Final Release version 1.3 25 February 2016 Final Release version 1.3 Collaboration on Digital Infrastructure Project 3 Obsolete Physical Carriers in NSLA Collections Report – Stage 1 Scott Wajon Somaya Langley Damien Cassidy State Library of New South Wales 25 February 2016
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Final Release version 1.3 25 February 2016
Final Release version 1.3
Collaboration on Digital Infrastructure
Project 3
Obsolete Physical Carriers
in NSLA Collections
Report – Stage 1
Scott Wajon
Somaya Langley
Damien Cassidy
State Library of New South Wales
25 February 2016
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 4
Background ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Definitions ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Out of Scope ............................................................................................................................................ 7
The Survey .............................................................................................................................................. 7
Survey and Report: Constraints and Issues ............................................................................................ 8
Participating Libraries .............................................................................................................................. 8
Results Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 9
Survey Results ...................................................................................................................................... 10
1. Analogue and Digital Obsolete Physical Carriers held in NSLA Libraries ............................................... 10
2. High-Level Categories and Types of Obsolete Physical Carriers held in NSLA Libraries ....................... 11
3. Methods Used by Libraries to Survey Collections ................................................................................... 13
4. Methods Used to Survey Collections – Individual Libraries .................................................................... 14
5. Level of Confidence in Counting Method ................................................................................................ 15
6. Level of Confidence in Counting Method – Individual Libraries .............................................................. 16
7. Breakdown of Analogue Carriers by Carrier Type................................................................................... 17
8. Breakdown of Digital Carriers by Carrier Type ........................................................................................ 18
9. Percentage of Carriers Digitised or Digitally Transferred ........................................................................ 19
10. Availability of Devices for Playback and Digitisation for Analogue Carrier Type Categories ................... 20
11. Availability of Devices for Playback and Data Transfer for Digital Carrier Type Categories ................... 21
12. Number, Type and Condition of Equipment Held in Library Collections ................................................. 22
Inhibitors and Issues Affecting Digitisation and Data Transfer ............................................................... 24
Inhibitors to Digitisation and Data Transfer ....................................................................................................... 24
Technical Inhibitors to Digitisation and Data Transfer ...................................................................................... 25
Commercial Suppliers Capable of Digitisation and Data Transfers ....................................................... 26
Non-NSLA Organisations with Audiovisual and Digital Equipment and Expertise ................................. 27
Other Information Services .................................................................................................................... 27
Long-Term Preservation Responsibilities .............................................................................................. 28
Risks to Obsolete Physical Carriers....................................................................................................... 30
Lessons Learnt ...................................................................................................................................... 31
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 32
Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 33
Next Steps ............................................................................................................................................. 35
Appendix A: Library Collection Holdings and Format Support by Carrier Type ...................................... 36
Appendix B: Survey Constraints and Issues .......................................................................................... 41
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Appendix C: Work Package – Obsolete Physical Carriers Project ......................................................... 45
Appendix D: Obsolete Physical Carrier Survey (Template) ........................................................... 48
List of Attachments
Appendix A: Library Collection Holdings and Format Support by Carrier Type
This key table shows the numbers of each carrier type held in individual NSLA library collections. It also shows how many libraries have support (playback, digitisation or data transfer) for the carrier types identified.
Appendix B: Survey Constraints and Issues
Details of constraints, considerations and issues impacting survey results and transfer capabilities.
Appendix C: Work Package – Obsolete Physical Carriers Project
The original work package – approved as a single-stage project.
Appendix D: Obsolete Physical Carrier Survey (Template)
Distributed to all NSLA libraries, original deadline 28 August 2015 (last response received 15 October 2015).
Document Change Control
Version Change Description Date Author
0.1 Preliminary version for NSLA CEOs meeting
State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
19 November 2015
Item 5.3
19 November 2015 Scott Wajon,
Damien Cassidy,
Somaya Langley
0.2 Edits and data clean-up, chart reviews 27 November 2015 Damien Cassidy, Scott Wajon
1.0 Editor’s version 8 December 2015 Helen Cummings
1.1 Approved release version 11 December 2015 Scott Wajon
1.2 Minor revisions – incorporating NSLA Digital Preservation Working Group members’ feedback
18 February 2016 Somaya Langley
1.3 Minor edits from proof readers 25 February 2016 Somaya Langley
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Executive Summary
Libraries, archives and other collecting institutions face a present and serious issue in how they will manage the large numbers of obsolete physical carriers in their collections. Time is running out to ensure the content on these carriers can be preserved, prior to its loss due to physical degradation and technological obsolescence.
This project seeks to provide an overview of the nature and extent of obsolete physical carriers currently held in NSLA collections and will consider options for collaborative approaches to data recovery, specifications (where possible), supplier resources and cost-sharing strategies.
This project has been approached in two stages:
Stage 1 – A survey of obsolete physical carriers (both analogue and digital, and associated audiovisual and digital playback equipment) with analysis, preliminary recommendations and report. (The results from the survey constitute this report.)
Stage 2 – Standards and specifications (where possible), review of skillsets, expertise and resources in NSLA libraries, wider collaborative opportunities with other institutions and /or commercial services providers, and recommendations to inform NSLA strategic directions. (Schedule and final scope for Stage 2 deliverables: to be confirmed.)
Responses to the survey were received from nine NSLA libraries, with LINC Tasmania (Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office) providing separate responses for their Archive and Heritage Library. The National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) did not submit a survey response.
In the survey, NSLA libraries were asked to respond to a detailed numerical audit of the type and number of carriers in both their unpublished (original material) and relevant published collections. They were also asked to provide an inventory of the devices available for playback and digitisation/data transfer, as well as respond to some overarching questions about their preservation responsibilities and about the backlog of unprocessed material in their collections .
The survey has found approximately 395,000 instances of physical carriers classified as obsolete or at-risk, present in NSLA collections. Of these, 66% were analogue and 34% were digital. The most common carrier types found are analogue audio, moving image (film and video), digital audio, electronic resources (CDs and DVDs) plus unpublished data on a range of carrier types. Of the 68 distinct carrier types identified, 17 of these types were classified as an unknown format.
NSLA libraries obtained their collection metrics by a number of methods, most commonly by performing actual counts – predominantly from interrogation of Library Management Systems (LMS) – and less so by sampling or best guess estimation strategies. Though smaller libraries may present very accurate numbers, overall, the libraries only had a medium level of confidence in the numbers they submitted to the survey. This confidence level is further qualified by the impact of the unknown and backlogs in the unpublished collections ( the ‘best guess ’ counts), and by a sense that numbers derived from searching LMS (classified as ‘actual counts ’) may under-represent actual numbers of physical carriers present in library collections.
The influence of uncertainty for larger collection metrics suggests that the actual number of carriers in NSLA collections could be significantly higher than captured in this survey.
Libraries were also asked to provide listings of equipment holdings (types of equipment, working condition), used for playback, digitisation or data transfer purposes. Nationally, NLSA libraries have equipment and device support to play back the majority of the carriers identified in the survey. On an individual basis, most libraries have some carriers in their collections, which they have no device support for, particularly for the purposes of digitisation or data transfer (which differs from playback capabilities). Stage 2 of this work package will address the possibility of collaboration between libraries and the university sector, institutions that hold substantial audiovisual collections as well as partnership with commercial service providers , in order to close this gap.
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Sixty-eight distinct analogue and digital carrier types were identified as present in NSLA collections , 36 are digital and 32 are analogue carriers. Of the total carriers, of all types counted in these categories, 78% (306,000) have not been digitised/transferred to other storage media.
Further breakdown into the main carrier type sub-categories shows that 28% of analogue carrier types and 10% of digital carrier types have been digitised or digitally transferred.
Currently the most common action being taken is digitisation of analogue audio collections. The National Library of Australia (NLA) (72% digitised, in-house and outsourced) and the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) (62%, via outsourcing) have the highest percentage of digitised carriers, followed by the State Library of South Australia (SLSA) and the State Library of Western Australia (SLWA). These libraries use predominantly in-house approaches to digitisation of audio. Analogue audio collections are also the best-supported (illustrated by equipment availability) overall, with over 90% of the carrier types having widespread in-house playback and digitisation support. Analogue moving image (film and video) also have a high level of in-house playback support but very low in-house digitisation support, across the combined libraries, with only SLSA capable of moving image (film and video) digitisation for most, but not all, carrier types.
Nationally, digital carriers have a low overall percentage of transfer, across all carrier types. The overall national figure is skewed by the transfer of Digital Audio Tape (DAT) at the NLA (currently at 85% of their collection) and the inconsistent approach of counting published and unpublished digital carriers. All other libraries report zero or a very low percentage for the amount digitally transferred, across all types of digital carriers. This represents a major risk to preservation of digital content in all NSLA library collections.
Libraries were asked to indicate whether they had used commercial service providers to digitise or digitally transfer obsolete physical carriers. Instances of this were low overall, with the majority of digitisation or data transfer occurring in house. Initial analysis indicates that there is a limited group of experienced and trusted digitisation suppliers, and a small number of these have been used multiple times by different libraries. Analogue audiovisual carriers were the most common carrier types that had been digitised by external service providers.
Libraries reported a wide range of inhibitors to allowing digitisation or data transfer of content from obsolete physical carriers. Budget, infrastructure, technical constraints, lack of expertise, rights and lack of policy clarity were all listed as barriers.
All NSLA libraries consider their unpublished collections to be of primary importance for long -term preservation. The majority of libraries do not consider their published reference collections as part of their long-term preservation responsibili ties. NSLA libraries only plan to preserve some categories of published content – for example, published in their state – where they are legislated to do so. Due to the fragility and lifespan of obsolete physical carriers in the published collections, this approach raises potential risks for some carrier types.
Unprocessed backlogs of NSLA libraries ’ collections are substantial and predominantly consist of unpublished materials. The majority of NSLA libraries were able to provide an estimated metric for their backlog. With the considerable volume of unprocessed unpublished materials, there is a high risk of losing content held on obsolete physical carriers, as yet undiscovered in these collections.
Recommendations based on findings from Stage 1 are provided. These recommendations will be reviewed in the context of Stage 2, with final recommendations provided at completion.
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Background
The Obsolete Physical Carriers project was defined in the Digital Infrastructure Collaboration Stage 2 Program mandate. It sought to investigate and recommend the potential for collaborative approaches to:
common facilities for obsolete physical carriers
efficiencies through shared use of highly specialised infrastructure supporting the reading and ingestion of digital files received on obsolete physical carriers
potential cost savings through a consortia approach where a vendor is used to support this need.
