The Regional Consultation Meeting on the
Preservation of Digital Heritage for Asia and
the Pacific
TABLE O F C ON TEN TS
1.
Program (circulated separately) .........................................................................i
2.
Presentations ..........................................................................................................
To be included in the printed papers
3.
Background Reports .......................................................................................... 2
China ............................................................................................................................ 4

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China ............................................... 4

National Library of China ....................................................................................... 6

Chengchi National University ............................................................................ 9

Fiji ............................................................................................................................... 13
Indonesia .................................................................................................................... 15
Japan ......................................................................................................................... 17

Kansai-Kan of the National Diet Library ........................................................................ 17

University of Tokyo ............................................................................................. 24
Korea .......................................................................................................................... 27
Malaysia ..................................................................................................................... 27

Digital Heritage in Indigenous Ethnic Minorities in Sarawak .........................................27

National Archives of Malaysia ....................................................................................... 31
The Netherlands ........................................................................................................ 34
New Caledonia ........................................................................................................... 37
New Zealand .............................................................................................................. 39
Singapore ................................................................................................................... 42
Australia ..................................................................................................................... 45

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ........................................................................44

Council of Australian State Libraries .............................................................................49

National Archives of Australia .......................................................................................52

National Gallery of Australia .........................................................................................54

National Library of Australia ..........................................................................................56

Public Record Office, Victoria ....................................................................................... 60
BACKGROUN
D REPORTS
PAGE 3
BACKGROUND REPORTS
CHINA
INSTITUTE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL
INFORMATION OF CHINA (ISTIC)
Liang Zhanping
Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC)
People’s Republic of China
liangzp@istic.ac.cn
1)
BACKGROUND
The online digital information produced by our organisation is stored in two servers, and is
written to the CD-RAM once a month.
Some of the offline digital databases (such as CD-RAM) bought by our organisation are
transferred into the hard disks of the servers for the reason of convenient usage and effective
storage.
The offline digital databases produced by our organisation are not only stored by us but also are
ordered to send to the Bureau of News and Publishing, National Library of China and Archival
Library of Chinese Publications.
The digital publishing of China includes:

News.

Periodicals and journals:
The biggest three Periodical databases of China are Wangfan database (belongs to
ISTIC), Chongqin VIP database (former branch of ISTIC), Thsinghua Tongfang database.

Laws and regulations

Books.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE

Dissemination of the idea of preservation of digital heritage.

Some reasons of Commercial IT companies to upgrade their product are for higher
profits, which are not consistent with purposes of preserving digital heritage. How to
balance the upgrade digital product between the preservation?

What kind of digital materials should be preserved for special institutions?
PAGE 4
BACKGROUND REPORTS

What is the role of the country plays in the preservation of digital heritage? If it is needed
for the country to order one or several institution to preserve the digital heritage on the
behalf of country.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
No such strategy has been taken in account in ISTIC.
At least one of the old equipments should be stored.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Some consulters are welcome to china to propaganda the preservation of digital
heritage.

Some financial support is needed to do the propaganda.

Such as the “Save Haven” project made by library of Congress (U.S.), some
developing countries may need the help of UNESCO and developed countries to
preserve their digital heritage.
PAGE 5
BACKGROUND REPORTS
CHINA
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CHINA
Ben GU, PhD, Deputy Director of the Acquisitions Cataloguing Department
National Library of China
33 Zhongguancun Nandajie
Beijing 100081
People’s Republic of China
bgu@publicf.nlc.gov.cn
1)
BACKGROUND
In China, digitally published resources include:

E-books: most electronic books are published simultaneously with their printed
counterparts in China, and those existing only in digital formats are not so many,
because of the habit of readers and the immature mechanism of B2C online
transactions. Most of them are reference works, interactive teaching materials, etc.,
and are stored in CD-ROMs. Some of them use special e-book readers.

Newspapers and journals online, such as Peoples Daily, Guangming Daily, China
Daily, have Web versions in addition to their paper versions and are maintained by
the publishers. Most major Chinese newspapers have their own websites.
However, their contents are not the same as the paper counterparts.

Newspaper and journal content databases, such as WiseNews (including
thousands of Chinese newspapers and journals) and China Academic Journals
(CNKI) (published by Tsinghua University and including 6.5 million titles in 5,005
Chinese academic journals). They are published in cooperation with the publishers
of the paper format newspapers or journals, can be searched and browsed in many
search points. They include serials for academic researches.

Abstract and index databases, such as Chinese Science Citation Index, Tables of
Contents of Chinese Scientific & Technological Journals and Chinese Social
Science Serials.

Ancient books converted into digital formats, such as Si Ku Quan Shu (Complete
Library of the Four Branches of Literature) published by the Shanghai Peoples
Publishing House, and Basic Chinese Ancient Books database published by
Huangshan Books, Inc. They are large-scale online databases.
In the National Library of China, we are undertaking the work in the following aspects:

Legal deposits: we are making efforts to including the legal deposit of electronic
publications in the forthcoming Library Law, which is now drafted by the Ministry of
Culture.

Preservation of network resources: some institutions plan to preserve web
contents, and there isn’t great progress.
PAGE 6
BACKGROUND REPORTS

Metadata standard: we have drafted a scheme of metadata based on OAIS, and
use XML to describe all the digital resources created in the China Digital Library, so
that they can be used in different platforms, programming languages and
hardware.

Media preservation: we do not have special methods for the storage of electronic
resources. However, we copy most purchased databases to our hard disks of the
servers both for the access of our users and for preservation.
For A/V materials, we convert most of them into MPEG2, MPEG4 and MP3 formats both
for the preservation and for the access by users.
Experiments of digital library before the large-scale production: processing traditional
books, multimedia, etc., with a total of 9.3 TB of digital resources, including texts, images
and A/V materials from books, local chronicles, oracle bone inscriptions, e-books, photos,
etc.
Migration of data on different media: we feel difficult to solve the problem.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
There do not exist authoritative and mature methods for the preservation of digital
heritage, and people are using different standards.
Because of the rapid technological development, electronic resources are using various
fast-changing formats on more and more different media.
We don’t know what the future will be and don’t know what we are doing can be used in
the future. We are unable to read some past electronic resources, such as those stored in
5-inch floppy diskettes and those used in DOS. We are making efforts to find best ways
so that the density of digital resources can be used in the future, their formats are
independent software and hardware, and the practices are internationally coordinated.
There isn’t an institution responsible for the international or regional coordination in this
field. If this meeting is a start, we hope to see substantial progress.
Some librarians do not want to subscribe to online databases, because they can easily be
affected by network conditions, and cannot be accessed during natural disasters. They
prefer to use CD-ROMs, instead. However, CD-ROMs have their own formats, use their
own software systems, and cannot be used forever. This is a barrier to the wider use of
electronic resources, and thus to the preservation of digital heritage.
Most librarians do not have sufficient knowledge about information technology, some
librarians even do not have the awareness to preserve digital heritage.
The Chinese government doesn’t have enough budgets for the preservation of digital
heritage, and private companies do not want to invest their money in this new field.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

China Digital Library Project plans to establish a digital data storage center.

Acquiring both electronic publications and their printed counterparts.

Basic computer literacy programs.

Urging the Library Law to include legal deposit regulations on digital heritage.
PAGE 7
BACKGROUND REPORTS
4)

There are some research projects on the structures of digital resources, a Chinese
metadata scheme and compression algorithms, and apply the results of our
researches in our experimental practices.

We are implementing the China Digital Library Project and have established China
Digital Library Corp. Ltd. In the next year, a national center of digital libraries will be
established.
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

International standards for digital formats and media.

More professional training of library staff.

Letting the government know the importance of the preservation of digital heritage,
so that it can allocate more budgets for the research of related technologies and for
the practices.

International coordination of projects and budgets, eg to create a center for the
preservation of Chinese digital heritage in China.
PAGE 8
BACKGROUND REPORTS
CHINA
NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY
Mei Hwa Yang
Graduate Institute of Library and Information Science
National Chengchi University,
64 Chinan Road Sect. II, Wensan District
Taipei, Taiwan 116, ROC
mhyang@nccu.edu.tw
1)
BACKGROUND
In Taiwan, major institutions that have digitised their rare collections include National
Taiwan University, Academia Sinica, the National Central Library, the National Palace
Museum, the National Museum of History and the National Museum of Natural Science.
To digitise these valuable resources and present them on the Web is their primary task.
National Digital Archives Program
On January 1, 2002, a national program called the “National digital Archives program
(NDAP)” has been launched in Taiwan. The first phase of this program has been planned
as a 5-years program, from 2002 to 2006. The total budget in 2002 is about $11 million
USD (approximately $38M NTD) and its estimated annual growth rate will be around 20%
or even higher in 2003-2006. This program emerged from the following projects:

Digital museum Project 1998-2002

National Digital Archives Project 2001

International digital Library Project with NSF 2000-2002
Participating institutes are as follows:

Council for Cultural Affairs, http://www.cca.gov.tw/home_e.html

Natural Museum of Natural Science, http://www.nmns.edu.tw/eng_version.html

The National Palace Museum, http://gate.sinica.edu.tw/tit/museums/1095_mu.html

National Central Library, http://www.ncl.edu.tw/english/english.htm

National Taiwan University Library, http://www.lib.ntu.edu.tw/edefault.asp

Academic Sinica, http://www.sinica.edu.tw/index.html

National Museum of History, http://www.nmh.gov.tw/museum/index.html#

Historica Sinica, http://www.drnh.gov.tw/ddrnh1/ddrnh1-1.htm

Taiwan Document Center, http://www.hrctp.gov.tw/X-Web/index.htm
PAGE 9
BACKGROUND REPORTS
The Metadata Architecture and application Team (MATT) affiliated to the National Digital
Archives Program in Taiwan, has tasks not only to support 19 local and international
projects to do content analysis and metadata implementation, but also to develop a
Metadata Framework Model to standardize metadata workflow and systematize content
analysis in terms of the archives of the 19 projects. (http://www.sinica.edu.tw/~metadata/)
including one international cooperative project ("NSF A Distributed ultiligual Gazetteer
Library") and 18 local projects.
These projects have attributes across various domains such as archives, specimen,
corpus, history, archaeology, art, museum, etc. These attributes can be categorised into
four types: data types, subjects, communities, and metadata standards.
MAAT has concluded one general best practice which can be applied to different kind of
projects and nine domain specific best practices which being applied depend on project's
subject.

