to meet standards for trustworthiness (TRAC--
ISO 16363:2012)?

Your answer: Samvera makes an effort to meet the TRAC-ISO 16363:2012 standards as shown
through a series of planning meeting notes on the wiki.

4) Explore the sandbox for the system to see how objects are ingested, maintained, and made
accessible. If no sandbox is available, find a local instance of the system that provides
documentation on local implementation. Review the workflows of ingest, migration, and
dissemination, and answer these questions (1 point each):

A) What tools/microservices are integrated in the system?

Your answer: There was no sandbox provided by Samvera to use, so I focused on The
University of Michigan’s Deep Blue Data, which allows students and faculty to share and
preserve their work. Tools include bit-level preservation, the creation of archival backups, and
file format characterization. Metadata can be applied to allow for external search engines, such
as Google Scholar to find and access the information.

B) Does the repository normalize objects upon submission to the repository? What are
the target formats for normalization? Is there clear information about the nature and degree of
normalization?

Your answer: Files can be submitted in a variety of formats depending on the nature of
the information, but there is a hierarchy of preservation in place, so obscure files will not be
catered to in the long run when it comes to migration and fixity checks. A bit-level preservation
is applied to all submissions.

C) How are fixity checks, refreshing, and migration handled by the system?

Your answer: There are three different levels of fixity and migration priority with the
highest being publicly documented and highly used formats, while low priority formats are
highly specialized. These distinctions have to be made due to the size of the digital repository.
High priority documents will be migrated to ensure content, structure, and functionality are
retained and usable on modern devices. This appears that it will occur on a 10 year basis as per
the rules of the repository. Fixity is also prioritized along the same guidelines, so notice will only
occur that a file has been moved, changed, or corrupted if it is on a higher level of priority.
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5) Think about the suitability of this system for an institution with digital preservation
responsibilities. Would you recommend the system as being a possible preservation solution?
If so, for what types of institutions? If not, what problems do you see that disqualifies this
system from consideration? (4 points)

Your answer: Samvera software advertises itself as a flexible option for a variety of information
institutions, but due to the number of dependencies, it is not a viable solution for smaller
institutions. There is Hydra-in-a-box which is a cutely named, condensed version of the
software which is more manageable, but it would still require staff members with a coding
skillset. Clearly, the community of users and the flexibility of the software has appeal for
institutions with unique needs that would like to invest the time into creating a repository that
suits their needs and with little financial investment, such as universities. Unless pre-designed
templates for use were easily accessible and updateable, I think this could be too intimidating
of an option for smaller institutions with a majority of volunteers for staff or with a staff that
does not have the technical skill set. The ability for Samvera to create digital exhibitions and
libraries is a really appealing option though that I feel should be explored by institutions,
particularly of less notoriety, and perhaps would be something where institutions could utilize
grants to invest in outside help to set up a system, where staff could utilize the completed
result and their collections could reach a larger audience. The problem would then be ensuring
that someone could make sure that the system was up to date.