The initial draft scope of the work package for this project was presented at the NSLA Digital Preservation Working Group meeting in May 2015 and the first draft of the survey template was presented to the NSLA Digital Infrastructure Reference Group in July 2015. A preliminary report was presented to the Digital Infrastructure Reference Group in October 2015 and recommendations were proposed and approved to adopt a two-stage approach to completing the original work package.
Key to Stage 1 is the first comprehensive audit (by survey) of NSLA library collections and their holdings of analogue and digital obsolete physical carriers. The purpose of the survey stage of the project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the numbers and types of obsolete and at -risk physical carriers in NSLA library collections. The survey also attempts to capture information about playback and transfer equipment held in NSLA libraries, necessary for capturing the content from obsolete physical carriers in order to be able to ensure long-term preservation.
This survey template was developed in consultation with input from selected NSLA libraries and reviewed by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).
In order to contextualise the scope of the digitisation and transfer ‘problem’ with existing obsolete physical carriers held in NSLA library collections – as well as each library’s intention for long -term preservation of certain classes of collection material – responses to additional questions were sought. This included NSLA libraries’ current digit isation and data transfer efforts as well as information about collection materials they considered ‘out of scope’ for long -term preservation.
Definitions
Formats For the purposes of this survey, groupings of carrier types are referred to as ‘formats’. For example, audio cassettes, open reel audio tape and gramophone disc are all grouped in the ‘ analogue audio’ format category. The use of this term herein does not refer to file formats (e.g. WAVE, TIFF etc.).
Obsolete Physical Carriers Analogue signal and digital data is stored on a wide range of physical carriers, e.g. acetate and nitrate film, magnetic tape, magnetic disk, optical media and vinyl records are amongst the most common carrier types. For the purpose of this survey, both analogue and digital carriers have been referred to as ‘obsolete physical carriers’ or ‘obsolete carriers’.
Appendix A lists the full range of known carrier types in NSLA collections, as identified by the survey responses.
Unpublished Materials NSLA libraries use a variety of terminology to refer to unpublished material. This includes terms such as ‘archival’, ‘non-published’ and ‘original material’. Unpublished material refers to content that includes, but is not limited to, correspondence, diaries and oral histories etc. For the purposes of this report the term ‘unpublished material’ will be used to describe all archival, non -published and original materials.
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Out of Scope
The following considerations are also important when addressing digitisation and data transfer of content held on obsolete physical carriers, however these were not investigated in this survey. They include:
Policy Analysis – no review of NSLA libraries’ Collection Development, Digital Preservation, Preservation or Retention policies was undertaken
Rights Issues – no review of current understanding of NSLA libraries rights to transfer, preserve and provide access to content, particularly content that has End User Licence Agreements (EULAs) and other terms and agreements applied
Support for Technical Dependencies – while carriers, devices and equipment were surveyed, identification and dependencies on the required file systems necessary to support data transfer (i.e. ISO 9660, Joliet, FAT32, HFS+, EXT4 etc.) and operating systems (i.e. OS 7.6, 8.1, OSX 10.6.8, Windows 3.11, Windows 7 etc.) were not in scope
Still Images – microfilm, photographs and negatives on all substrates (cellulose nitrate and acetate, polyester, paper, glass, metal, ceramic etc.) were excluded from this survey. While these can be classified as obsolete physical carriers, the issues regarding risk to these physical carrier types is well understood and NSLA library conservation departments have wide experience with managing them. They do not share the same risk profile as carriers that have a technological dependence to view, render, play back or transfer the content.
The Survey
Libraries were asked to complete a survey comprising:
1. counting the number of physical carriers present in their published and unpublished collections
2. detailing the type of counting method employed for each carrier type identified 3. levels of confidence in the accuracy of this count 4. whether devices were available to play back, digitise or transfer the content from the
carriers identified 5. percentage of the carriers that were already digitised /content was digitally transferred 6. names of commercial suppliers used for digitisation or transfer 7. comments on what conditions and factors acted as inhibitors to digitisation or transfer 8. the extent and nature of the backlog in unprocessed collections 9. comments about the preservation responsibility libraries had for content held on identified
carriers.
The template for the survey is included as Appendix D, attached.
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Survey and Report: Constraints and Issues
Though the scope of work defined in the original work package was aimed to be a single piece of work with a comprehensive single report, a number of issues have resulted in adoption of a two-stage approach:
1. Survey Responses – the majority of libraries could not submit within the original timeframe,
resulting in the deadline having to be extended twice. Final responses were accepted in mid-October, with one library st ill not able to provide any data for this report. These delays have resulted in a very short time period remaining in the schedule to analyse the survey results, seek clarification from participating libraries and to prepare this report. Some incorrect information was also included in the responses which resulted in the authors having to undertake multiple amendments to the data and resultant report.
2. Scope of Work – the scope of the original work package was too large for a single project,
given the tight schedule, competing priorities and lead staff time constraints. A two-stage approach was proposed and approved at the Digital Infrastructure working group meeting in July 2015. Deliverables relating to standards and specifications, staff capabilities, collaboration with non-NSLA institutions (e.g. audiovisual collecting organisations and the university sector), commercial partnering and strategic recommendations will constitute the second work package of this project.
3. Carrier Identification and Collection Scope Issues– six of the nine libraries (including the
ACT Heritage Library, NLA, SLNSW, SLSA, SLWA and LINC Tasmania) have indicated that the figures provided are subject to limitations by their LMS, including limitations provided by legacy systems that do not provide stat istical data at the level that was required by the Obsolete Carriers Survey.
4. Backlogs – some issues were identified that prevented NSLA libraries reporting accurately
on the numbers of obsolete physical carriers found in their unprocessed backlogs (with many collections not even having a basic record).
Further detail about these issues is contained in Appendix B: Survey Constraints and Issues.
Participating Libraries
Responses were received from nine NSLA libraries:
ACT Heritage Library
LINC Tasmania (Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office)
National Library of Australia (NLA)
Northern Territory Library (NTL)
State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW)
State Library of Queensland (SLQ)
State Library of South Australia (SLSA)
State Library Victoria (SLV)
State Library of Western Australia (SLWA).
LINC Tasmania provided separate responses for their Archive and Heritage Library.
The National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) was unable to submit a survey response by the time of this report.
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Results Overview
Detailed analysis of the survey content has provided a range of quantitative and qualitative results, providing insight into:
numbers of carriers in overall and individual library collections
types of carriers
methods used to survey library collections
confidence in the accuracy of the survey
percentage of analogue carriers digitised
percentage of digital carriers with data transferred to other storage media
numbers and types of playback and digitisation or data transfer devices available.
Appendix A: Library Collection Holdings and Format Support by Carrier Type represents the key data matrix assembled from metrics captured in the survey. It shows:
numbers of each carrier type held in individual NSLA libraries
carrier types in grey and crossed out indicate that no libraries have identified this carrier in their collections.
Appendix A also illustrates how many libraries have support (playback, digitisation or data transfer) for the carrier types identified.
Carrier type support is colour coded to indicate:
green – high levels of equipment and device support (combined libraries) for this specific carrier type (most libraries have this support)
amber – medium level of support (less than half of libraries have support for this carrier type)
red – low level of support (no libraries had support for this specific carrier type) .
Some libraries have also indicated that they have device support for carrier types that are not present in their collections.
Appendix A shows much of the source data used for charts, tables and commentary for the specific areas investigated and presented in the Results section .
Charts and numbers shown therein represent overall aggregated results combining all libraries’ data, unless specifically noted. This is referred to as ‘Combined Libraries ’ in the charts and accompanying text.
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Survey Results
1. Analogue and Digital Obsolete Physical Carriers held in NSLA Libraries
The overall count of known individual carriers, of all types, is 394,832, with:
66% analogue (261,135 carriers)
34% digital (133,697 carriers).
Figure 1. Shows the overall count and percentage breakdown by high-level carrier type ( i.e. analogue or digital) of known obsolete physical carriers in all participating NSLA library collections .
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2. High-Level Categories and Types of Obsolete Physical Carriers held in NSLA Libraries
Sixty-eight different analogue and digital carrier types were identified as present in NSLA library collections:
36 digital carriers
32 analogue carriers.
Ten of these carrier types were reported as ‘Format Unknown’, indicating a lack of labelling or markers for identification, or lack of library expertise with obsolete physical carriers.
The number of distinct carrier types identified is given, with the qualification that many types and sub-types exist within optical media, analogue and digital video, and data formats that may have a variety of dependencies (including file systems and operating systems). The survey data does not give any insight at this level of detail.
Analogue Format Digital Format
Audio Audio
Moving image (analogue video)
Data (unpublished content)
Moving image (film) Electronic resources (published)
Other Games (published)
Moving image (digital video)
Moving image/Movies (published discs)
Software (published)
Other digital
Table 1. High-level breakdown of the main carrier types for both analogue and digital format categories.
Appendix A shows a further breakdown of these carrier type format categories.
A detailed breakdown of all carrier types for each participating library is present in the data compiled from the survey. Individual comparative charts have not been created from this data for the report but Appendix A allows a numerical comparison.
Further breakdown and comparison between libraries’ holdings and equipment and device support would be useful to build a picture of where current digitisation and data transfer is possible, as well as centres of expertise across the NLSA libraries.
Figure 2 below shows the breakdown of the carrier types in more detail.
The biggest format categories are:
analogue audio – primarily magnetic tape (oral history) and vinyl record collections
digital audio – primarily published music on CD.
In general, both of these collections are well supported with in-house playback, across all NSLA libraries.
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Figure 2. Percentage and numbers of carriers in all collections, by carrier type.
For a full numerical breakdown of holdings by carrier type for each library, please see Appendix A.
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3. Methods Used by Libraries to Survey Collections
This metric indicates how libraries approached the task of counting carriers in their collections.
NLSA libraries were asked to provide their figures based on three different approaches . Results for these are shown below:
57% of the counts for carriers identified in the survey were ascertained by actual counts
29% of carrier types were counted by sampling the collections
14% of the carrier types were counted by best guess (anecdotal/historical knowledge or simply educated guess work).
The actual count includes an audit performed by sighting individual carriers as well as by interrogating LMS.
Often, libraries used different counting methods for different collections or when collections were in unprocessed backlogs.
Figure 3. Methods of counting the number of carriers in NSLA library collections.