General: Recommended standard: Dublin Core

Domain Specific Recommended standard:
MUSEUM: CDWA
ARCHIVES: EAD
GIS: FGDC, National Geographic Information System
MULTIMEDIA: IFLA FRBR Model
GAZETTEER: ADL Gazetteer Content
PERSONAL NAME: MARC 21
SPECIES: Species 2000 Data Standard
RARE BOOKS: TEI
CORPUS: OLAC
Knowledge Production & Management Center for Culture Database
(http://km.cca.gov.tw/) by Council for Cultural Affairs
The projects undertaken by the National Central Library include:



Ancient Chinese books
-
Rare books digitised
-
Rubbings and Archives
-
rare book illustration
Local documents and gazette
-
local documents, gazette, photo and literary works
-
government publication
-
special collection
Newspaper and journal articles
-
Journal articles published in Taiwan
-
Newspapers published in Taiwan
Digitally published:

ROC Newspaper Web (http://192.192.58.101/cgi/ncl9/m_ncl9_news)
The ROC Newspaper Web not only delivers real-time news from major
newspapers in the ROC, it also enables people to search for newspapers in the
library collection. A headline search function draws together resources from six
PAGE 10
BACKGROUND REPORTS
databases, including: 1) full-text headlines (1996 to present, including full-text
images); 2) full-text images of the China Times from 1950-1999; 3) Central Daily
News CD-ROM database (full-text, 1928-1949); 4) United Knowledge Bank; 5)
Index of Chinese Newspapers (catalog only); and 6) WiseNews (major news
stories on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China).

NCL E-Journal (http://readopac.ncl.edu.tw/)
This database, accessible from computer terminals at the NCL Periodicals Room,
includes the scanned images of more than 1,000 periodicals. It is searchable by
title, edition, table of contents and page number.

Online Thesis Search (http://datas.ncl.edu.tw/)
The service will provide a convenient single-window environment for looking up
full-text articles and papers using a topic-related search engine. The NCL’s
database of 224,825 thesis abstracts published since 1956.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE

Political issues: who shall lead the project? Which institute is in charge of the
overall planning and coordination?

The problems encountered:

3)
-
metadata format and quality;
-
metadata mapping problem;
-
linking of digital object;
-
browsing catalog;
-
harvesting from database of repositories;
-
copyright issues.
Globalisation and international cooperation.
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

Union Catalog of National Digital Archives Program
(http://140.122.70.133/cgi/hypage?HYPAGE=index.txt&lang=e)
Open Archives Initiative Metadata Harvesting Protocol, OAI-PMH is proposed for
the National Digital Archives Union Catalog using Java 2 Standard Edition v1.4
(language), J2SDK v1.4.0 (tool), JSP v1.2 (Homepage), XML document – JDOM
beta 8, MySQL-Max v.3.23.49 (Database), MM.MySQL v2.0.12 (JSP Linking db)

Resources Organisation and Searching Specification (ROSS) project has compiled
many metadata format such as:
-
MICI-DC: Metadata Interchange or Chinese Information, Dublin Core-based
metadata format;
-
Metalogy (Digital XML/metadata management system),
http://ross.lis.ntu.edu.tw.
PAGE 11
BACKGROUND REPORTS
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Digital copyright issue:
There is no mechanism of Copyright Clearance Center in Taiwan yet. How to
solve the problems of the digital copyright in order to get the access to the digital
publications.

Policy formulation:
Who should lead? How to lobby the importance of digital heritage to get more
funding? How to set the priority of the collection development policy? What is the
value of ancient books vs practice use of the current resources?

Metadata platform:
Building up the metadata interoperability levels, adoption of metadata standards,
quality assurance and relationships of metadata.

Globalisation and international cooperation.
PAGE 12
BACKGROUND REPORTS
FIJI
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF FIJI
Setareki Tale, Government Archivist
National Archives of Fiji
25 Carnavon Street
Suva
FIJI
seta@is.com.fj
1)
BACKGROUND
The National Archives of Fiji is responsible for the administration of the Fiji Public
Records Acts, which covers all materials produced in the course of the business of
government, and is also one of the two legal deposit libraries in the country. The other
legal deposit library is the Library of the University of the South Pacific.
Currently the institution is not actively involved in digitisation or the preservation of such
materials.
We are however well aware that a number of institutions within the public sector are
involved in the production of digital materials or are in the process of migrating their
holdings from traditional formats to digital format, although at a very slow pace.
Our investigations have also revealed that a handful of Non Government Organisation’s
(NGO) are digitally producing their newsletters and other periodicals. They are also able
to produce paper copies of such materials, upon request, for preservation purposes.
Apart from those none of our larger publishing houses have produced literary works
digitally.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
Our major concern at this point is the lack of capacity in the National Archives and in Fiji
as a whole in the area of digitisation, let alone the preservation aspects.
The legislative bases that are supposed to ensure the preservation of documentary
heritage including digital materials are almost silent on newer recording formats such as
digital materials for the simple reason that these legislations were enacted at a time when
such materials were non-existent. They now need to be reviewed.
There is certainly a lack of skill in this area. Infrastructure such as housing and storage
equipment needed for the proper storage of digital materials are not in place. The
necessary technology required for digitisation and for the preservation of the same needs
to be acquired.
The lack of awareness within decision and policy makers is always a concern as these
are the people who are responsible for resource allocation.
Whilst there is a great body of knowledge that are available on the subject of digitisation
and the preservation of digital materials these are often inaccessible for one reason on
PAGE 13
BACKGROUND REPORTS
another including no internet connectivity as most of these materials are only available on
the web.
Another concern we have is that while we are aware that there are International
Standards available these are often too expensive for developing countries and if they
are acquired they are, in many instances, too expensive to implement.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
The National Archives of Fiji is well aware that steps need to be taken to address the
concerns highlighted above to enhance our relevance within the administrative system
that we are a part of.
Request have therefore been made to government for the review of the two legislations
that are administered by the organisation to bring them up to date.
The government have also been requested to consider the construction of a purpose built
Archives building that will have the capacity to store and preserve records in the newer
recording formats.
A number of funding organisations have been approached for funding assistance for the
purchase of computer hardware and software.
The National Archives is also conscious of the need for the development of policies and
regulations in line with the legislations to provide guidance to all who are involved with the
creation and preservation of digital materials.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?
The assistance needed by the National Archives of Fiji to overcome, or at least partly
overcome, the above obstacles are as follows:

Review of Legislations.

Training and skills enhancement.

Acquisition of Computer hardware and Software.

Provision of International Standards.

Design of storage facilities.

Accessibility of literature on the subject.

Survey to be done to determine the extent of digital materials being created in the
country.

Development of a nation wide strategy for the preservation of the digital heritage.
PAGE 14
BACKGROUND REPORTS
INDONESIA
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF INDONESIA
Dady P Rachmananta, Director, National Library of Indonesia
No 28A, Jalan Salemba Raya, Jakarta
Indonesia
dadypr@yahoo.com
1)
BACKGROUND
The National Library of Indonesia has embarked on various efforts to preserve the
national cultural heritage by gradually transforming its collection of manuscripts, rare
books, historical photographs as well as ancient maps. At this moment, this activity is still
at its earliest stage, namely storing the master copies. The next stages will include
creating CDs of such materials by means of digital library software.
The obstacles faced are shortage of capable manpower to carry out such tasks. At this
stage, we seek to establish cooperation with the KMRG (Knowledge Management
Research Group) team of ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology) which has so far
assisted us in providing training to our personnel who are involved in digital media
transformation. The team from KMRG itself, which was set up by Mr. Ismail Fahmi of ITB,
has developed a nation-wide digital library network called the Indonesian Digital Library
Network (Indonesian DLN), established in October 2000. The number of partners, both
institution as well as individual, which have been sharing the Indonesia DLN digital
collection supported by GDL software developed by the KMRG Team, totals 30 networks.
The Indonesian DLN is actually a network of networks with their individual characteristics
of information contents. One to mention is the Digital Library for National Heritage. Other
networks include Electronic Theses and Dissertation, Digital Library for High School,
Agriculture Network, Human Rights Information Network, Bibliographic Network.
Presently, only a handful of institutions already own a digital heritage collection. They
include, among others, Yayasan Lontar and PADI Artground in Bandung.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF IMAGE
HERITAGE
The Nusantara Manuscript Collection is a unique collection owned by the National Library
which must be preserved by any means, indefinitely. Now that the digital media
transformation becoming a trend, it is high time for the National Library to initiate a digital
transformation for its manuscripts collection. For a start, it should begin transforming
related manuscripts already published in the form of book. Hopefully, this particular
collection may be of some benefit to the public, whom many are still unaware of the
wealth of the Indonesian cultural heritage. However, serious complications were
encountered in the process of media transformation.
The skill and capability of the existing personnel do not suffice to achieve any progress
beyond the scanning process. Assistance from third parties, such as manpower training
and supporting new technology, are urgently required to complete the subsequent
processes (packaging information into a form which is easy to access).
PAGE 15
BACKGROUND REPORTS
The obstacles are:
3)

Lack of information, mainly from the division in charge of collections which are
prioritised for media transformation. This in turn leads to the division responsible
for media transformation is making its own speculation on whether or not a specific
library material should be prioritised or whether or not any collections were of great
interest.

