Digital Preservation Research and Training

The three interlocking components of digital preservation at ICPSR are research, training, and practice; each informs the other two. This Web site is devoted to ensuring that digital preservation practice at ICSPR is compliant and transparent. This section provides some examples of ICPSR's underlying commitment to exploring and developing good practices through research, and to sharing what we are doing and what we have learned through training and other forms of information sharing.

Research

Digital preservation is an emerging research area, as the digital preservation community is in the process of formalizing its membership, standards, practices, and communication networks. ICPSR is committed to engaging in digital preservation research to sustain our digital preservation program. We are also intent on extending our understanding of relevant technologies as the nature of and requirements for preserving digital content evolve and to sharing the results of our research. These are some examples of digital preservation research at ICPSR:

Data-PASS

The Data-PASS project has become an umbrella initiative for exploring the means to identify, acquire, and preserve significant social science data that may be at risk.

Data-PASS has enabled partnership building with other data archives (e.g., the Harvard-MIT Data Center, the Odum Institute, the Roper Center, and the National Archives and Records Administration and other organizations (such as, the San Diego Supercomputing Center and the LOCKSS team).

Related Projects

Data-PASS has led to related projects, such as:

ICPSR is developing a comprehensive research agenda for digital preservation and will continue to seek external research funding to achieve our goals.

Training

Digital Preservation Management Tutorial

In August 2007, ICPSR became the host for the award-wining Digital Preservation Management tutorial developed at Cornell University Library by a team led by Anne R. Kenney and Nancy Y. McGovern, the Digital Preservation officer at ICPSR. ICPSR is also a designated provider of the Digital Preservation Management workshop curriculum that builds on the tutorial content. We will continue to provide versions of this workshop and to seek funding to expand the curriculum as an ongoing contribution to the digital preservation community.

Main page of the Digital Preservation Management tutorial

ICPSR is exploring additional digital preservation training opportunities, including the identification of ways to further integrate digital preservation training into the Summer Program offerings to supplement the popular, long-running Providing Social Science Data Services course offered by instructors Diane Geraci, Chuck Humphrey, and Jim Jacobs.

ICPSR Digital Preservation Team Cosponsors Fall Lecture Series

Location: University of Michigan
Date: September 9 - October 7, 2008
Organizations: ICPSR; University of Michigan School of Information; Society of American Archivists Student Chapter

The University of Michigan School of Information, ICPSR, and the Society of American Archivists(SAA) Student Chapter are co-sponsoring a Digital Preservation lecture series. Anyone interested in digital preservation management is invited to attend. Our goal is to use this series to test changes in our curriculum. We encourage anyone interested to attend as this is a unique opportunity to learn about practice, standards, and developments in the digital preservation community. We hope to see you there!

Below is our schedule for Fall 2008:

Tuesday, 09/02/08: *Five Stages of Digital Preservation*
(Ehrlicher Room/411 West Hall at SI: 3:30-5:00pm)
-Nancy Y. McGovern, Digital Preservation Officer, ICPSR

Thursday, 09/04/08: *Legal Challenges for Digital Preservation*
(G150 at ICPSR: 3:30-5:00pm)
-Aprille C. McKay, Digital Preservation Specialist, ICPSR

Tuesday, 09/16/08: *Working with OAIS*
(Ehrlicher Room/411 West Hall at SI: 3:30-5:00pm)
-Nancy Y. McGovern, Digital Preservation Officer, ICPSR

Tuesday, 09/23/08: *Repositories, Tools and Workflows for Digital Preservation*
(Ehrlicher Room/411 West Hall at SI: 3:30-5:00pm)
-McGovern/McKay, ICPSR

Thursday, 09/25/08: *Preservation Metadata*
(G150 at ICPSR: 3:30-5:00pm)
-Kari R. Smith, Head, Visual Resources Collections, History of Art

Thursday, 10/2/08: *Identifying and Securing the Requisite Resources for Digital Preservation*
(G150 at ICPSR: 3:30-5:00pm)
-McGovern/McKay, ICPSR

Tuesday, 10/7/08: *Digital Preservation Readiness*
(Ehrlicher Room/411 West Hall at SI: 3:30-5:00pm)
-McGovern/McKay, ICPSR