The majority of NSLA libraries were able to provide actual counts; comprising physical counts of items and, more commonly, interrogation of metadata present in contents lists, finding aids and predominantly catalogue records contained in their LMS.
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4. Methods Used to Survey Collections – Individual Libraries
Figure 4 below shows a summary of the survey methods used by each library.
Deeper analysis of the type of counting method employed by each library , for each category of carrier type, is available from the data collected in the survey. Analysis has not been completed for this report.
Figure 4. Comparison of the survey methods used by individual NSLA libraries to count carriers .
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5. Level of Confidence in Counting Method
Libraries were asked to indicate how confident they were in the accuracy of their survey metrics for each carrier type format and carrier type that were present in their collection. Some libraries had an equal level of confidence in the numbers for all carrier types in their collection, while others had different levels of confidence for different carrier types.
In the national overall chart below, only 3% of carrier types were deemed to have a low confidence level associated with the numbers supplied to the survey. Seventy percent of carrier types (the majority of common carrier types) were deemed to have a medium level of confidence in the accuracy of the numbers reported for them.
Libraries also reported data quality issues in LMS, leading to suspected under-reporting of carrier numbers.
Figure 5. Confidence of count.
Libraries obtained their collection metrics by a number of methods, most commonly by performing actual counts – predominantly from interrogation of LMS – and less so by sampling or best guess estimation strategies. Though smaller libraries may present very accurate numbers, overall, the libraries only had a medium level of confidence in the numbers they submitted to the survey. This confidence level is further qualified by the impact of the unknown and backlogs in the unpublished collections (the ‘best guess’ counts) and by a sense that numbers derived from searching LMS (classified as ‘actual counts ’) may under-represent actual numbers of physical carriers present. This is due to a number of factors including approaches to cataloguing that do not focus on recording highly specific carrier details and types, and resourcing to undertake the granularity of cataloguing that would be required, particularly for unpublished collections .
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6. Level of Confidence in Counting Method – Individual Libraries
Numerical counts of obsolete physical carriers were required to be recorded in the survey. The ‘level of confidence’ as to whether these figures were accurate, varied. This also varied within each collection, for individual libraries.
The majority of carriers counted by ‘actual counts’ are in fact counted by interrogation of LMS, not by visible, hands-on sighting of physical carriers.
Figure 6. Comparison of the confidence each library had in counting carriers in their collections .
Results derived from LMS ‘actual counts ’ – where the expectation is that this may have been a somewhat accurate figure – need to be qualified, due to the way in which obsolete physical carriers are catalogued. Inconsistency and inaccuracy in cataloguing reduce confidence in the final figures produced.
Specific issues in obtaining accurate figures with actual counts include, but are not limited to :
a single catalogue record representing more than one obsolete physical carrier (i.e. ‘3 floppy disks’ has only been recorded as a single figure)
alternative spellings used to describe specific obsolete physical carrier s that were not captured in search results
detailed itemisation of collection materials does not describe the number of carriers (i.e. MiniDV tapes)
collection-level holding records, so both the type and number of obsolete physical carriers are unknown
incorrectly described obsolete physical carriers, as staff do not have the skill sets to identify specific carrier types (i.e. videotapes).
Clearly some collection metrics were well known, other collections were poorly known (for example in unprocessed, backlog collections). Nationally, the overall level of confidence in the accuracy of counts was clearly ranked as ‘medium’.
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7. Breakdown of Analogue Carriers by Carrier Type
This chart shows a further breakdown of the obsolete carrier analogue category into major carrier types. Actual numbers of each carrier type are shown.
The yellow bars indicate the percentage of each of the carrier types that have been digitised and transferred to other media or storage types.
In the national overall chart below, 34% of analogue audio on all carriers (magnetic tape, vinyl etc.) has been transferred from at-risk obsolete carriers to other storage media. This high result is consistent with the focus of many libraries on digitising the audio and oral history collection on magnetic tape.
Figure 7. Breakdown of analogue carriers and percentage digitised, by carrier type.
Audio collections include magnetic tape and vinyl/shellac and lacquer discs. Of these digitisation has been predominantly focussed on compact cassette and ¼” reels .
The development of a national framework for digitisation of audiovisual collections is under active consideration by national collecting institutions. NSLA should consider involvement, where possible .
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8. Breakdown of Digital Carriers by Carrier Type
Figure 8 below shows a further breakdown of the obsolete digital category into major carrier types.
Actual numbers of each carrier type are shown. Yellow bars indicate the percentage of each of the carrier types that have been have been digitally transferred to other media or storage types.
In the chart below, 12% of digital audio has been transferred from at-risk obsolete carriers to other storage media.
Figure 8. Breakdown of digital carriers by carrier type.
This category of carrier types is complex and presents a high degree of difficulty in planning, managing and undertaking digital preservation actions i.e. the workflow and policy for transferring content, and for establishing the standards and specifications, hardware and software tools required.
The category is also of high risk due to low levels of staff expertise, the availability of devices to support playback and data transfer of content, and minimal engagement with, and understanding of, the commercial sector’s capability.
Brief discussion with a university sector colleague indicates that there is potential to build relationships and investigate potential collaborations.
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9. Percentage of Carriers Digitised or Digitally Transferred
A considerable proportion of digitisation or transfer of content from obsolete physical carriers has already taken place.
Figure 9. Number of carriers transferred to a digital file format .
To date, digitisation has predominantly focussed on analogue audio carriers (magnetic tape). The combined libraries’ result is promising (28%) but this reflects the size of the collections nationally and the fact that the carrier type category includes magnetic tape and discs (records – all substrates).
Individual libraries have digitised large amounts of their audio collections (NLA 72%, SLNSW 62%, SLWA 48% and SLSA 30%).
Some data transfers have also taken place. Nationally only 10% of identified carriers have had content transferred to other storage media. This figure has been substantially influenced by the NLA, which has completed transfer of 85% of their holdings of digital audio (predominantly DAT). Four other libraries reported undertaking some data transfers (SLWA 4%, SLSA 9%, SLV 1% and SLNSW 0.2%). The remaining libraries reported no data transfers.
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10. Availability of Devices for Playback and Digitisation for Analogue Carrier Type Categories
Figure 10 below shows the percentage of total carriers in each type that are supported for in-house playback or digitisation and/or by digitisation services by external suppliers.
In the chart below, of the 195,737 analogue audio carriers (including all carrier sub-formats) identified in NSLA collections:
90% have devices available for playback (yellow bar)
89% have devices to allow in-house digitisation in one or more libraries (blue bar)
85% can be digitised by known external suppliers (green bar).
In contrast, of the 26,794 analogue film carriers identified:
89% have devices available for playback (yellow bar)
14% have devices to allow in-house digitisation in one or more libraries (blue bar)
36% can be digitised by known external suppliers (green bar).
Figure 10. Analogue carrier playback and digitisation support by carrier type.
The SLSA is the only NSLA library that has the ability to undertake in -house digitisation of analogue film and video carriers. The only exceptions of analogue carriers they are unable to digitise in-house include: EIAJ (J-Format) open reel (colour), open reel (2”) and Philips N1500 -N1700. All other analogue formats mentioned in the survey, they can digitise in -house.
While NSLA libraries may hold specific equipment for digitisation or data transfer of analogue carriers, this is not a good indication that the equipment has been configured as part of transfer workflow.
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11. Availability of Devices for Playback and Data Transfer for Digital Carrier Type Categories
Figure 11 below shows the percentage of total carriers in each type that are supported for in-house playback or data transfer and/or by data transfer services by external suppliers.
In the chart below, of the 78,988 digital audio carriers identified in NSLA collections (including all carrier sub-formats):
99.83% have devices available in-house for playback (yellow bar), which is to be expected as the bulk of these are published music on CD
97% have devices to allow in-house data transfer in one or more libraries (blue bar) which represents the current ease of copying/ripping music from CD
for less than 20%, libraries have used external suppliers to digitise these carriers (green bar).
Similarly, of the 735 digital moving image (film and video) carriers identified nationally by the survey:
80% have devices available for playback (yellow bar)
18% have devices to allow in-house digitisation in one or more libraries (blue bar)
80% have known external suppliers that can digitise these carriers (green bar).
In contrast, of the 49 published games carriers identified, only 24% of these have device support to allow playback.
Figure 11. Digital carrier playback and data transfer support by carrier type.
The SLSA is the only NSLA library that has the ability to undertake in -house digitisation of digital film and video carriers. The only digital film and video carriers they are unable to digitise in-house include: HDV, DVC-Pro (50 and HD), HDCAM and XDCAM. All other analogue formats mentioned in the survey, they have the capacity to digitise in-house.
While NSLA libraries may hold specific equipment for digitisation or data transfer of digital carriers, this is not a good indication that the equipment has been configured as part of transfer workflow.
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12. Number, Type and Condition of Equipment Held in Library Collections
The survey provided a detailed snapshot of each library’s equipment inventory related to viewing, playback, digitisation and data transfer of content on both analogue and digital physical carriers in library collections. Though not provided in this report, more detailed inventories of equipment in all participating libraries can be made available.
Figure 12. The functional status of in-house devices in numbers of devices.
Figure 13. The functional status of in-house devices as a percentage of the total number of devices .
Detail about availability of devices for each specific carrier type (at a combined, national level) can also be found in Appendix A.
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Computers listed here represent dedicated digital preservation, digitisation and analytic workstations, gaming machines or machines maintained with legacy operating systems.
Operational desktop computers, which may have playback, digitisation and/or data transfer support for common, current carrier types, are not included.
Results indicate a large number of playback, digitisat ion and data transfer devices are in an unknown state of repair.
24
Inhibitors and Issues Affecting Digitisation and Data Transfer
NSLA libraries have indicated a number of different inhibitors that they believe prevent them from undertaking the steps to ensure long-term preservation of content currently held on obsolete physical carriers. These inhibitors can be divided into a number of broad categories. The inhibitors listed are, by far, not all known inhibitors that will prevent transfer of content from obsolete physical carriers.
Inhibitors to Digitisation and Data Transfer
Budget:
cost of replay (for time-based carriers)
cost of undertaking these processes (including documentation)
purchasing legacy equipment is difficult, due to preferred purchasing channels (e.g.
equipment may only appear for sale on Amazon or eBay, however finance department
requires purchase of equipment from vendors).
Collection Materials on Obsolete Physical Carriers:
carrier degradation
sticky labels on disks
desire to process locally, but potential risk to carriers in humid, warm climates (NTL)
need to determine which copy is the best copy, in order to digitise
unsure of content contained on obsolete physical carriers
unsure of formats of carriers (e.g. magnetic tape reels) .