Lack of policy concerning digital heritage, scale of priorities, budget, criteria of
collection that ought to be transformed into digital format according to the condition
of the collection, the standard format for master, etc.

Lack of supporting facilities, such as scanner as well as appropriate working
spaces.

Shortage of skilled workforce to exercise digital transformation to a level which is
visually accessible on CD-ROM, or via the internet.
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
With the existing condition, we are trying to utilize the existing staff and equipment to
achieve the best possible results. For further processes, we are collaborating with
external parties which have so far assisted us by providing trainings and consultation, in
anticipation of optimal results in the end. With the present human resources, it is quite
impossible to carry out the process of transformation.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Manpower
The number and quality of the existing personnel are far from sufficient. Eight staff
of the Digital Transformation Section, most of whom are graduates (out of the 8
staff, only one is a university graduate), and cannot cope with the big volume of
works.

Finance
The annual budget of the National Library of Indonesia cannot cover the expenses
to procure sophisticated equipment for digital media transformation.

Software/Hardware
The National Library currently owns a very limited equipment, comprising A4
scanner (2 units) and A3 scanner (1 unit). The working space is considered
unsuitable to accommodate computers and other equipments. Another problem is
related with the fact that the National Library does not yet possess a server in the
Digital Transformation Section to run the latest version of digital library software
owned by GDI, which is not yet untested due to lack of storage space.

Training/Bench Marking
To broaden and expand the insight as well as the knowledge of the person in
charge of digital library, benchmarking or overseas training is particularly needed.
PAGE 16
BACKGROUND REPORTS
JAPAN
KANSAI-KAN OF THE NATIONAL DIET LIBRARY
Hiroyuki Taya
Kansai-kan of the National Diet Library
8-1-3 Seikadai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun
Kyoto-fu, 619-0287
Japan
kokusai@ndl.go.jp
1)
BACKGROUND
One of the primary duties of the National Diet Library is to collect and preserve Japanese
publications as they are the nation's cultural and intellectual assets. The NDL depends
greatly on the legal deposit system for its collection of materials. Moreover, the NDL
collects through purchase and donation books published before the legal deposit system
came into existence, old materials, and foreign publications on Japan.
Japan's only deposit on library, the National Diet Library collects publications (including
maps, phonographic discs and microfilms) published in Japan, with the help of the legal
deposit system empowered by the National Diet Library Law. CD-ROMs and other
"packaged" electronic publications became subject to the legal deposit system in autumn
of 2000. As for the digital information on the telecommunication networks, the Librarian of
the National Diet Library (NDL) asked the Legal Deposit System Council, an advisory
panel of outside experts in March 2002, to consider whether “networked digital
publications” could be put into the legal deposit system, and in case not, what kind of
legal framework would be possible for the NDL to collect those “publications”, that is,
online digital information.
Until the Legal Deposit System Council comes to a conclusion, the NDL is to implement a
couple of experimental projects for the acquiring and storing of online digital information
by contract as well as for the navigation of databases. These projects have been planned
as a part of the NDL’s Electronic Library Project.
“National Diet Library Electronic Library Concept” (fiscal 1998) of the NDL defines digital
library as “the provision by a library of primary information (actual materials) and
secondary information (information about the materials) electronically, via
communications networks, together with the infrastructure for this purpose.” Under this
concept, the NDL is already providing and maintaining the Full-text Database System for
the Minutes of the Diet in cooperation with the House of Representatives and the House
of Councillors, as well as the Rare Books image Database.
One of the pillars of the projects is to digitise the NDL collections published mainly in the
Meiji era (1868-1912). We began clearing copyrights and building the database system in
fiscal 2000. From 2001, we began digitisation of texts in an image format and tables of
contents in a text format. As of October 2002, around 20,000 titles and 30,000 volumes
are available to access via the Internet. By the end of fiscal 2004, we plan to have most
of our Meiji collections available to the public (102,000 titles and 169,000 volumes).
PAGE 17
BACKGROUND REPORTS
In sync with digitising its collections, the NDL is undertaking an experimental project
named “WARP” (Web Archiving Project). Much of the on-line information is regularly
updated and deleted on a daily basis worldwide. The situation is the same here in Japan,
so the NDL is collecting and preserving information from websites of various
organisations that have agreed to participate in the project. The WARP project will also
allow us to collect and preserve digital editions of periodicals and born-digital periodicals
on the Internet. Since the NDL’s Legal Deposit System Council has begun looking into a
possible legal framework that allows the collection of domestic networked information,
the results of this experimental project are to be submitted to the Council for reference in
good time.
That is almost all we are now working on, but from the long-term preservation point of
view, we understand much more action should be taken to preserve digital information
and keep it accessible.
Regarding what is being published digitally, we cannot identify all the items circulating in
digital form in Japan right now, but we divide the digital information into the following
TWO categories:

Digital information contained in the physical media, items such as CD, DVD, MD
and Laser Disk

Digital information distributed on the telecommunications network, items such as
Web pages, on-line periodicals, on-line newsletters and data bases
As already mentioned, as far as the digital information contained in the physical media is
concerned, it has already been included in the NDL’s Legal Deposit System since fiscal
2000. On the other hand, as to digital information on the telecommunications network, the
Legal Deposit System Council, an advisory panel of outside experts to the Librarian of the
NDL, has started to consider whether “networked digital publications” could be put into
legal deposit system and in case not, what kind of legal framework would be possible for
the NDL to collect online digital information.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
While the importance of preserving digital information has been shared in a wide variety
of intellectual sectors worldwide and so many projects, researches and studies have
been done in recent years, we must admit that few in Japan recognise it to be crucial for
future generations and few projects have been done especially for the born-digital
materials.
As mentioned before, we have been mainly focusing on digitising the printed materials in
our collections and the purpose of it is to provide these materials as one of our services
to the public via the Internet, not for long-term preservation. It seems to be the same for
the other organisations, institutions and businesses in Japan. We know digitising rare
books, magazines or pictures is an important part of the preservation of digital heritage,
but also recognise it is not enough for this day and age.
Given this situation, the NDL will be starting researches and studies for the long-term
preservation of digital information in fiscal 2002 to make the public aware of its
importance and set up a group to discuss issues in this field and improve our skills,
technologies, and collaborations in conjunction with the overseas communities.
Please see the next part in detail.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
PAGE 18
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Fiscal 2002 will be the first year of 3 years for research and study on the preservation of
digital information in the NDL. The main purpose of this project is to set up a
comprehensive guideline to fix our long-term strategy for the preservation of digital
materials.
PAGE 19
BACKGROUND REPORTS
The guideline should include the following policies:

What kind of digital information the NDL should preserve?

What kind of processes and technologies should be applied to different kinds of
digital information?

What kind of media and environment should be chosen for preservation?

A set of rules for collaborating with the creators of digital information.
By setting up our own guideline, we will be able to handle increasing amounts of the
digital information both in the physical media and networked information under a concrete
policy. In addition, announcing our guideline will help us organise a nationwide
consortium with the other sectors interested in preserving the digital information.
We are planning to carry out this project according to the following timeline:



4)
Fiscal 2002
-
Compiling a report based on researches and studies of the projects,
guidelines, policies, and other related achievements of the countries active
in this field, including hard facts about preservation activities in Japan
-
Publicising of the results of researches and studies
Fiscal 2003
-
Researches on what has been done in the NDL for the preservation of digital
information
-
Wrapping up a draft version of the guideline based on researches and
studies conducted in fiscal 2002
-
Setting up a testing environment for a couple of experiments for preserving
the digital materials in physical media archived in the NDL
Fiscal 2004
-
Establishing a guideline
-
An action plan for the following years according to the guideline
-
Identifying ways of organising a consortium in Japan
-
Conducting a couple of experiments
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

For a start, we need to decide what to preserve and how to preserve the digital
heritage when making a guideline. So knowing several best practices about
decision-making in each country or across the countries will help us a lot.

Detailed report on what sort of obstacles the organisations or institutions have
faced in the process of establishing a preservation guideline and how to overcome
these.

Timely updates on the progress of technologies, methods, systems, standards,
etc… for preserving the digital heritage.
PAGE 20
BACKGROUND REPORTS

A comprehensive, latest study on media and environment for preserving the digital
heritage, that is, what type of physical media is suitable for what kind of data format
and in what sort of condition.

