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National Library News |
by Nancy Brodie,
Government Information Holdings Officer,
Information Resources Management
Traditionally, a national library is the keeper of a nation’s published heritage. Although networked electronic publications increase the complexity and challenges of this role, it remains fundamentally unchanged. National libraries recognize that collaboration can assist them in meeting the challenges posed by this new dimension of publishing and library collections.
Collaborative Project
Nine major national libraries (representing Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the U.S.) have joined in a global collaboration to take practical steps towards overcoming some of the barriers to the preservation of their nations’ digital documentary heritage.
Ralph Manning, Heritage Officer, National and International Programs, represents the National Library of Canada (NLC) in the project. In addition, three international experts, Donald Waters, Director, Digital Library Federation, Kelly Russell, CEDARS Project Manager, and Robin Dale, Program Officer, Member Programs and Initiatives, Research Libraries Group, have been invited to join the group’s discussions.
The National Library of Australia (NLA) has taken the lead in establishing this initiative. Jan Fullerton of the NLA set a tentative agenda for the collaboration in a paper presented to the IFLA Section on National Libraries in August 1998. The issues she raised include legal deposit, national bibliographies, permanent naming solutions, technical infrastructure for managing collections of electronic publications, authentication, preservation pathways that address threats to digital archives, metadata for preservation and access, and increasing awareness of preservation issues in the Internet community.
The group is using the Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI) Web site <www.nla.gov.au/padi/>, administered by the National Library of Australia, as the primary information source on digital archiving issues. Draft papers and informal positions will be shared among the national libraries on a discussion list established by the National Library of Sweden. The National Library of Canada is sharing its documents, Positioning the National Library of Canada in the Digital Environment: Strategic Directions and Networked Electronic Publications Policy and Guidelines, the work of its Digital Library Infrastructure Project, as well as the experience gained in building and managing an electronic collection of over 1500 networked electronic publications.
International Developments
National libraries discussed common concerns in a number of forums during the past year. The Sixth DELOS Workshop on Preservation of Digital Information at Tomar, Portugal, in June 1998 was an important conference <crack.inesc.pt/events/ercim/delos6/papers/agenda.html>. The IFLA Section on National Libraries held a workshop on Legal Deposit of Electronic Materials in Amsterdam in August 1998 at which Ms. Fullerton presented her paper. The Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) is also addressing legal deposit and persistent naming issues. The National Library of Canada participated in the Joint Research Libraries Group and National Preservation Office (U.K.) Preservation Conference on Guidelines for Digital Imaging in September 1998 <www.rlg.org/preserv/joint/> .
National libraries are collaborating on a number of projects. The National Library of Canada has participated in a CDNL study of legal deposit and electronic publications. NLC is a partner in Bibliotheca universalis, a G-7 global information society pilot project <www.konbib.nl/gabriel/bibliotheca-universalis/index.htm>. The NLC is also part of a study group examining digital object identifiers, such as DOI, URN and PURLS. European projects include the DELOS Working Group <www.iei.pi.cnr.it/DELOS/>, NEDLIB (Networked European Deposit Library) <www.konbib.nl/coop/nedlib/>, and the Nordic Digital Library Centre <www.nbr.no/ndlc/>.
National libraries agree that they must cooperate with other agencies studying these issues. Two seminal documents on digital preservation have come from research libraries in the United States and the academic community in the United Kingdom.
National libraries are eager to learn from the work of the Digital Library Federation <www.clir.org/diglib/dlfhomepage.htm> in the U.S. and the CEDARS Project <www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/> in the U.K. as they pursue many of the issues raised by the CPA/RLG Task Force and the AHDS report. There is also much to be learned from outside the library world, where sophisticated approaches to preservation of digital data reflected in ISO archiving standards have been developed <ssdoo.gsfc.nasa.gov/nost/isoas/>. Archives and records management experts are also exploring electronic preservation issues. INTERPARES (International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems) <www.interpares.org/> is a new Canada-based international initiative.
Conclusion
National libraries work together in many areas of common interest on the issues surrounding the management of electronic publications for long-term access. National libraries are using a variety of means to share information and address challenges. The National Library of Canada is both contributing to and benefiting from this collaborative approach. More complete reports on these initiatives will be published in future issues of the National Library News.
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Note
Jan Fullerton, Developing national collections of electronic publications: issues to be considered and recommendations for future collaborative actions, National Library of Australia, 1998
< www.nla.gov.au/nla/staffpaper/int_issu.html >.