Infrastructure:
lacking a Digital Asset Management System and Digital Preservation System (ACT
Heritage Library)
no existing workflows for batch through-put for disk imaging optical media or floppy
disks
no in-house equipment
no end-to-end workflows have been developed to support digitisation or data transfers
equipment is not easy to source (e.g. no longer commercially available)
lacking appropriate equipment, such as 5¼ inch floppy disk drives and Catweasel cards
(SLNSW)
technical workbench for digital mater ials has not yet been established (SLSA)
bandwidth to cloud storage is not in place to support [transfer of] large files
equipment may be available and/or suitable within the organisation for digitisation or
data transfer, however the capacity to undertake digitisation or data transfer may not be
possible. This may be due to lack of facilities, equipment not being set up and
configured for digitisation or data transfer purposes, lack of workflows and lack of
resources dedicated to digitisation or data transfer of particular carriers (e.g. optical
media or video digitisation or data transfers).
Resources and Skills:
no staff available to undertake work
limited staff available to undertake transfer work (i.e. only part of one staff member’s
job)
no internal expertise or staff that have suitable skill sets (e.g. basic transfers through to
forensic disk imaging)
25
lack of expertise with specific content, such as games (SLWA) and 5¼ inch floppy disks
(SLNSW)
inability to identify different file systems and other dependencies .
Rights:
lack protection under the Copyright Act as they are not considered a Key Cultural
Institution (ACT Heritage Library)
collection material may be the preservation responsibility of other institutions or
jurisdictions
lack of understanding around copyright and access responsibilities
lack of understanding around EULAs and terms and agreements that may apply to
specific digital content.
Technical Inhibitors to Digitisation and Data Transfer
Issues with Transferring Optical Media:
no robust workflows for disk imaging
only manual disk imaging available
disk imaging tools that have specific technical limitations. For example the NLA has
reported about the capabilities of their disk imaging tool Prometheus: ‘… Latin-1
characters in filenames are supported by the bit -level preservation system at the
moment so no non-English material – except for a few languages like Indonesian
which are in the Latin alphabet – is preservable at the moment. ’
Issues with Transferring Floppy Disks:
no robust workflows for disk imaging
only manual disk imaging available
no older equipment available to address common issues with disks (e.g. less
common file system formats, contents of Mac files split between data forks and
resource forks etc.)
lacking the appropriate drives and other equipment (e.g. Catweasel and KryoFlux
cards).
Issues with Disk Imaging:
no forensic disk imaging procedures and tools have been put in place.
Issues with Digitisation of Analogue Material:
lack of agreement on preservation format for video material (e.g. VHS and U -matic)
slow throughput through real-time replay (NLA).
Dependency Issues:
operating systems required which are no longer available
software [is] incompatible with library technologies – which extends to including
legal deposit material (SLV).
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Commercial Suppliers Capable of Digitisation and Data Transfers
Based on information provided in the survey, the following companies/institutions have been used by NSLA libraries for external digitisation of audiovisual material on magnetic tape:
Crystal Mastering
DAMsmart
Winning Post Productions
WildBear Entertainment
Northern Territory Archives Service
Northern Territory of Australia, Secure Data Centre
Darwin ProVideo
FATS Digital
Procopy
National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) .
Three NSLA libraries have used Crystal Mastering and four NSLA libraries have used DAMsmart. All other companies have only been used by one NSLA library.
Other services used in the past by NSLA libraries include:
SpectrumData
Doctor Disk.
The SLNSW was not able to supply any details about commercial suppliers, due to this information being Commercial-in-Confidence, relating to tender/procurement activities currently underway.
A listing of potential service providers for digitisation, transfer and digital content recovery has also been created by internet research and word-of-mouth recommendation. It lists suppliers in each capital city based on a number of criteria/services that their website information indicated they met .
This listing is not ready for release yet and requires further validation. The question of whether this would appear to constitute a list of NSLA-recommended suppliers also remains open – this may have commercial and/or legal implications and requires further consideration.
The list of suppliers will be considered as a possible Stage 2 deliverable.
27
Non-NSLA Organisations with Audiovisual and Digital Equipment and Expertise
An investigation of organisations with digitisation and data transfer capabilities outside NSLA libraries was not pursued as part of the Stage 1 deliverables.
It is known that suitable equipment and the high-level technical skill sets necessary for audiovisual digitisation (e.g. film and video) are maintained in several national organisations in Australia , including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), the NFSA and the National Archives of Australia (NAA). Skill sets and the equipment for data transfer may exist in other selected national or state-based organisations within and outside of the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector . The potential for NLSA libraries to collaborate with known national audiovisual collecting institutions, as well as other national and state collecting institutions should be investigated.
One example of this is the Computer Archaeology Laboratory at Flinders University, launched in April 2015, and associated with the Play It Again project and the Australasian Heritage Software Database, has the equipment suitable for undertaking transfers from floppy disks. It is expected that capabilities at the Computer Archaeology Lab will continue to develop and collaboration with NLSA libraries needs investigation.
Other Information Services
While the knowledge and skill sets required for specific identification of different obsolete physical carriers are not widely available in NSLA libraries, there are services that can assist staff in NSLA libraries to identify specific carrier types.
Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement (http://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/TOC.html) – this provides guidance on a range of file formats that could be referred to when negotiating with clients and donors on saving a selection of creative outputs.
Mediapedia (http://mediapedia.nla.gov.au/) – developed by staff at the NLA, which contains technical metadata and associated images of carrier types. Ongoing contributions to the content come from members of the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), plus staff from Archives New Zealand (ANZ), the NFSA and the Powerhouse Museum.
Video Format Identification Guide (http://videopreservation.conservation-us.org/vid_id/) – developed by Sarah Stauderman and Paul Meisser with an obsolescence rating developed by Andrew Robb. The tool organises video carrier formats into three groups (1956-1970, 1970-1985 and 1985-1995) with an obsolescence rating applied to each carrier that is documented in this service.
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Long-Term Preservation Responsibilities
A fundamental principle underpinning libraries’ motivations to preserve content on obsolete physical carriers is determination of which collections they consider to be their responsibility. Survey questions were designed to capture individual library views on their preservation responsibilities.
Unpublished Materials
There is consensus between NSLA libraries regarding their preservation responsibilities for unpublished materials. NSLA libraries believe it is their responsibility to preserve between 75% (Manuscripts, NLA) to 100% (ACT Heritage Library) of their unpublished material collections, even if they do not have the rights to provide access to the material. Most NSLA libraries indicat ed that 90% to 100% of unpublished collections are intended for long-term preservation.
Selection decisions and significance assessments are, on the whole, undertaken at the time of acquisition.
As expected, NSLA libraries’ preservation responsibilities lie predominantly with unpublished materials. They are considered valuable and irreplaceable parts of NLSA libraries’ collections . However, generally speaking, NSLA libraries do not have a comprehensive understanding of the obsolete physical carriers held in unpublished collections .
Published Materials
There is also some consensus between NSLA libraries regarding their preservation responsibilit ies for the published materials in their collections. On the whole, NSLA libraries agree that they will preserve published materials where the preservation responsibility lies with them (e.g. published in their state), yet there are still exceptions to the specific content that is being preserved (or intended to be preserved). Depending on the content and the carriers, the preservation responsibility of NSLA libraries for published materials is considered to range from 5% up to approximately 90%.
If more than one copy of content on a physical carrier exists, NSLA libraries are following best practice and the ‘best copy’ of the material is the one that will be preserved. However, NSLA libraries generally indicate a lack of certainty in determining which, of any duplicates, comprises the best copy.
Library policies and guidelines influence how long-term preservation of published materials is considered. For example, the NLA now has a policy to preserve all Australian Monographs, whereas the SLNSW considers that obsolete physical carriers are ‘… given a useful life of seven years under the Library's Depreciation of Collection Assets Policy ’. Several libraries, including the NLA and NTL, are in the process of reviewing their collection policies, which may influence the long-term preservation responsibilities of some materials. Legislative changes for other libraries that do not have legal deposit to support electronic materials may be made possible following th e NLA’s recent success in this area.
Two NSLA libraries (NTL and SLSA) did not include the majority of their reference collections in the survey as they deemed the material in these collections outside the scope of long -term preservation responsibilities. Other NSLA libraries did include the figures for their published collections in the survey, yet they do not intend this material to be preserved for the long-term. For example, SLQ, which has ‘… no intention at this stage of preserving published DVDs, CDs etc., as the content is available in numerous places ’.
Preservation may be selective. The NLA states that their published collections with digital carriers ‘… selected as high priority for digital preservation have had a preservation copy made. Lower priority material may have a copy made in future, as time and resources permit. ’ The NLA will also preserve music scores arriving on optical media. However, optical media that accompanies print music scores, including ‘… multimedia such as video and audio recordings of performances are collected if they come in with musical scores but they are not preserved ’.
29
Items held in reference collections are also subject to being deselected at any time. For example, NTL states that ‘[m]aterial in our general collections may be deselected at any time …’ and SLNSW advises that it ‘… dispose[d] of its U-matic collection several years ago. It is also feasible that the Library has disposed of the majority of 5¼ inch floppy disks containing published materials, due to “technical obsolescence” preventing staff from being able to play back the content ’. Conversely, SLV has reported that they intend to preserve 100% of their collection.
Other material outside the scope of long-term preservation includes:
access copies of materials (including content held in NSLA library collections and other collections e.g. LINC Tasmania also holds the NFSA’s ‘Hobart Access Collection’)
the majority of overseas materials
some accompanying carriers.
The intent for the long-term preservation of content currently on obsolete physical carriers is to be able to provide access, except where ‘embargo conditions’ or permission restrictions do not allow for this to be possible.
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Risks to Obsolete Physical Carriers
Information stored on these physical carrier types is at risk of loss due to:
degradation and failure of the physical carrier itself
discontinued support for older file formats and software obsolescence
inability to source or maintain the hardware required to correctly play or render that content.
Magnetic Media
Content on magnetic media is universally agreed to be at very high risk of loss . The NFSA has just launched an awareness campaign, Deadline 2025: collections at risk1, stating that there is now consensus among audiovisual archives internationally, that tape not digitised by the year 2025 will, in most cases, be lost forever.