A cooperation model for working with digital information creators in order to save
expense and time in preserving digital materials.
PAGE 21
BACKGROUND REPORTS
JAPAN
UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO
Associate Professor Mitsuhiro TAKEMURA
Institute of Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The
University of Tokyo, Media Environmental Studies Lab.
7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8565
JAPAN
mtakemura@k.u._tokyo.ac.jp
1)
BACKGROUND
In 1997, I have directed the establishment of the Digital Archive Research Center at
Kyoto. The first purpose of this institution is to provide international communities with the
cultural diversity message which regards to the importance of the city's cultural assets.
Another purpose is to show how such assets should be developed during the coming
century. The information regarding to these projects is open to public through following
web sites:

Kyoto Digital Archive Research Center
http://www.kyoto-archives.gr.jp/english/e-index.html

Kyoto Image Mapper (Japanese)
http://www.zukan.kyoto-archives.gr.jp/kyototm/

Kyoto Navigator (Japanese)
http://www.kyonavi.kyoto- archives.gr.jp/kyonavi/mmpt_top_ippan.html
In 1996-2002. I had been involved in consulting and contents production for Digital
Archives Project in Ishikawa prefecture (Kanazawa) and the detailed information can be
accessed through the following web site.

Digital Archives of Ishikawa Japan
http://shofu.pref.ishikawa.jp/index-e.php3
I had been involved in the project management for the comprehensive supervision of the
Okinawa Digital Archive Project. The completion of this project is scheduled by spring of
2003.
This project supplies 1,500 million yen to Okinawa Prefecture which is subsidised by the
Japanese government and the government expects to see how the project effects the
culture of Okinawa, promotion of tourism, and IT industrial grows in the area, etc. The
detailed information will be shown on the following web site.

Okinawa Digital Archive Project
(Web site will be developed by March 2003)
PAGE 22
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Digital Archive Projects in Kyoto & Ishikawa prefectures is served as platforms both for
the discussion about how Japanese cultural and historical assets can be well preserved
and used in the 21st century and for the examination of a new horizon for the mutual
benefit of the cultural society and the industrial economy for next 100 years. In the most
of the 20th century, the physical industrial economy expanded at a rapid rate. However,
as the new century starts, we have witnessed a distinct contraction in this type of
industrial economy which is caused mostly by the arrival and rapid globalisation of a
digital society.
Now we are faced not only an increase in physical upheavals throughout the earth's
crust, but also, our societal concepts and values. With the internet which cause the
disintegration of traditional barriers of time and space at this moment, its effect on all
aspects of society, from business and everyday life to the creation of culture, is
immeasurable.
One of the effects of the digital society is a creation of a truly global culture which, in turn,
encourages the development of cultural diversity in a way that local cultures are
rediscovered and their identities secured. With this in mind, it is vital for us to understand
how individual countries and cities are striving to vitalise what we can best call "attractive
cultural power". In particular, we are faced with the question of how the area of the
traditional cradle of Japan's history and culture such as Kyoto, Kanazawa, and Okinawa,
etc., can both preserve and disseminate globally its storehouse of physical and
intellectual treasures throughout the coming millennium.
In preservation of Digital Heritages, I will discuss the role that Japan's regional
developments should play in the future and what potential it has as a preserver and
disseminator of our culture. We will focus on strategic cultural planning, both in Japan and
abroad, through the discussion of such themes as: the development of progress on digital
archives; the potential for a digital contents industry; the creation of an attractive culture
and the regional identity.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
The first urgent task is to cultivate professional skills for digital asset management. New
knowledge and skills are required in fields of cultural information and the memory
institution project as well as the digital heritage preservation. Such skills include context
analysis for information science and related areas in addition to conventional skills
required for curators and librarians.
The second task is to develop skills for cultural management. For better management of
the digital asset, it is required not only technical skills and knowledge, but also, skills
which enable to gain an in depth insight for our culture which constituted through past,
present and future. These skills will be crucial part for our future projects.
Lastly, it must be important that our efforts must head to increase public awareness for
understanding the importance of the digital asset and its management in order to make
effective use of such resources. This needs to be accomplished through active
involvement of individuals and common sense of civil society itself. It is imperative to
develop people’s perception that our present and future is built on our own cultural and
historical foundation. In Japan, we have been achieved our economical prosperity in
compensation for oblivion of one century since modern era.
At present, our society has experienced the continuous frustrations caused by the
economical and industrial depression. But, at the same time, we now see a movement
which tries to bring our attention back to the cultural memory which has been lost in
exchange for the economical affluence. Such movement shows that people started to
recognise that the importance of our own history and culture can no longer be neglected
otherwise our national identities will be alienated from our origins in terms of culture and
history.
PAGE 23
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Therefore, the developing series of digital memory institution project mentioned above is
timely and primal project for us at this moment.
I believe that by the time the aforementioned problems will be solved and our outlook of
the memory institution project will be clear, rich ideas and outstanding technologies will
be generated. Since Japan is the place of cultural transmission between east and west,
we have historically unique cultural value. If we can build digital assets which accord with
the collaborative guideline based on the international consensus, we will be able to
disseminate digital contents of our unique contemporary multiple culture to the worldwide.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
We have been planning several projects concerned with the cultivation of professional
human resource needed for the digital asset management. These are including: a project
for building digital network of information infrastructure in existed museums and libraries;
a project for cultivating skills for digital asset manager, etc.
Additionally, we will provide technical information for museum personnel who will be in
charge of digital asset of their own institution. We will also put our efforts to undertake
international cooperation and grovalisation through the information provision about
international activities of cultural digital assets to the Japanese museums and galleries.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Harmonious coexistence of global environment. Presentation of guidelines and
method for building digital assets for Asia pacific countries.

The establishment of new department in higher educational institution which aims
to cultivate professional skills for the preservation of future digital asset.

The cultivation of the cultural community and the development of social action
programmes raised by business enterprises need to be accomplished solidly
among local communities. These actions must be crucial for raising public
understanding and awareness about the importance of digital cultural heritage.
Also, the constitution of an organisation in charge of controlling these programmes
and of making communication between concerned association needs to be built.
PAGE 24
BACKGROUND REPORTS
KOREA
ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL CENTRE FOR
CULTURELINK NETWORK
Mr KIM KWIBAE
Asia Pacific Regional Centre for Culturelink Network
PO Box Central 64
Seoul
The Republic of Korea
email
1)
BACKGROUND
The Asia-Pacific Regional Centre of the Culturelink Network (APRCCN) was established
in 1997 by the Korean National Commission for UNESCO under the auspices of
UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Korea, in accordance with an
agreement with the world focal point of the Culturelink Network (IRMO, Croatia).
Culturelink was created by Unesco and the EU in 1989 after recommendation of the
World Decade for Cultural Development.
APRCCN aims to encourage exchange of information on cultural policies and
development, to cooperate with specialized institutions concerned with cultural
development, to strengthen regional participation in the Culturelink Network, and to serve
as a catalyst for cooperative research in the field of cultural development at regional/interregional and international levels.
APRCCN has also collected, processed, reproduced, exchanged and disseminated data
on cultural development in the region. The database focuses on Cultural Policy, Cultural
Law, and Cultural Institutions. It provides information services to its members through
newsletter and Internet web sites and organises regional gatherings, events and joint
research projects in order to promote cultural development in the region.
APRCCN has Australia, Bangladesh, China, Fiji, Korea, Maldives, Malaysia, New
Zealand, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam as its members. APRCCN also cooperates
with national organisations, institutions and research associations, NGOs, Intergovernmental organisations, and so forth
APRCCN launched the Joint Study Project on Culture and Development in 1998 and
organised the Regional Workshop on Culture and Development with the title ”New
Strategy of Cultural Tourism in the Regional Development” in 1999. It has made its
results along with other reports on cultural development available to the researchers,
scholars and experts in the region through the Internet.
As for the database, the Culturelink institution database has been updated on a regular
basis since December 1997 and data on cultural law and cultural policy that have been
collected from the focal points of APRCCN have been made accessible through the
APRCCN website.
PAGE 25
BACKGROUND REPORTS
APRCCN published the Culturelink Newsletter twice a year (9 issues) and also reports of
cultural research and relevant conferences. This year it launches to serve the Culturelink
Newsletter in the form of webzine. It also has organised regional and sub-regional
meetings and Culturelink conferences since 1997.
In Korea, the preservation of digital documentary heritage is in the responsibility of the
national institute for preserving documentary heritage. However, this institute supplies
funds and personnel for the digitalization of national documents rather than actively
participating in the preservation project. For example, the Ministry of Information and
Communication is currently providing funds for projects on digitalization of documents
preserved in the Kyujanggak and creation of a database of documents on Korean history
stored in the National Institute of Korean History. Additional projects such as the creation
of a database of documents in the National Library and the National Assembly Library are
also underway. Through such projects, documents of various fields are being
independently preserved in digital format. There have been many efforts to resolve any
problems that may arise during this process but such efforts tend to be limited.
The Digitalization of Korean Documentary Heritage Project begun in 1998 has been
undertaken in order to prepare for the 21st Century, a century of information and
communication, when the creation and adaptation of knowledge will determine the
national credentials. This project is part of the ‘Establishment of Knowledge information
Dam’ project of ‘Cyber Korea 21’ that promotes the expansion and interaction of
informational databases that will enable easy access to information on science
technology, education, culture, history and the like.
In January 2001, under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Communication
the Law on the management of information and knowledge was established. In addition,
preparation for the management of information and knowledge resource for the years
2000-2004 and yearly enforcement plans have been established and are being enacted.
Between 1998 and 2001, 154 projects have been promoted with a budget of 48,670
million won and an average number of 63,341 personnel have been employed each day.
In 2002, 14 projects including the establishment of national academic research data
covering the four fields of science technology, education, culture and arts have been
planned with a budget of 2,350 million won. The Korea Knowledge Portal
(http://www.knowledge.go.kr) that provides internet access to expansive informational
data by linking comprehensive information centres of various fields was opened in
November, 2001. Further plans for continuous expansion of informational resources that
contain national preservation and access values in the four fields are currently being
planned.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
A large part of documents produced today are being made accessible through the
internet but the actual preservation of these documents is still problematic. The problem
of deciding where to place these documents, whether they should be left where they are
or whether a special collection should be made, is in urgent need of a solution. We often
find that many of the documents which we have bookmarked for future use have
disappeared after a certain period of time. This may be due to the closure of the company
running the site, the changing of the web addresses or the simple deletion of the
documents by the owner. This means the extinction of an original document that does not
have a copy. Such loss is a loss for human documentary heritage. For this reason,
several national libraries including the Swedish Royal Library have been collecting the
information found on the internet. The preservation of documents is just as in this period
of the internet as it was in Neolithic times. What is more, the amount of information is
increasing exponentially every day. The process of documenting, preserving and finding
the documents may have become easier but the enormity of the number of documents is
still a problem that needs to be solved.
For this reason, APRCCN has always taken a strong interest in the efficient preservation
and provision of access to the numerous amount of information provided on the internet
PAGE 26
BACKGROUND REPORTS
by continuously sifting and finding relevant information. The task project of introducing the
results of the preservation of digital documentary heritage in order to enhance awareness
of this process and creating an adequate environment for its practice can be considered
as an especially important aspect of APRCCN.
Unfortunately, however, in the Asia Pacific region, awareness of the preservation of
digital documentary heritage including the digitalization of documentary heritage is still
quite low. The basic focus of the Documentary Heritage Preservation Project of UNESCO
lies in the preservation of important historical documents and the conversion of these
documents into various media for academic and research usage. Until now, old
documents have been the primary focus of documentary heritage preservation and there
has been relatively less interest shown in the digital documentary heritage. Interest in the
Asia Pacific region has been especially low. The fact that among the 45 countries that
have the Memory of the World National Committee, only 7 of them are in the Asia Pacific
region is a good example of this regional lack of interest.
The lack of interest and the subsequent low participation in the digitalization project in the
Asia Pacific region is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for APRCCN. The digital
infrastructure of each country varies greatly to the extent that where there are countries
where it is relatively easy to have access to a great amount of information, there are also
countries where important documents on cultural policy can be found only in the
traditional paper format. In such cases, these documents must be transformed into digital
formats which inevitably incurs huge losses in time and money. There is also the difficulty
of having to translate these documents into English in order to enhance accessibility due
to the characteristic of the internet.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
APRCCN hosted a workshop for documentary heritage professionals in the Asia Pacific
region to promote awareness of the preservation of digital heritage in June last year, and
in 2004 a workshop in the Asia Pacific region will be held under the theme of
“Preservation of Digital Documentary Heritage”. In addition, by servicing information
regarding issues of international interest and importance through its website, APRCCN
hopes to gain the continual interest of all state governments. In the long run, it plans to
come up with a workable counterproposal by pursuing joint research projects with
relevant research centers in the Asia Pacific region that will be able to pinpoint the
problems in preservation of digital documentary heritage and present adequate solutions.
Lastly, by actively cooperating with the National Commissions for UNESCO in various
countries, APRCCN plans to promote the establishment of MOW National Committees in
the region and implement a working network among them.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Establishment of digital infrastructure in the Asian-Pacific region.

