CTDA Services for Cultural Heritage Institutions

The Connecticut Digital Archive:Preservation and Presentation Services for Cultural Heritage Organizations

September, 2014

Analog =Non-existent:

If it isn’t online, I don’t want it

Unconnected =Invisible: If I can’t find it online I won’t

use it

Collections =Data: I want things that I can manipulate

Value =Reusable: I want to do what I want with it

Storytelling =Visualization: I want to use things in “apps”

What We Have Seen: Using Primary Resources in Work and Play

Connecticut’s digital cultural heritage is:

• Ephemeral

• Fragmented

• Not easily discoverable or reusable

• At risk

The Dilemma of Modern Records

How do we insure that resources that exist in digital form today will reliably exist and be accessible in the future?

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Four “-ity”s of Digital Resources

• Sustainability (Durability, Persistence)The digital object can be maintained and accessed over time

• Authenticity (Reliability)The digital object is reliably true to the original

• InteroperabilityThe ability of one standards-based object to be used in any other standards-based system

• ReusabilityObjects can be used in ways not related to original purpose

• Digital representations of analog originals

• Born digital objects with no inherent “original “form

• Still Images

• Data Sets

• Documents

• Moving Images

• Complex objects

Digital repositories organize data…

..allow it to be used in one environment …

… and reused in another.

Preservation-quality Digital Repository Services

• Are expensive to build and maintain:

• Require large initial investments in technology infrastructure;

• Require large investments in human resources

• Require large ongoing investments in systems maintenance;

• Require large ongoing investments in feature development;

• Are expensive to purchase:

• No “complete solutions”

• Features/services that are lacking must be added ad-hoc and may not easily integrate

Shared Digital Repository Services

• Collaborative programs can make it possible for everyone to share the benefits and the cost of:

• Standards-based management systems

• Large-scale repository storage and preservation systems

• Negotiated connections to national and international aggregators

• Shared governance

• While retaining local ownership and control of content

What is the CTDA?

• A service of the University of Connecticut Libraries

• A partnership with the Connecticut State Library

• Preserves, manages, and makes available permanently valuable cultural data and other records produced and collected by non-profit educational, cultural, and memory institutions based in Connecticut

• The service hub in Connecticut for the Digital Public Library of America

Content Owners Discovery & AccessInfrastructure

Aggregators

PreservationInfrastructure

Deposit Agreements & MOUs

Organization Sites

The CTDA Today

ctdigitalarchive.org

Ownership vs Stewardship

• Organizations retain ownership of all metadata, primary content objects and derivatives.

• Metadata contributed as a CC0 license

• Content objects and derivatives may have access restrictions—to master files for example—or be completely open.

Use Only What You Need:

• Preservation Services

• Management Tools

• Metadata Services

• Presentation Channels

• Aggregation Services

• Reformatting Services

Content in Action (For Example)

UConn Archives CT State Library CHI

External Channels

Connecticut Collections

CTDA Central Repository

CTDA Hosted Management System

CTDA Hosted Presentation Channels

Connecticut CollectionsDPLA iConn

External ManagementSystems

Preservation Services*

• Secure, redundant storage

• up to 500GB without charge

• Preservation activities

• Migration (for supported file types)

• Verification

• Authenticity guarantees

*Note: Some services are fee-based

Presentation Channels and Aggregation Services*

• Viewers for supported file types

• Web search engine indexing

• OAI-PMH harvesting

• Indexing in the Digital Public Library of America, iConn

• Inclusion in Connecticut History Illustrated (for content you specify)

• Open APIs, embed codes, for indexing, content extraction, viewer re-use

• Custom presentation channel scoped to organizational content *Note: Some services are fee-based

Metadata and Management Systems Services*

• Basic system training

• How-to documentation from the CTDA website

• Metadata consultation

• Data migration and conversion

• Custom forms and interface design

*Note: Some services are fee-based

Reformatting Services

Reformatting services are charged on a cost-recovery basis

• Digital capture of flat material: paper, photos, graphics, reflective and transparent, up to 12” X 18” (and larger for some document types)

• Bound-volume digital capture

• Basic audio conversion of limited formats

• We do not currently offer moving image conversion services

For More Information

Slides and text available at: http://www.slideshare.net/Gcolati/

Visit the CTDA Website: http://ctdigitalarchive.org

Contact the CTDA at: ctda@uconn.edu

or talk to me directly:

Greg ColatiAssistant University Librarian for Archives, Special Collections, and Digital CurationUniversity of Connecticut Libraries860.486.4501greg@uconn.edu