Optical Media
Studies on the lifespan of optical media (CDs and DVDs etc.) where data is ‘burnt’ to disc – as opposed to commercially mastered and pressed – indicate that lifespans are somewhere between two and five years2, with anecdotal evidence suggesting that the data may only be easily readable for a period of ten years.3 Other reports indicate that ‘… optical media manufacturers claim five years of shelf life for blank disks and twenty to thirty years of life after recording ’.4 It is difficult to determine the exact lifespan of optical media carriers and ‘[a]s burners and players are not standardised, the data quality and life expectancy is to some extent unpredictable ’.5
Changing Technology
In addition to issues related to physical carriers, the rapid evolution of technology and relentless churn of new file formats and various dependencies present additional problems for sustainability of digital content, on all carrier types.
Published Collections – Lack of Clarity about Preservation Responsibility
NSLA libraries have stated that they do not preserve published materials that are not their preservation responsibility, i.e. the material is the responsibility of another state. However, given the fragility of some types of obsolete physical carriers, there is a risk that the library responsible for long-term preservation of an item may not have the copy in their collection, due to lack of legal deposit legislation for electronic materials in some states. If they do have a copy, it may not be the ‘best copy’ or may no longer be a ‘working copy’, with a better copy existing in another NSLA library. Additionally, some selection decisions mean that preservation of an entire item is not taking place.
1 National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, Deadline 2025: collections at risk, 26 October 2015, http://www.nfsa.gov.au/2025/, accessed 1 November 2015.
2 Blau, J., PC World, ‘IBM expert warns of short life span for burned CDs’, 11 January 2006, http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/146374/ibm_expert_warns_short_life_span_burned_cds/, accessed 1 November 2015.
3 Langley, S., Australia Council for the Arts, Archives in the Digital Era Scoping Study Report, August 2012, p. 68, https://web.archive.org/web/20120918055303/http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/resources/reports_and_publications/artforms/digital,_new_media_and_film/archives_in_the_digital_era, accessed 1 November 2015.
4 Conservation Online, NARA/Long-Term Usability of Optical Media, ‘The National Archives and Records Administration and the Long-Term Usability of Optical Media for Federal Records: Three Critical Problem Areas’, 24 November 2008, http://cool.conservation-us.org/bytopic/electronic-records/electronic-storage-media/critiss.html, accessed 6 November 2015.
5 Bradley, K., Memory of the World Programme, Sub-Committee on Technology, Risks Associated with the Use of Recordable CDs and DVDs as Reliable Storage Media in Archival Collections – Strategies and Alternatives, UNESCO, Paris, 2006, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001477/147782E.pdf, accessed 6 November 2015.
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Unpublished Collections and Backlogs
It is known that a significant proportion of obsolete physical carriers exist in unpublished collections. The majority of NSLA libraries are unable to identify the range or the specific types of obsolete physical carriers held in these collections, nor the numbers of each type of carrier. Most NSLA libraries indicated they have backlogs of unprocessed collections of whi ch they have little or no real information as to whether physical carriers are present. The lack of a comprehensive scope of what is held in unpublished collections and backlogs is identified as a significant risk.
Optical Media in Unpublished Collections
NSLA libraries have identified that, by far, their long-term preservation responsibilities are for their unpublished material with approximately 75% to 100% of these collections intended for long -term preservation. It can be assumed that, by far, most digi tal optical media held in unpublished collections has been ‘burnt’ (and perhaps with sub -optimal settings), and the lifespan of these obsolete physical carriers, while not immediately known, is fairly short -term. In addition, due to these carriers having been potentially stored in sub-optimal conditions, prior to coming into NLSA libraries’ control, this may contribute to the shortening of these carriers’ lifespans.
Lessons Learnt
While this survey has been able to give a high-level indication of the approximate numbers of obsolete physical carriers in NSLA library collections, should further analysis be required, then the following approaches would be taken:
data would be collected separately for unpublished collections and published collections
a fixed set of obsolete physical carrier type categories would be agreed on – NSLA libraries
would need to record their results against these specific categories, rather than add ing their
own.
This would simplify data ‘wrangling’ and be able to produce a streamlined set of figures.
Additionally, in future, components of surveys need to be completed by staff who have adequate
knowledge of the specific area (e.g. audio preservation). This would alleviate incorrect data and
minimise fact-checking.
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Conclusions
While libraries have been able to provide ‘actual counts’ for their obsolete physical carriers, it is
acknowledged that this figure of 394,832 under-represents what is held in NSLA library collections.
The ability to gather accurate figures and identify all obsolete carriers in NSLA library collections is
an important, but known, issue.
Unpublished collections have been identified across NSLA libraries as of primary long -term
preservation responsibility for each library. It is also acknowledged by NSLA libraries that accurate
numbers and specific detail of obsolete physical carriers held in archival collections and backlog
collections (primarily consisting of unpublished collections) is not well known, and this places
content on the carriers at significant risk.
The knowledge of specific details for obsolete physical carriers held in unpublished and
unprocessed collections is a key issue. Carriers with little information known about them or those
in unknown locations – due to a range of reasons including lifespan limitations, technological
obsolescence, the availability of working drives available for use in transferring the content and the
fragility of the carriers themselves – are at significant risk.
It is difficult to determine whether comprehensive preservation of published materials, split across
NSLA libraries that hold responsibility for long-term preservation of specific materials, is actually
taking place.
There is more equipment than expected spread across NSLA libraries, yet playback equipment is
more common than equipment dedicated to digitisation or data transfer. While equipment for
digitisation or data transfer may be available, a range of inhibitors may prevent this from taking
place (e.g. lack of workflows, resourcing or staff with appropriate skillsets). Smaller NSLA libraries
have less equipment available.
A dedicated survey of skill sets and the staffing resources needed to undertake digitisation and data
transfers is yet to take place, however, it can be said that there is better support for both in -house
and external digitisation than there is for data transfers.
Analogue audio has been well handled by both in-house digitisation programs and by the
established capability of external service providers. Moving image (film and video) needs
considerably more emphasis and will benefit from developing national standards and practices,
influenced by international practices. Dedicated long-term commitment to digitisation by selected
libraries - with particular areas of focus (e.g. the NLA for audio and SLSA for moving image) –
should be commended. Data transfers from disks and optical media (particularly unpublished
materials) is lacking and requires attention.
While the figures for the percentage of data transfers that have taken place are promising, this is
somewhat skewed by the digitisation of DATs. A considerable number of digital carriers are held in
processed unpublished collections and unprocessed published collections and will continue to be
acquired by NSLA libraries.
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Recommendations
The following recommendations relate to issues arising from Stage 1, principally to the survey results. These are considered preliminary recommendations and will be revisited in Stage 2.
Collaboration
The development of a national framework for digitisation of audiovisual collections is under active consideration by heads of national collecting institutions. Consideration of the significance and shared needs at the state level are a part of that process. NSLA engagement with this process as it evolves is critical.
Collection Management
NSLA libraries should undertake focussed surveys of their unpublished collections,
including:
o unknown content in processed collections
o identification of ‘best copies’ and last -known ‘working’ copies
o backlogs of unprocessed collections.
Policies and workflows for new acquisitions containing obsolete physical carriers need to be established so content can be transferred at, or close to, the time of acquisition, rather than remaining in backlogs for an undisclosed period.
Previous NSLA and NSLA libraries’ work to expose unprocessed unpublished collections,
and brief records, created could be built upon to better describe obsolete physical car riers in
backlogs, as well as in new acquisitions.
Investigate the potential for arranging ‘like with like’, in order to remove analogue and digital
obsolete physical carriers from paper-based archival collections. This would enable these
carriers to be located in more suitable environmental conditions and would make it easier to
gather accurate figures for the different types of carriers. While it is understood this may not
be possible for backlog materials, this is recommended for new acquisitions (where it is not
already taking place).
Review and/or introduce consistency in LMS descriptions of physical carriers across NSLA
libraries.
Commit to the NSLA Principles of Digital Collecting6 for all new acquisitions arriving on obsolete physical carriers to ensure timely digitisation or data transfer in order to mitigate risk of further degradation or obsolescence, while acknowledging and aligning with each NSLA library’s own prioritisation and workflow processes.
Preservation Strategy
A comprehensive preservation strategy for all NSLA libraries, as well as potential for
collaboration with other organisations that have expertise with specific formats, needs to be
developed in order to effectively digitise or digitally transfer content on obsolete physical
carriers in the next five to ten years. Under-reporting issues with actual counts (that rely on
interrogating LMS) suggest the numbers, and therefore the risk to physical carriers, is higher
than survey results indicate.
Clarification of preservation responsibility for published material on obsolete carriers needs
to be determined. A strategy for how this should take place needs to be developed. This
strategy should also incorporate organisations outside of NSLA libraries whose collections
contain some of the same materials, such as the AIATSIS and the NFSA.
6 National and State Libraries Australasia, Principles of Digital Collecting, March 2013, http://www.nsla.org.au/publication/principles-digital-collecting, accessed 17 February 2016.
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Risk profiles for physical carrier types need to be established to inform planning and
schedule for digitisation and data transfer.
Consider the possibility of the repatriation of carriers of published material to libraries which
have preservation responsibility for the content – within the lifespan of these carriers –
where the only, or best quality copy, is held by a library that does not h ave preservation
responsibility for this material. The NSLA Australian Newspaper Plan (ANPlan) model should
be considered as a possible basis for undertaking efforts around obsolete physical carriers.
Consider the possibility of repatriation of carriers to non-NSLA where preservation
responsibility is not and will never be held by NSLA libraries. For example recordings
created by the ABC, where rights are owned by the ABC.
The visibility of preservation actions in LMS should be investigated, so that other NSLA and
non-NSLA institutions are able to identify whether preservation of collection material has
taken place.
Resources and Skills
Libraries need to build and retain analogue and digital preservation skill sets to support the
ongoing receipt of both audiovisual and digital unpublished materials in future acquisitions.
There is a reasonable expectation that the volume will grow in the near future as collection
owners become aware of issues and seek placement with collecting institutions.
Where it is appropriate, libraries should consider repurposing equipment currently used for
playback and place this in controlled areas where equipment can be utilised for undertaking
digitisation and data transfers to produce preservation-quality copies.
Resourcing and Scoping
Any further in-depth surveys must be suitably resourced within each NSLA library; obtaining accurate numbers is a resource-intensive activity.
Developing costings and scoping of work required to address the issue of at -risk content held on obsolete physical carriers will require each NSLA library to undertake more comprehensive searches to obtain more accurate figures.