Acquisition of funds from national or international levels for implementation
of workshops and research projects on relevant subjects.

Sharing of knowledge acquired from extensive research results of projects
performed in various countries with countries that have relatively poor
research results due to unfavorable conditions.

Education of professionals in relevant fields.
PAGE 27
BACKGROUND REPORTS
MALAYSIA
1
DIGITAL HERITAGE OF INDIGENOUS ETHNIC
MINORITIES IN SARAWAK
Dr Roger W Harris
Vice-Chair for Asia, The International Federation for Information Processing,
Working Group on the Social Implications of Computers in Developing
Countries, Hong Kong, P R China
harris38@netvigator.com; http://rogharris.org
1)
BACKGROUND
From November 1997 until May 2001, I was an academic working in Universiti Malaysia
Sarawak, where I instigated a project called e-Bario2. This involved implementing a
community based telecentre, with computers and the Internet, in the remote village of
Bario in the highlands of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. Bario is the centre of the
homeland of the Kelabit people, one of the smallest of Sarawak’s 26 or so ethnic
communities. I am still working with the community and with researchers at the university
to help them make the best use of their information and communications technologies
(ICTs).
As part of the project, the research team engaged in extensive consultations with the
Kelabit people, both in Bario and among the wider Diaspora, with regard to how the ICTs
might be used for their benefit. The immediate concerns related to enhancing
communication for outside contacts (Bario is extremely isolated and is accessible only by
air) and the continued economic viability of Bario as a community. However, there was
also considerable interest in applying the ICTs to the assembly and preservation of ethnic
cultural artefacts. The following table lists the areas of cultural heritage that were
recognised to be important by the community.
Heritage
Area
Genealogy
Oral
Traditions
Indigenous
Knowledge
Activity
Recording genealogical data in the
computer
Recording and classifying oral
traditions
Assembling, classifying, recording
and disseminating indigenous
knowledge
Spiritual
Assembling, disseminating and
Fortification contributing to sources of religious
support and intra-denominational
communications.
Future Scenario
A comprehensive Kelabit genealogy is recorded on a computer that is
connected to the internet and which can be accessed and updated from
any computer that is similarly connected. Family trees are documented
and photographs of individuals are included. Family life histories are
recorded, including dates and locations of major events.
Oral histories are recorded and/or transcribed and maintained in a
database on a computer that is accessible via the internet. Traditions are
recorded along with what is known of their origin.
Indigenous Kelabit knowledge that relates to local history, natural history,
the environment, economics and culture is maintained in a database on a
computer that is connected to the internet.
The church community, through its own web site, regularly
communicates with equivalent communities worldwide and augments its
local activities as a result.
1
This is not a country analysis as may have been expected by the organisers, but a more focussed discussion of issues concerning
indigenous minorities. Nevertheless, it is likely that the issues raised will have a wider applicability than the immediate community
featured here.
2
http://www.unimas.my/ebario/
PAGE 28
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Telecentre
design
Adoption of local cultural symbolism The custom-built telecentre manifests the local cultural engagement
in the design of the telecentre
between itself, technology and the outside world.
To date, work has begun on the recording of genealogical data as well as the oral
traditions, although much still remains to be done in these areas, as well as the others.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE

Ownership
The Kelabit people in Sarawak do not feel that they exercise ownership rights over
their own cultural heritage. They are concerned that outsiders are able to gain
easier access to both the records and the artefacts related to their cultural heritage
than they are. Part of their concern arises from the opportunity for misinterpretation
of meaning that can arise from such access as well as the inability of the Kelabit
people to influence how their cultural heritage is treated. They feel powerless to
present to the outside world a picture of themselves, their history and
achievements, which they themselves would wish to have known. They see the
situation getting worse rather than better, as technology empowers a few people to
engage with information relating to their heritage, whilst depriving the majority from
an equal opportunity.

Custodianship
Custodianship of both the knowledge relating to the Kelabits’ cultural heritage, as
well as the artefacts themselves, is not maintained within the Kelabit community.
Custodianship is different from ownership, as the two can reside in different bodies
or institutions. Presently, custodianship of Kelabit cultural heritage corresponds
with both possession and ownership. If you have something, you more or less own
it and you have the right to do with it as you wish. Intermediated custodianship
would not be so bad if ownership remained within the community. Museums and
research institutions have ownership and custodianship of much of the Kelabit
cultural heritage. Moreover, there is no robust or reliable mechanism for the
Kelabit community themselves to resolve issues among themselves that relate to
their cultural heritage. There are representative organisations, both formal and
informal, but there is no widespread forum capable of fostering continued dialogue
among members of the community with regard to the collection, custody and
dissemination of information about their cultural heritage.

Interpretation
Related to ownership and custodianship is the issue of interpretation. The Kelabit
people have become wary of researchers whom they welcome openly only to see
them subsequently publish conclusions about their work with which the community
itself does not agree. This has led them to seek agreements from researchers that
their work will be distributed among the community before it is published. But there
is no way of enforcing such an agreement. Once a researcher has published
his/her findings, the community feels that it has no channel for refutation, correction
or any form of alternative interpretation.

Commercialisation
In view of the openness of ownership and custodianship, opportunities for the
commercial exploitation of the Kelabit cultural heritage are open to anyone. The
community has no intellectual property rights (IPR) over any of their cultural
heritage. The value of such rights could be significant; Kelabit people are very
knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the highland tropical rainforest
environment in which their homelands can be found. IPR issues might emerge
relating to indigenous knowledge of the medical capabilities of indigenous plants or
the traditional designs that are applied to traditional clothing and other items.
PAGE 29
BACKGROUND REPORTS

Diffusion of ICTs
ICTs can be simultaneously a threat and an opportunity. Whilst threatening to
engulf indigenous minorities in the relentless processes of globalisation, they can
also be used as tools to assist such groups to engage positively with such
processes, on their own terms. The concern at this stage is that the former is
more likely to happen than the latter. The e-Bario project is intended to
demonstrate the positive aspects of ICTs for small, remote and indigenous minority
communities. Yet the worldwide diffusion of ICTs remains overwhelmingly in
favour of the urban societies of developed nations. Although many developing
country governments and major international development agencies are aware of
the potential for rural development with ICTs, progress is slow and it is still almost
impossible to find a computer in a rural community in any developing country,
much less one that is connected to the Internet. Even among the few experimental
projects that can be found, short term thinking and the pressure for tangible results
forces donors to focus on poverty alleviation outcomes, even though, when you
talk to members of the communities themselves, it is easy to find considerable
interest in using the technology for preserving and strengthening their cultural
heritage.