35
Next Steps
The scope of Stage 2 of the NSLA Obsolete Physical Carriers project will be developed in the first
quarter of 2016 with the final report and recommendations delivered by November 2016 .
Scott Wajon, Somaya Langley and Damien Cassidy
State Library of New South Wales
25 February 2016
The authors would like to express their sincere appreciation to all the NSLA library staff that contributed to gathering the survey data from the extensive and complex NSLA collections.
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NSLA Obsolete Physical Carriers Report
Appendix A
Appendix A: Library Collection Holdings and Format Support by Carrier Type
This table illustrates the numbers of each carrier type held in individual agencies. It also shows how many libraries have support for the carrier type. Carrier numbers highlighted in red denote where a library holds a carrier type but there is no format support (equipment) in any l ibrary.
Format support numbers show the count of libraries, which support the format. Format Support for ‘Format Unknown ’ shows the count of libraries, which have support for every format grouped into the unknown category. For example, the figures shown in the third row in the table ‘Digital: Data (Unpublished content): DATA CD/DVD (Format Unknown) ’ count libraries that have support for both Data CD and Data DVD. Libraries that only support one of those formats have not been included.
The Format support cells (last three columns) have been formatted on a scale of green, amber to red, to show the health of support across libraries.
Carrier Type A
CT
Her
itag
e L
ibra
ry
LIN
C T
asm
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(A
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ives
)
LIN
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Dig
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Su
pp
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Lib
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ith
Ext
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Dig
itis
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n/T
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Su
pp
ort
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Data CD (any content on recordable CD-R) 438 0 730 1,547 404 233 1,900 550 116 12 5,930 9 8 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Data DVD (any content on recordable DVD-R) 61 0 73 270 104 97 225 640 28 12 1,510 9 8 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): DATA CD/DVD (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 144 0 144 8 7 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): USB flash drive (memory stick, thumb drive) 2 0 0 10 0 110 4 6 0 25 157 8 7 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Memory card ( SD, Compact flash) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 6 7 5 4 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): External hard disk drive (external hard drive) 1 0 0 7 0 7 1 3 2 2 23 8 7 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): USB/Card/Ext HDD (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 5 4 0
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Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Internal hard drive (in a laptop or desktop computer) 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 10 14 7 4 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): 3 1/2 inch floppy disk 105 0 0 0 21 816 105 881 2 50 1,980 4 3 2
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): 5 1/4 inch floppy disk 9 0 0 0 7 62 27 1 0 50 156 3 2 1
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Floppy Disk (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 742 0 215 71 0 2 0 1,030 3 3 2
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Jazz disk 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Zip disk 0 0 0 4 0 5 0 0 0 0 9 2 1 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): SyQuest cartridge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Jazz/Zip/SyQuest (Format Unknown) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Data on Cassette tape (e.g. DLT, SDLT, LTO etc.) 2,099 0 0 0 0 76 0 0 0 0 2,175 3 2 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Digital Linear Tape (DLT) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): Linear Tape-Open (LTO) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): DTO/LTO (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Digital: Audio: Published Audio CD (music/sound on CD) 0 0 696 1,303 451 38,795 766 5,380 8,562 14,153 70,106 9 7 2
Digital: Audio: Digital Audio Tape (DAT) 0 0 0 7,961 13 454 0 108 23 75 8,634 6 3 3
Digital: Audio: MiniDisc 7 0 0 11 29 4 0 53 67 10 181 3 2 2
Digital: Audio: DAT/MiniDisc (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0
Digital: Moving image/Movies (published discs): Published DVDs (MPEG-2 encoded) 0 0 421 967 600 1,709 517 1,184 1,443 3,093 9,934 8 4 2
Digital: Moving image/Movies (published discs): Blu-Ray 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 0 5 2 1 1
Digital: Moving image/Movies (published discs): DVD/Blu-ray - Format Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0
Digital: Moving image (digital video): Consumer Formats - e.g. miniDV 2 0 0 0 0 4 10 0 0 25 41 1 0 2
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Digital: Moving image (digital video): Pro formats - DVCAM, HDV, DVC-Pro, Digital Betacam, HDCAM, XD CAM etc. 4 0 0 0 0 0 150 136 15 100 405 2 1 3
Digital: Moving image (digital video): Digital Video Tape (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 289 0 0 0 0 0 0 289 2 0 1
Digital: Electronic Resources: Published Data/Multimedia resources on CD/DVD 822 0 0 10,643 100 0 0 6,855 2,584 50 21,054 7 5 0
Digital: Electronic Resources: Published Data/Multimedia on floppy disk 1 0 0 947 0 0 0 252 288 50 1,538 4 3 0
Digital: Electronic Resources: Published Data/Multimedia (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0
Digital: Games (Published): Games on cartridge or card 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 0 0 0
Digital: Games (Published): Games on cassette 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 0 0 0
Digital: Games (Published): Games on floppy disk/magnetic media 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 12 13 0 0 0
Digital: Games (Published): Games on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 2 0 0
Digital: Games (Published): Games (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Digital: Software (Published): Software on cartridge or card 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 0 0 0
Digital: Software (Published): Software on cassette 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 0 0 0
Digital: Software (Published): Software on floppy disk/magnetic media 0 0 23 0 0 0 0 0 16 12 51 2 1 0
Digital: Software (Published): Software on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 8,100 8,105 4 1 0
Digital: Software (Published): Software (Unknown Format) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Analogue: Audio: Compact (standard) cassette tape (any length) 30 0 201 15,922 848 17,410 0 11,945 19,744 2,000 68,100 10 7 4
Analogue: Audio: Microcassette/minicassette 1,192 0 0 296 2 95 0 31 82 60 1,758 3 3 3
Analogue: Audio: Cassette (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 2,214 1,700 0 0 0 3,914 3 3 2
Analogue: Audio: Magnetic tape reel (any size) 1,510 0 0 20,771 153 1,383 20 1,990 737 3,500 30,064 7 6 5
Analogue: Audio: Vinyl discs 1 0 341 197 0 103 165 4,566 13,526 54,998 73,897 5 3 3
39
Analogue: Audio: Shellac discs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 468 0 12,830 13,298 2 2 1
Analogue: Audio: Gramophone Disc (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 335 0 0 0 0 335 4 3 1
Analogue: Audio: Lacquer (Instantaneous) discs 0 0 0 71 0 0 0 286 0 6 363 1 1 0
Analogue: Audio: Cylinders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 136 0 200 336 1 0 1
Analogue: Moving image (film): 8mm film and Super 8 film 3 0 0 0 64 5 0 664 300 12 1,048 4 1 0
Analogue: Moving image (film): 9.5mm film 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 188 2 12 203 2 1 2
Analogue: Moving image (film): 16 mm film 20 0 0 2 121 11,670 0 2,806 5,593 12 20,224 7 1 4
Analogue: Moving image (film): Small Gauge(8-16mm) Film (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 792 1,700 0 0 0 2,492 2 1 1
Analogue: Moving image (film): 35mm (acetate) film 0 0 0 0 55 0 0 2 64 12 133 3 0 4
Analogue: Moving image (film): 35mm (nitrate) film 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 12 16 1 0 1
Analogue: Moving image (film): 35mm Film (Substrate Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 16 30 0 0 0 46 1 0 1
Analogue: Moving image (film): Magnetic full coat sound (acetate) - any size 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31 0 12 43 2 0 1
Analogue: Moving image (film): Magnetic full coat sound (polyester) - any size 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 12 1 0 0
Analogue: Moving image (film): Magnetic Film (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 10 1 0 1
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer formats - VHS, S-VHS etc. 468 0 562 1,630 1,584 13,416 0 3,667 6,652 2,247 30,226 10 3 5
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer formats - Betamax 0 0 0 76 0 0 0 26 0 12 114 3 1 1
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer formats - EIAJ (J-Format) open reel 0 0 0 3 0 9 50 13 0 12 87 3 1 2
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer formats - Video 8, Hi 8 etc. 14 0 0 5 2 15 0 57 0 12 105 3 1 2
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer Video Tape (Format Unknown) 11 0 0 0 0 1,506 0 0 0 0 1,517 2 1 1
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Pro formats - Betacam, Betacam SP etc. 405 0 0 115 8 18 0 423 376 12 1,357 4 2 3
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Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Pro formats - U-matic 157 0 0 27 810 7 0 738 974 12 2,725 5 2 3
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Pro formats - open reel (1", 2") 0 0 0 38 1 0 15 638 75 12 779 2 1 4
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Pro Video Tape (Format Unknown) 0 0 0 0 0 0 400 0 0 0 400 1 1 1
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Laserdisc 0 0 0 0 5 120 0 0 1 16 142 1 0 1
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer formats - VHS-C, S-VHS-C 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 58 0 0 0
Analogue: Audio: Audio Cartridge (Unknown Format) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Digital: Audio: Digital Multitrack (ADAT, DTRS) 0 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 1 1 0
Digital: Data (Unpublished content): 8 inch floppy disk 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0
Digital: Software (Published): Published apps on mobile devices 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 1 0 0
Analogue: Moving Image (analogue video): Consumer formats - Philips N1500-N1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 9 0 0 0
41
NSLA Obsolete Physical Carriers Report
Appendix B
Appendix B: Survey Constraints and Issues
A number of issues became evident during the planning and execution of the survey that have influenced the direction, structure and content of the work package, as it was originally defined.
1. Survey Responses
The Obsolete Physical Carriers survey template was disseminated and an initial deadline for responses was set for 28 August 2015. Due to difficulties reported in gathering suitable figures, the majority of NSLA libraries were unable to provide responses by the initial deadline. A second deadline of 25 September 2015 was set with even the second deadline unable to be met by several libraries, with outstanding surveys being submitted in mid-October 2015. As previously mentioned, the NLNZ was unable to provide a survey response.
These delays have resulted in a very short time period remaining in the schedule to analyse the survey results (a large and complex dataset), to seek clarification from participating libraries and to draft the report. Individual libraries have had the opportunity to check t heir data and clarify their responses but have not been directly involved in the writing of this report.
2. Scope of Work
Initially this work package intended to provide a comprehensive audit of obsolete carriers, equipment lists, standards, staff technical skill sets, in-house and external digitisation capability, and to provide high-level strategic recommendations to NSLA CEOs for future planning.
The scope of the original work package was too large for a single project, given the tight schedule, competing priorities and lead staff time constraints. A two-stage approach was recommended and approved at the Digital Infrastructure working group meeting in July 2015. Deliverables relating to standards and specifications, staff capabilities, collaboration with non-NSLA institutions (e.g. audiovisual collecting organisations and the university sector), commercial partnering and strategic recommendations will constitute the second work package of this project.
The current view of the two-stage approach is:
Stage 1 – Completing the survey dataset (at the time of DIRG presentation, two major libraries had not responded) and producing a report on the findings, focussing on the survey of carriers and equipment – representing the status of carriers in NLSA libraries. This report was due at the November 2015 NSLA CEOs meeting.
Stage 2 – Investigate service providers, skills and expertise in libraries, the collaboration potential with other non-NSLA institutions, list preferred formats and standards, recommend potential collaborations and engage with the commercial sector. The Stage 2 scope is due at
42
the March 2016 NSLA CEOs meeting, with the final report and recommendations due at the November 2016 NSLA CEOs meeting.
Information about preferred preservation formats, risk profiles and standards for the digitisation and transfer of legacy digital formats was unable to be researched/sourced in the timeframe available for Stage 1. Additionally, it was identified that investigating potential service providers that can provide maintenance and repair of obsolete equipment used in digitisation and data transfer of obsolete physical carriers should also be considered in Stage 2. Given the complexity of these topics when applied to digital carriers, the feasibility of addressing this topic as a Stage 2 deliverable may also need to be reconsidered.
3. Carrier Identification and Collection Scope Issues
Six of the nine libraries (including the ACT Heritage Library, NLA, SLNSW, SLSA, SLWA and LINC Tasmania) have indicated that the figures provided are subject to limitations by their LMS, including limitations provided by legacy systems that do not provide statistical data at the level that was required by the Obsolete Carriers Survey . This includes the issues of under-representation and the inability to gather precise figures for specific carrier types.
Under-representation where:
o counts retrieved only represent a single carrier however , more than one carrier is associated with the item
o media accompanied a print publication (such as a CD in the back of a book) o certain sections of NSLA libraries’ collections were not included in the survey,
due to difficulties gathering figures o information about archival collections is only held in Finding Aids o numbers or specific types of carriers are unable to be identified in unpublished
collections o figures were held in legacy systems (such as card catalogues and a paper -based
register) o insufficient granularity and/or accuracy in the naming of carrier formats o LMS searches were not undertaken for all alternative spellings and misspellings
of carrier types.
Inability to gather precise figures for specific carrier types :
o some libraries were unable to split out separate figures for carriers such as Blu -Ray from other optical media counts
o 5¼ inch versus 3½ inch floppy disks were not able to be identified separately o shellac may have appeared in vinyl counts o ‘Data’ CDs and DVDs versus ‘published’ commercially mastered CDs and DVDs o general limitations regarding identification and counting of non -print formats.
Two libraries (NTL and SLSA) also chose not to include their reference collection in the survey as they advised it could be deselected at any time and this material did not meet their requirements for long-term preservation.
The SLNSW reported some over-representation, including where counts for different types of video tapes and vinyl records may have been counted in both the figures produced by the LMS as well as separate cataloguing (e.g. ‘VT’ and ‘GR’) runs. Staff advised that it was impossible to identify and remove the duplication.
Additional over-representation of figures may come from the same item held in multiple NSLA library collections, however this would be difficult to identify. In order to ensure no duplication of preservation work takes place across NLSA libraries is to modify cataloguing practices, to indicate when an item has been successfully preserved.
43
Due to the degree of uncertainty around contents held in unpublished collections and backlogs, there may also be carriers that on close inspect ion will never fall within the preservation responsibility of NSLA libraries (e.g. duplicate copies of material from broadcasters, where broadcasters retain the rights). Steps should be taken to work collaboratively with non-NSLA organisations to ensure these materials are repatriated to suitable organisations who hold appropriate rights (and who can undertake preservation), where these carriers are thought to be the only known copy.
While libraries have been able to provide us with figures, the exact amoun t of under-representation is currently unquantifiable. Additionally, if legislative changes take place, or state libraries decide their published reference collections are worthy of long-term preservation, then the actual recognised numbers of obsolete carriers in collections may increase significantly.
In follow-up discussions, NSLA libraries have also indicated that due to the estimation of figures, this information cannot be relied upon exactly to develop costings and scoping of the work needing to be done.
4. Backlogs
There were some issues NSLA libraries identified which prevented them reporting accurately on the numbers of obsolete physical carriers found in libraries’ backlogs, including the ability to estimate figures in units of measure (common across all libraries) as well as the percentage of collections that do not have a basic associated electronic record. Additionally, libraries interpreted the survey question about collection backlogs differently, and there was not enough time available to revisit all libraries ’ responses.
At least three libraries (LINC Tasmania, SLQ and SLV) were unable to provide any real detail on the scope of their backlog collections. By contrast, the ACT Heritage Library, NLA and SLWA have been able to provide figures in at least one unit of measurement and advise that 99% to 100% of their backlog has an associated electronic record.
The following table indicates the scope of the backlog of collection materials, which are yet to be processed.
Library Backlog
(shelf metres)
Backlog
(number of collections)
Backlog
(number of items)
Percentage of Backlog with Associated Electronic Record
ACT Heritage Library
153 17 Estimate not provided
100%
LINC Tasmania Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
5%
National Library of Australia
62 (Manuscripts)
138 (Manuscripts)
Estimate not provided (Manuscripts)
1,300 (Oral History & Folklore)
100% (Manuscripts)
99% (Oral History & Folklore)
44
Northern Territory Library
Estimate not provided
Not a relevant metric
120 (film items)
810 (U-matic items)
500 (VHS items)
8 (Betacam items)
8 (Video items)
153 (Magnetic tape reel items)
700 (Cassette tapes)
0%
State Library of New South Wales
Estimate not provided
Approx. 1200 (primarily Manuscripts, some Oral History and Pictures)
Estimate not provided
85%
State Library of Queensland
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
100% (Collection-level records only)
State Library of South Australia7
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
Approx. 7,700
(or 17% of carriers)
90%
State Library Victoria8
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
State Library of Western Australia9
Estimate not provided
Estimate not provided
2980 (titles)
3000 (cans – moving image film)
99%
Table 2. Estimation of NSLA library backlogs measured by common metrics (shelf metres, number of collections and number of items) and indicating percentage of backlogs with associated records.
NSLA libraries have indicated that their collection backlogs contain predominantly unpublished materials. What is not known are the exact numbers of the types of obsolete physical carriers in existing unpublished material collections. (This is also an issue for unpublished collections that have been processed.)
As NSLA libraries have identified unpublished materials as their main long -term preservation priority, obsolete physical carriers in backlogs are considered at risk.
7 SLSA only included South Australiana collections, where they have preservation responsibility, and only the original carriers (not the surrogates).
8 SLV has indicated they hold over three-and-a-half shelf kilometres of processed unpublished collections.
9 SLWA have only been able to provide figures for their known backlog of obsolete carriers, not their entirety of their backlog. There are known materials that have not been included in this estimation, e.g. pictorial materials.
45
NSLA Obsolete Physical Carriers Report
Appendix C
Appendix C: Work Package – Obsolete Physical Carriers Project
Project Title: NSLA Digital Infrastructure Project Stage 2
Work Package Title: Obsolete Physical Carriers
Work Package Number:
Date: 26 June 2015
Version: 0.1
Author: Scott Wajon, State Library of New South Wales
a) Description
The aim of this work package is to scope a subproject of the Digital Infrastructure Project that will provide an overview of the nature and extent of obsolete physical carriers currently in NSLA collections. This work package will consider options for collaborative approaches to specifications, data recovery options, supplier resources and cost-sharing strategies.
b) Outcomes
Results of the work package will give a high-level audit of the extent and nature of the problem that NSLA Libraries face in saving analogue and digital content that is stored on physical carriers. It will also assist institutions to share knowledge and expertise and provide a roadmap to approaching commercial suppliers of digitisation, data transfer and data recovery services.
c) List of Products/Deliverables:
1. a high-level survey and analysis of the number and range of physical formats in NSLA member collections
2. a survey of the types of legacy audiovisual equipment available in NSLA institutions
3. a list of skill sets/expertise and resources in individual NSLA libraries to transfer legacy data to preservation formats
4. a list of non-NSLA organisations which have specific equipment and expertise
5. a list of commercial suppliers which provide local (state based) or national data transfer services
6. a list of preferred preservation formats and standards for digitisation and transfer of legacy formats
7. analysis and report.
d) Techniques / Processes / Policies / Procedures to be Used (New and Existing)
Data will be collected by survey, liaison with and input from workgroup members. Information about vendor capability will be ascertained via work group input, internet research and direct contact with service providers.
46
Collection of existing documents/lists from working group members
Analysis and interpretation of existing and collected information
Development of an Executive Report with recommendations
e) Dependencies / Relationships between Products
Work can proceed concurrently with most deliverables for this work package
f) Dependencies Outside of this Work Package
A number of other groups are working in related areas, including:
NSLA Digital Preservation Project Group
NSLA Indigenous Project Group – including Indigenous Digital Infrastructure Group, and
IRCA/NSLA Preservation of Indigenous Audiovisual Materials Group
NSLA Digital Skills Project Group – Library of Congress (LOC) Digital Preservation Outreach and Education (DPOE) Train‐the‐Trainer course scheduled for June 2015
This work package will also compliment Digital Preservation Work package 3 – “Who” – which will assess the knowledge, skills, resources (equipment and positions) and overall level of organizational capability for digital preservation in each NSLA library. (This work package has not begun yet.)
g) Responsibility
Scott Wajon (Project Manager) SLNSW and Somaya Langley SLNSW
Digital Preservation Project Group members and/or their nominated representatives from each NSLA institution. Members will be responsible to coordinate and complete surveys of their own collections and to participate in workgroup meetings/teleconferences
Individual working group members will be responsible to liaise with non-NSLA centres of expertise (e.g. Universities, Special interest groups) that they have contact with.
h) Working Relationships (External and Internal)
Members of the Working group from each NSLA institution will contribute to the completion of the format and equipment surveys. Working Group members to consult with their colleagues to complete the survey.
i) Agreement on Start and End Date, Costs and Labour and Tolerances
Concept presented at DP Workgroup face-to-face meeting in May 2015
Survey design: June 2015
Survey distributed July 2015
Survey completion end August 2015
Service provider research July 2015
Report submitted to NSLA CEOs October 2015
No costs are anticipated for this work package. Labour primarily provided by the work package leads – Scott
Wajon, Somaya Langley (SLNSW) with all Digital Preservation group members involved at various stages
j) Constraints
Conflicting organisational priorities
Staff resources and time available within NSLA Libraries to conduct a detailed survey
Meaningful data produced by survey – many collections are unprocessed and the estimate/best guess approach will impact reliability and usefulness of survey results
47
Quality of vendor services may be untested
k) Reporting Arrangements
Regular consultation between Project Manager and NSLA Executive Office.