Dynamism
Existing structures for preserving cultural heritage seem to deny the dynamics of
cultural change. In the case of Sarawak, the Kelabit community has undergone
significant and profound changes in recent years. However, it seems that the
community feels that the prevailing impression among outsiders is way out of date.
It is still possible to meet travellers whose expectations of Sarawakian culture bear
the influence of materials that were published before WWII, in may cases because
that is all that is easily available to them. The Kelabit people are fully conscious of
their history and the recent changes that they have gone through. They would
prefer that any attempt at an understanding of their situation involves a complete
examination of their cultural heritage, and is not limited to dated stereotypes of the
popular press, old museum records or out dated publications.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

Infomobilisation
Infomobilisation is a methodology consisting of activities that ensure that ICTs have
optimal impacts for development within rural communities. It is used in
communities that have been assigned ICTs over which they have control. In
developing countries, this would typically be in the form of a community-based
telecentre, a community centre that provides access to computers and the internet
and which is used by the community to foster development activities of their own
choosing. Infomobilisation has already begun in Bario where it is being refined and
tested as a research topic. The activities relating to Kelabit cultural heritage in the
table above were agreed upon as a result of the Infomobilisation process. Each of
the items remains as a priority area for development by the community telecentre
in Bario.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Diffusion of ICTs
ICTs can be used to help rural indigenous and minority communities achieve
custodial ownership and rights of interpretation and commercialisation over their
own cultural heritage. Studies of indigenous communities regularly point to the
PAGE 30
BACKGROUND REPORTS
importance they place on their cultural heritage, yet they also highlight the almost
complete lack of control or participation such communities have in how their culture
is collected or represented. Rather than homogenising culture, ICTs offer the
opportunity to celebrate the diversity of culture. Whichever outcome prevails will be
a result of society’s choice as to how ICTs are used. Yet a prime requirement is for
wider diffusion of access to ICTs to rural communities in developing countries.

Raising awareness among traditional heritage custodians
ICTs will not achieve cultural diversity alone. As with all successful applications of
ICTs, adaptations in the behaviour of individuals, groups and institutions is
necessary before significant benefits can emerge from the deployment of ICTs.
Existing institutions can assist in the process of democratising ownership of cultural
assets, provided they face up to the limitations of their traditional roles. The
Internet has made the conventional role of libraries and museums obsolete. Yet
such institutions have major roles to play in mobilising communities towards a more
open and dynamic approach to the assembly and preservation of indigenous
culture. Libraries and museums can facilitate a more dispersed pattern of
ownership and custodianship of cultural artefacts that can increasingly be
represented digitally. Networks that connect digitised cultural artefacts to the
communities from which they were derived can be used to foster a wider
appreciation of their value and importance as well as a more inclusive approach as
to how they are used and interpreted.

Advocacy for a more dynamic approach to cultural heritage
The Internet is a dynamic medium capable of representing the dynamic nature of
cultural information. Culture is not history alone, although much of history is
culture. Cultural relevance is often stronger in more recent events and artefacts,
yet these are sometimes the least represented by the conventional representations
of culture. Indigenous communities are often presented to the outside world by
outsiders rather than by members of the communities themselves, who lack equal
access to information channels as well as the means of utilising them. Concerned
institutions can rectify these imbalances.

Action-Research
The e-Bario project has exhausted its initial funding, from the IDRC and the
Malaysian Government. The community is now being assisted with the
implementation of e-commerce for appropriate tourism and trade in handicraft
products, as these are expected to generate the income that is required to sustain
the telecentre. In addition, institutional assistance is now required to support the
agenda for digitising the cultural heritage of the Kelabit community. This is an
important endeavour that deserves special attention because:

funding support from conventional aid-oriented sources places higher priority
on activities that promote income generating opportunities, to the detriment
of cultural preservation, in the mistaken believe that low-income
communities are only interested in making money in order to improve their
well-being,

the Kelabit community, centred on Bario, along with ethnic minorities
everywhere, make contributions towards cultural diversity that are out of all
proportion to their numbers, yet their small size makes them extremely
vulnerable to being swamped culturally by the larger dominant societies in
which they live,

e-Bario offers a rare, possibly unique, opportunity to demonstrate how small,
vulnerable ethnic minorities can take charge of their cultural heritage using
ICTs, with important implications for minorities and rural communities
everywhere.
PAGE 31
BACKGROUND REPORTS
PAGE 32
BACKGROUND REPORTS
MALAYSIA
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF MALAYSIA
Mrs Mahfuzah Yusuf
National Archives of Malaysia
Jalan Duta 50568
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
mahfuzah@arkib.gov.my
1)
BACKGROUND
The National Archives of Malaysia is responsible for the identification, acquisition,
storage, access and preservation of government official records (National Archives Act
44/66). It has developed a system called COMPASS (Computerised Archival System and
Services in 1996). Currently, it is working on digitising the photographic collection
receiving a yearly budget of RM 500,000. They are stored in JPEG (300dpi). This
project started in 2000. To date, a total of 50,000 black and white photographs have
been digitised and made available to the public through COMPASS.
The greatest challenge to the National Archives now is the development of major
Electronic Government Applications. Since 1996, record keeping requirements and
preservation elements were not considered at the system design stage. This problem will
continue since the National Archives is not ready with any kind of digital preservation
standard to be implemented through out the public sector. The National Archives needs
an appropriate strategy and methodology in addressing this problem.
Other Government Departments Digitisation Projects:

National Film Unit Multimedia Digitisation Project
The first phase of this project involves conversion of films and videos produced by the
Unit into digital format. The unit outsourced the conversion process and archived them in
robotic storage LTO tape (MPEG 1 - lower resolution and MPEG 2- higher resolution). It
is done in compliance with International Broadcasting Standard. The total cost involved in
phase one is RM 5 Million and for only 100 hrs of films conversion.

Registrar of Companies (ROC)
In this department, all registration forms were digitised and converted into analog images
on 16 mm silver halide-based film using the Digital Archives Writers ( DAW- Model 4800).
The purpose of digitising here is more for easy access and the microfilmed version is for
preservation. Images are stored in Tagged Image File Format –TIFF.

NaLIS: National Infrastructure For Land Information System
NaLIS was established under the Public Administration Development Circular 1/97.
It is a programme designed to develop National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).
The objective is to improve the awareness and data availability and access. In this
project, development of Malaysian GIS standards are geared towards conformance
PAGE 33
BACKGROUND REPORTS
to International Standard ISO/TC211 for geographic information. NaLIS secretariat
is maintained by Ministry of Land and Cooperative Development.
PAGE 34
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Other Projects:
The National Archives is also the Secretariat for Asia Pacific Region for the UNESCO
Memory of The World Project . Three documentary heritage from different institutions in
the country were selected and had gained entry to The Memory Of The World Register.
The National Archives has not finalised their preservation format.

e-Publication/ Digital publication
From the archival perspective, the government web sites, are regarded as digital
publication. The preservation of such publication has not received sufficient
attention. There is no special effort gearing towards their systematic archiving for
permanent preservation.
Books published digitally are dealt with separately by the National Library Malaysia.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
MOVING IMAGE HERITAGE
Cost, lack of standard and awareness are main concerns for Digital Heritage
Preservation in Malaysia. The digital preservation obstacles:

Awareness.

Technology Obsolescence.

Policy and legal framework.

Skill and Knowledge.

Budget allocation.
Currently, the National Archives is chairing the National Preservation Committee
answerable to Government IT and Internet Committee (GITIC). Plans are being made to
look at preservation issues at national level with global input through a special research
project. The National Archives is still waiting for budget approval.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

Create an awareness programme: seminars for forum knowledge sharing.

Establish collaboration locally and internationally on agreed projects.

Enhance cooperation between private and the public sectors.

Provide opportunity specialised preservation training for archives staff.

Develop prototype and Cross Flagship Application to address records
management and preservation across the public sector.

Establish appropriate infrastructure/info structure.
PAGE 35
BACKGROUND REPORTS
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Funding for Digital Preservation Projects.

Provision of resource persons for digitisation related seminar/project.

Sponsorship for Courses In Digital Preservation.

Sponsorship for attachment at relevant/ institutions/project sites.

Study visits/International assessment.

Regular update and expert advice on digital preservation for special interest group.
PAGE 36
BACKGROUND REPORTS
THE NETHERLANDS
Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Johan Steenbakkers, Director, Information Technology and Facility Management
Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of the Netherlands
Prins Willem – Alexanderhof 5, 2595
The Hague
The Netherlands
jphan.steenbakkers@kb.nl
1)
BACKGROUND

Digital archiving and long-term access
More and more publications are being published electronically. It is the
responsibility of a national library to preserve also the digital part of the cultural
heritage and to guarantee access to it, today and on the long term. For this reason
the KB adapted in 1994 its policy to include electronic publication into its deposit
collection. From that moment on experiments and practical work have been done
on the handling and the archiving of electronic publications. These activities have
been, where possible, performed in cooperation with publishers and (inter)national
library and technology partners.