Key documents to sponsor and NSLA for approval. Project Manager responsible for reports.
l) Problem Handling and Escalation
Scott Wajon, Project Manager – identification
Project Sponsor - approval
NSLA Executive Officer
m) Quality Control
Scott Wajon, Project Manager
Digital Preservation Working Group members
NSLA Executive Officer
n) Sign-off Requirements
Scott Wajon, Project Manager
Project Sponsor
o) How Completion will be Advised
Report to NSLA CEOs out-of-session or at scheduled meetings, via NSLA office.
Report posted on NSLA Digital Collecting publications page.
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NSLA Obsolete Physical Carriers Report
Appendix D
Appendix D: Obsolete Physical Carrier Survey (Template)
Obsolete Carriers Survey
NSLA Obsolete Physical Carrier Survey
Agency: Contact Person:
Date Survey completed:
(DD/MM/YYYY)
Media Carrier type
Total number
of carriers
(if
numbers for
specific carriers
are available)
Total number
of carriers
in (summary of carrier
types)
(if no numbers
for specific carriers
are available)
Survey method (actual count , sample
estimate, best
guess)
Confidence of count
(High Medium or
Low)
Playback devices
available in
Library? (Yes or
No)
Devices available
for content transfer only?
(Yes or No)
Digitisation or digital transfer
available in Library?
(Yes or No)
Percentage of carriers that have already
been digitised or
digitally transferred?
Commercial suppliers of digitisation
or digital transfer
service(s) (if known)
Inhibitor(s) for
transferring content off
carriers (if known)
Comments/Additional information
Digital
Data (Unpublished
content)
Data CD (any content on recordable CD-R) 0 0
0%
Data DVD (any content on recordable DVD-R) 0
USB flash drive (memory stick, thumb drive) 0
0
0%
Memory card ( SD, Compact flash) 0
External hard disk drive (external hard drive) 0
Internal hard drive (in a laptop or desktop computer) 0 0 0%
3 1/2 inch floppy disk 0 0 0%
49
5 1/4 inch floppy disk 0
Jazz disk 0
0
0%
Zip disk 0
SyQuest cartridge 0
Data on Cassette tape (e.g. DLT, SDLT, LTO etc.) 0 0 0%
Digital Linear Tape (DLT) 0 0
0%
Linear Tape-Open (LTO) 0
Audio
Published Audio CD (music/sound on CD) 0 0 0%
Digital Audio Tape (DAT) 0 0
0%
MiniDisc 0
Moving image/Movies
(published discs)
Published DVDs (MPEG-2 encoded) 0
0
0%
Blu-Ray 0
Moving image (digital
video)
Consumer Formats - e.g. MiniDV 0
0
0%
Pro formats - DVCAM, HDV, DVC-Pro, Digital Betacam, HDCAM, XD CAM etc. 0
Electronic Resources
Published Data/Multimedia resources on CD/DVD 0 0
0%
Published Data/Multimedia on floppy disk 0
Games (Published)
Games on cartridge or card 0
0
0%
Games on cassette 0
Games on floppy disk/magnetic media 0
Games on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray 0
Software (Published)
Software on cartridge or card 0
0
0%
Software on cassette 0
Software on floppy disk/magnetic media 0
Software on CD/DVD/Blu-Ray 0
Other Digital
Add details for carrier type not listed 0 0 0%
Add details for carrier type not listed 0 0 0%
Add details for carrier type not listed 0 0 0%
Analogue
Audio
Compact (standard) cassette tape (any length) 0 0
0%
Microcassette/Mini-cassette 0
Magnetic tape reel (any size) 0 0 0%
Vinyl discs 0 0
0%
Shellac discs 0
Lacquer (Instantaneous) discs 0 0 0%
50
Cylinders 0 0 0%
Moving image (film)
8mm film and Super 8 film 0
0
0%
9.5mm film 0
16 mm film 0
35mm (acetate) film 0
0%
35mm (nitrate) film 0
Magnetic full coat sound (acetate) - any size 0 0
0%
Magnetic full coat sound (polyester) - any size 0
Moving Image
(analogue video)
Consumer formats - VHS, S-VHS etc. 0
0
0%
Consumer formats - Betamax 0
Consumer formats - EIAJ (J-Format) open reel 0
Consumer formats - Video 8, Hi 8 etc. 0
Pro formats - Betacam, Betacam SP etc. 0
0
0%
Pro formats - U-matic 0
Pro formats - open reel (1", 2") 0
Other Analogue Laserdisc 0
0
0%
Add details for carrier type not listed 0 0 0%
Add details for carrier type not listed 0 0 0%
Available Equipment Survey
Category Devices Manufacturer Model Operating System Details/comments Number of devices Devices are working? (Yes, No, Unknown)
Computer
Desktop 0
Laptop 0
Add details for device not listed 0
Peripheral
Floppy disk drive 0
Cartridge drive 0
Add details for device not listed 0
Audio
Cassette player 0
Reel to Reel player 0
DAT player 0
Turntable 0
A/D conversion equipment 0
Add details for device not listed 0
51
Video
Consumer format 0
Pro Formats 0
Laserdisc 0
Time base corrector 0
A/D conversion equipment 0
Add details for device not listed 0
Film
Projector 0
Editing desk 0
Magnetic Film Sound Dubber 0
Optical Film Sound Dubber 0
Winding bench 0
Telecine 0
Film scanner 0
A/D conversion equipment 0
Add details for device not listed 0
Games
Console 0
Gaming computer 0
Add details for device not listed 0
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Collection Questions
Question Response
1a
What types of materials in your collection are not eligible for or do not require long-term preservation? For example, items intended to be de-selected/de-accessioned, licensing issues, responsibility lies with another state, permanent collection vs. lending collection, access copy where a preservation copy already exists etc. These may be on obsolete physical carriers but the Library has no intent to digitise, copy, transfer or preserve the content
1b
From types/numbers of carriers that you have provided information about in the Obsolete Carriers Survey, what approximate percentage of your collection is intended for long-term preservation? (Please break this down by collection area/collection type, if possible.)
2a
What quantity of collection materials have yet to be processed, i.e. Can you provide an approximate size of the ‘backlog’? Please provide information for one or more of the following:
Approximate linear/shelf metres?
Approximate number of collections?
Approximate number of items?
Please add any further information or any other relevant units of measure you may use
2b What percentage of your unprocessed (backlog) collections have a basic/brief electronic record available?
Explanation and Key
Key
Using the Obsolete Carriers Survey spreadsheet
(Column C) Fill in the green fields if you have numbers (actuals or estimates) for the specific type of carrier subcategory listed in each row of Column B. For example, if you have separate counts for 3 1/2" floppy disks and 5 1/4" floppy disks. (Each row represents a specific carrier category.)
53
(Column D) Fill in the gold fields when you only have an overall summary (actual or estimate) of a higher-level grouping of a particular carrier type. For example, if you are only counting/estimating "floppy disk", rather than specifically referring to the 3 1/2" or 5 1/4" varieties. (Grouped carriers have a bold border around them.)
(Columns E - I) Use the dropdowns for the green patterned fields. (There are no more than three options to choose from.)
(Column H) Devices available for content transfer only? This refers to devices/systems that have the ability to transfer the data content from carriers (i.e. bit level transfer only), but do not have ability to read, render or play the content. For example, you may be able to create a disk image of some game software (files and file structure), but have no way to actually play the game.
(Column I) Digitisation or transfer available in the Library? Does the Library have the in-house ability to digitise the content on the carrier (or to transfer the content off the carrier)? For example, do you have ability to digitise a cassette tape, as opposed to being able to play it, or the ability to transfer data from a DAT or digital video carrier as opposed to only being able to play it back?
(Columns K - M) Fill in the pale green fields with textual information. (Further details about what information is required is indicated below.)
Counts and estimates
In general: It is OK to mix your counting methods to match the knowledge you have about specific carriers in your collections. For example, you may have an actual count for published Audio CDs, but only have estimates for other music/sound carriers. Please use the appropriate type of count (Column E) for each row.
However: (Column D) If you use the summary for a grouping of carrier types, please use the comments column to provide details about any specific carrier in that grouping that you have any further information about.
(Column E) Actual count – results of a comprehensive survey.
(Column E) Sample estimate – extrapolated from a small sample survey.
(Column E) Best guess – no count or survey actually undertaken.
Inhibitors
(Column L) Digital objects may contain inhibitors (e.g. TPMs, DRM, encryption, passwords, licensing or temporal restrictions) which limits/prevents access, copy or transformation of the digital items. Please indicate whether this inhibitor is one that prevents transfer of the content off the carrier, or prevents access to the content (if known). Please provide details or state as Unknown
Assumptions
Exclude still image formats. For example, film and glass plate, stereoscopic etc.
Exclude Electronic Resources, such as subscription services, where your content is licenced only and resources are not collected, preserved etc. (We understand some services do provide the option for libraries to obtain an 'archive' copy of this content, however for the scope of this survey, we are not looking to gather these figures.)
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Include information about all playback devices available in your Library. This equipment may be intended for use by clients, customers or readers or this may be equipment only available for staff use.
Commercial supplier(s) (Column K) Commercial suppliers of digitisation or digital transfer service(s). This refers to suppliers that you have used, or know of, who are capable and experienced with specific carrier types. Please provide their name and sufficient contact information.
Using the Available Equipment spreadsheet
(Column B) Only list specific computer equipment that has been identified as devices in your Library suitable for access/read/transfer of obsolete or at-risk carriers (such as ingest workstations and/or rare/obsolete computer hardware). Do not include general purpose/modern office computers.
(Columns C - F) Fill in the pale green fields with textual information. Please supply as much information as necessary.
(Column E) Operating System refers only to computers (Mac, PC, Linux/UNIX etc. or older OS'). For analogue-to-digital (A/D) converters that require computer connectivity and/or dependencies, please provide further details, such as the name and version of Operating System required etc.
(Column F) Please provide further information in the comments about whether equipment is for use by the public or restricted to staff, if this information is available.
(Column H) Use the dropdowns for the green patterned fields.
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