Publications deposited by publishers at the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Year
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
Publications (print)
38,910
39,000
41,000
40,000
40,000
Electronic publications
(CDROMs)
1,340
1,390
1,280
930
370
Magazine subscriptions
11,880
11,800
11,600
11,400
11,000
1,330
1,139
870
484
48
Electronic magazine
subscriptions

Agreements with publishers
In 1996 and 1997, the KB was the first national library to enter into agreements
with major publishers (Elsevier Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, SDU
Uitgevers) concerning the storage and preservation publications such as electronic
academic periodicals. Since then, the KB has stored over 1,000 periodicals. In
2002 the KB became the first official archive worldwide for all electronic
publications issued by Elsevier Science. All deposited periodicals can be consulted
on site. The KB aims towards a broader use of the deposited material and will for
this purpose jointly with the publishers develop new business models.
PAGE 37
BACKGROUND REPORTS

Deposit system for the E-Deposit of the Netherlands
As libraries need a specific building for maintaining their printed collections, they
need a deposit system to store and maintain their electronic collections. In 1999
the KB started the process of acquiring its deposit system. After a European
tendering procedure in 2000, IBM was chosen for the development and
implementation of a deposit system, based on the guidelines and standards
proposed by the NEDLib project (Networked European Deposit Library).
The development by IBM was done on site at the KB as part of the DNEP project
(Deposit of Dutch Electronic Publications). In October 2002 IBM has delivered the
deposit system to the KB. The system (storage capacity 12 TB, scalable over 500
TB) will form the technical heart of the Electronic Deposit (E-Deposit). Also a series
of a IBM/KB research reports on practical issues of long-term preservation will be
published this fall.
The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has raised the annual KB
budget with M€ 1.1 for the operational costs of the E-Deposit. Work is in progress
to make the E-Deposit fully operational.

Functionality for permanent digital storage and access
In past years, the KB has conducted innovative research on techniques for longterm preservation. The KB will continue to conduct and promote research, in close
cooperation with the IT industry, to develop solutions and applied technologies for
long term archiving and access. International cooperation in this field is essential.
Strategic library partners with whom the KB already has a working relationship are
the British Library, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Australia and
Yale University. Strategic technology partners are actually IBM and Rand.

Archiving web publications
Since the commercial publishers in the Netherlands are responsible for producing
most of the important publications, the KB has so far given priority to the archiving
of on-line academic periodicals. Web harvesting / archiving has already begun in
the Scandinavian countries and the US. A distinction should be made in this regard
between the collecting of individual web publications and the preserving of (part of)
the entire web environment, including the publication context and web functionality.
In the coming years, the KB also will start archiving web publications on an
experimental basis.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE

Long-term technology development has to be speeded up.
Most of the technology needed for long-term archiving and for long-term access
has still to be developed. Nevertheless the issue of long-term preservations draws
more and more attention, hardly any practical actions are yet being undertaken.
Most of the ongoing activities in the library, archive and information field, are not
solution orientated, they concentrate on discussing the problem of long term
archiving and not on developing and applying - functional and technical - solutions.
This is mainly the case because the memory institutions lack (additional!)
resources for investments for their digital preservation facilities. If there would be a
real demand from the customers (place orders!), the ICT industry will no doubt
soon develop appropriate and affordable preservation technologies and equipment.
How can we find a way out of this chicken-and egg-problem and speed up the
development of long-term technology and the implementation of E-Deposits?
PAGE 38
BACKGROUND REPORTS

Practical cooperation in digital preservation has to be achieved.
Once the infrastructure for digital preservation (i.e. a number of operational EDeposits) is in place it has to be maintained and operated. E-Deposits are facilities
at the cross border of the information field and the ICT field. The development and
operating of E-Deposits will require completely new skills of the memory
institutions. These skills and good practices for digital preservation can only be
jointly developed.
To realise digital preservation of the cultural heritage in practice, close and day-to
day cooperation between the E-Deposits in (regions of) the world will be required.
Both the skills needed as well as the practical experience required, can only be
achieved by a close and day-to-day cooperation amongst E-Deposits in the world.
How can we in the next few years achieve cooperation in practice between the
E-Deposits in the world?
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

Make dirty hands!
As national library, the KB is responsible for keeping electronic publications
permanent in storage and accessible for the long term. To achieve this the KB
follows a two-track approach: first to gain direct practical experience in handling
and maintaining electronic publications and second to work on solutions for the
problem of long-term access. Because the problem of long-term access is a
complicated and new problem, a hands-on approach helps to direct actions to be
undertaken. (One should be aware that the preservation of printed publications
was not solved on beforehand, so before libraries started collecting these
publications. Even today no single and definitive solution exists, yet large
collections of printed publications have been compiled and are being maintained.)

Find strategic partners!
Through cooperation with publishers the KB was able to use ‘real-life material’ to
gain the skills and the experience needed to develop its facilities for the
preservation of electronic publications.
For the work on long term preservation and access, close cooperation with
technology partners is essential. From the start on the KB has looked for and
worked with strategic ICT partners for research and development of long term
preservation solutions.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

To acquire more support and resources for investment, research & development of
long-term technology and facilities.

To help organise a durable, practical cooperation between E-Deposits in the world.

To involve and commit publishers and ICT (hardware and software) producers in
the development and in the operating of the digital preservation infrastructure.
PAGE 39
BACKGROUND REPORTS
NEW CALEDONIA
BIBLIOTHEQUE BERNHEIM
Christophe Augias
Bibliotheque Bernheim
bp G 1, 98848 noumea cedex
Nouvelle-Caledonie
c.augias@bernheim.nc
1)
BACKGROUND
New Caledonia is a small island, and digital material production is still scarce. Though
small, this production exists, and we have been brought to think about preservation
issues.
We get a few CD-ROMs each year, which are kept with the rest of our local heritage
collections. NO specific preservation measures have been taken to this day.
Internet development has been hampered by high telecom prices. The New-Caledonian
web is only developing now, and we think it is just the right time to start archiving it.
On the other hand, territorial libraries and archives, as well as other institutions like the
Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, are now thinking about digitisation projects, and
some have already launched programs. The Bernheim Library certainly is interested in
such projects, but will not start until a proper strategic plan has been established.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
As a territorial library, the Bernheim is responsible for the preservation of local heritage,
including digital heritage though it hasn’t been a priority. Our priorities were to secure
proper preservation of existing precious collections, which was achieved in 1998. At the
same time, we became partners of the French National Library to collect legal deposit, in
order to build comprehensive collections on the subject of New Caledonia.
The preservation of digital heritage can be seen as a third step.
The first problem is common to all digital documents: will we be able to read material
produced today with the future technologies?
Then, we have different problems for different types of material:

for CD-ROMs : how long will they last?
Are they suited for preservation, or should we make copies of them on long-lasting,
reliable material?

for the Internet: how to archive? At what costs? How to provide access?
PAGE 40
BACKGROUND REPORTS
The main obstacles to archiving Internet sites are:
-
the need for new technologies: archiving Internet sites is quite a young idea,
and there are few countries doing it at the moment. Only through their
experience can we learn how to achieve proper and useful archiving.
-
the need for new skills: new technologies, new skills. Once again, we have
to try and learn from those already doing it, as our country is far too small to
re-invent the wheel.
Two more questions can be raised that are closely related to the above-mentioned
obstacles:

-
What kind of archive do we want: selective or comprehensive?
-
How will we provide access to the archive?
For our own (future) digitised material: what format should we use?
This is yet a very important question to us. On a local and international level,
digitising is the perfect way to provide access to precious material, but also to
share resources. But in order to share, shouldn’t we have common standards to
make things better and easier?
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

Internet archiving: we are currently studying two possibilities for Internet archiving:
one selective, one comprehensive. Our objective is to start early 2003. We would
like to be autonomous by 2005.

Digitising is still a more remote issue. Digitisation plans are very costly, so we will
not start before we have a very clear idea as far as formats are concerned and
local technical skills ensured.
We also consider shared-digitisation as a must, which leads us to think that the format
question is most important. Sharing digitisation on a regional level would be a great
benefit to all, and we want to be part of it when it starts.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?


In order to reach autonomy for the Internet archiving, we will be looking to a twostaged process.
-
Firstly, we need the help of a greater library already engaged in an archiving
process, so we can start archiving and lose as little information as possible.
-
Secondly, a training program has to be organised to enable an autonomous
management of the archive from New Caledonia. For that matter too, we will
need assistance from experienced professionals.
More generally, we need assistance from bigger countries that have the means to
develop technologies and experience different aspects of digital preservation. This
experience could be shared with smaller islands for the benefit of the whole region.
PAGE 41
BACKGROUND REPORTS
NEW ZEALAND
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF NEW ZEALAND
Steve Knight, Digital Library Transition Co-ordinator
National Library of New Zealand
P O Box 1467
Wellington
New Zealand
steve.knight@natlib.govt.nz
1)
BACKGROUND
The National Library Act 1965 provides the legislative framework for the National Library
of New Zealand (NLNZ) ‘… to collect, preserve, and make available recorded knowledge,
particularly that relating to New Zealand, to supplement and further the work of other
libraries in New Zealand, and to enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and
its cultural interchanges with other nations’.
Legislation currently before Parliament, if enacted, will give the National Library the
mandate to collect digital resources for preservation purposes.
Conservative estimates suggest that by 2005 there could be 12 Terabytes of unique,
digital original material available online in New Zealand, with a growth rate upwards of 1
Terabyte annually. 3 Paralleling this, a recent survey in New Zealand found that while
storage costs are falling approximately 35% per year any savings from cheaper storage
are being immediately overtaken by a growth in storage requirements of up to 50%. 4
It is within this framework that NLNZ is undertaking a programme of linked initiatives to
ensure the incorporation of digital material into the Library’s core business processes with
a view to the long-term accessibility of those resources. The goal of the programme is to
develop holistic end-to-end processes for the handling of digital material within the
Library. This approach has to some extent been dictated by the need for NLNZ to deal
with digital objects now as a collecting agency and also the requirement to implement the
programme within current baseline funding.
The work programme currently underway within NLNZ includes the following activities:

development and implementation of business process workflows for incorporating
digital objects into the Library’s business processes, eg selection, acquisition, care
and handling, transformation of physical originals.

development of infrastructure for digital material, eg upload process, storage,
authentication, access.

purchase and implementation of a metadata repository for provision of portal
services to NLNZ applications.
3
Extrapolations from: Lyman, P. & Varian, H. 2000. How much information? Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley.
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/research/projects/how-much-info/. Last accessed 17 October 2002.
4
Braddell, R. 2002. Data storage needs escalate. Wellington, N.Z.: The Dominion Post, Monday October 14, p C10.
PAGE 42
BACKGROUND REPORTS
2)

creating a testbed application for researching and implementing a range of digital
library activities, eg resource discovery metadata, preservation metadata (schema,
extraction, storage), persistent identifiers.

evaluating the feasibility of and pilot web harvesting for the capture and
preservation of New Zealand based and related web sites.

implement a production process for bulk digitisation of textual materials including
evaluating the feasibility of and pilot full text search and retrieval.
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
The key concerns for the National Library of New Zealand at present are:
3)

low level awareness of the need for digital preservation within the community of
‘memory institutions’ and more widely;

lack of metrics regarding the scope of the problem;

lack of finance to research and implement digital preservation;

lack of skill sets for implementing digital preservation, eg the multiplicity of
softwares involved, digital conservation/archaeology;

lack of agreed international approaches to digital preservation;

lack of practical models to match the high level conceptual work already
undertaken internationally;

lack of cooperation/collaboration between the wider range of agents potentially
able to assist in developing digital preservation solutions, eg the computing
industry.
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
Implicit in the figures and initiatives described above is the need to provide a ‘trusted
repository’5 for digital material which ensures its viability and authenticity over time. As far
back as 1996 it was recognised that ‘for assuring the longevity of information, perhaps
the most important role in the operation of a digital archives is managing the identity,
integrity and quality of the archives itself as a trusted source of the cultural record.
Users of archived information in electronic form and of archival services relating to that
information need to have assurance that a digital archives is what it says it is and that the
information stored there is safe for the long term’.6
While the current work of the Library may enable it to resolve issues relating to the
integration of digital resources into its normal business practices it is clear that this does
not automatically ensure that the Library fulfills the requirements of a 'trusted repository'.
Nor does it mean that the Library will not have to develop relationships with other
organisations that might wish to achieve 'trusted repository' status in a country with a
small population base and few agencies of appropriate size, funding and willingness to
take on the role. Therein lies a huge challenge both for the Library and for the wider New
Zealand information community when deciding issues of digital preservation.
5
Research Libraries Group. 2002. Trusted digital repositories: Attributes and responsibilities. Mountain View, CA: Research Libraries
Group. http://www.rlg.org/longterm/repositories.pdf. Last accessed 15 October 2002.
6
Garrett, J & Waters, D. 1996. Preserving Digital Information: Report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information. Washington,
DC: Commission on Preservation and Access and Research Libraries Group, p 23. www.rlg.org/ArchTF/index.html. Last accessed 15
October 2002.
PAGE 43
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Activities undertaken by the National Library in the last 2 years have been primarily
inwardly focused. As noted above, this approach has been thrust upon the Library as a
national collecting agency. To achieve its mandate the Library has had to research and
develop an infrastructure for digital preservation in a practical, experiential manner in
order to cope with the burgeoning quantity of electronic resources available which it is
required ‘to collect, preserve, and make available. However, the Library is acutely aware
of the need to show leadership in digital preservation as it does in providing the backbone
for the nation’s library infrastructure.
National Digital Forum
In May 2002, the Library hosted a National Digital Forum. Representatives from a number
of 'memory institutions' - including museums, archives, galleries and libraries - met to
discuss the challenges and issues involved in digitisation and the increased creation and
provision of cultural heritage materials online.
While the primary accent of the Forum was on digitisation it was widely agreed that digital
preservation was a matter requiring urgent consideration at a national level. The National
Library will be ensuring that its own initiatives are shared as widely as possible within
New Zealand to foster increased understanding of digital preservation issues and to
enlarge the pool of expertise available nationally to confront the needs of digital
preservation.
National Preservation Office
The National Library’s National Preservation Office, Te Tari Tohu Taonga is the primary
source for the dissemination of preservation information to libraries, museums, archives
and other New Zealand cultural institutions holding documentary heritage information. It
has established an extensive preservation network throughout New Zealand and is in a
very useful position for raising awareness of the need for preservation of the digital record
and to observe where duplication of effort may be occurring. The National Preservation
Office also has links into international initiatives in preservation.
In May 2002 the Office brought out from the University of Glasgow a course on
digitisation for cultural heritage professionals. These courses were attended by
professionals from a diverse range of cultural institutions. Even though the focus of the
course was on digitisation it included components on the critical issues of digital
preservation. While in New Zealand teaching the course, Dr Seamus Ross gave a public
presentation on Erpanet (Electronic Resource Preservation and Access network), a
European Commission funded project for the promotion of ‘digital preservation of cultural
heritage and scientific objects’.
The National Preservation Office is in a unique position for the provision of training
courses and guidelines that can address this issue for a range of institutions throughout
New Zealand.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?
Assistance in promoting the need for and importance of digital preservation would
usefully include:

promotion of a more co-ordinated international approach to the development of
solutions to problems relating to digital preservation, eg preservation metadata,
persistent identifiers, implementation models;

programmes to raise the awareness of the need for digital preservation within the
community of ‘memory institutions’ and more widely;

studies designed to provide accurate metrics on the scope of digital
material needing preservation, including extrapolations for sizing purposes.
PAGE 44
BACKGROUND REPORTS
SINGAPORE
NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD OF SINGAPORE
Mrs LIM Siew Kim
National Library Board of Singapore
Library Supply Centre
No. 3 Changi South Street 2
#03-00 Tower B
Singapore 486548
siew_kim_LIM@nlb.gov.sg
1)
BACKGROUND
Currently the National Library Board (NLB) Act of Singapore empowers the Board to
collect digital resources that are hand-held in nature, such as CDs and CDROMs. The
NLB Act, however, does not require producers of online digital content to deposit such
content with the Board.
The National Library Board is currently cataloguing internet websites with Singapore
content published by Singapore government departments and organisations. The aim is
to identify, capture and provide access to digital content in a web-based format to users.
There are some 200 such websites that have been catalogued so far.
However the Board does not archive/preserve the digital content that is published at
these websites.
Apart from cataloguing websites relating to Singapore, NLB has created some content of
its own in digital format, such as topical FAQs and researched answers, information repackaging for corporate clients, digitisation of selective rare materials, national
bibliography in CDROM format, Intranet and websites for example the NLB’s corporate
website, ELibraryhub, and the Students’ Virtual Community.
With regard to digitisation of rare materials, the NLB is selectively digitising materials from
its heritage collection based on theme. Currently it is working on two themes, ‘Sir
Stamford Raffles’ and ‘Singapore Landmarks’. Rare books which contain information
relating to the themes are digitised in full. One example of such a book which has been
digitised is “Twentieth century impressions of the British Malaya: its history, people,
industries and resources”, published in 1908.
Digital content from other organisations
The National University of Singapore Library does not catalogue websites relating to
Singapore at the moment. However it has a number of digitisation projects. It has
digitised a rare book by Charles Gutzlaff, published in 1834, relating to his experiences in
coastal China, Korea and parts of Southeast Asia. Charles was a Prussian evangelist
working under the Netherlands Missionary Society.
The NUS Library has also digitised “Lat Pau” which is the longest running Chinese daily
during pre-War Singapore. It was started by Mr See Ewe Lay in Dec 1881 and lasted 52
PAGE 45
BACKGROUND REPORTS
years before it finally ceased in Mar 1932. The issues extant at the NUS Chinese Library
cover the period Aug 19 1887 to Mar 31 1932.
The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) Library has a SEAText (Southeast
Asian Full-text Retrieval) database comprising scanned images of selected feature
articles from certain English language newspapers and current affairs journals, as well as
born-digitals sourced for or received from the internet, such as email- and website-based
articles, documents, speeches, annual and other reports, statistics, theses, etc, for
research use7.
The ISEAS Library monitors a select number of websites of governments, NGOs,
academic institutions, regional and international organisations to download their digital
materials and obtain information on their latest publications 8.
The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Library does cataloguing of websites. It
creates metadata records in Dublin Core standard on OCLC Connexion (previously
known as CORC) via Internet.
In July 1999, NTU Library participated in a metadata-related project, known as the CORC
(Cooperative Online Resource Catalog) Research Project, launched by OCLC (Online
Computer Library Center) to explore libraries' cooperative creation and sharing of
metadata.
Resources selected for cataloguing on the OCLC system (now renamed as Connexion)
include websites on Chinese Overseas, World universities, Singapore and Asia related
websites (which include Singapore listed companies, government and local company
websites). To date NTU Library has added and catalogued more than 2,000 websites to
its library collection.
Preservation of digital content
There does not appear to be much preservation of digital heritage done by libraries in
Singapore. Although digital content in internet websites are catalogued or monitored by a
number of libraries there is no preservation done. The digitisation projects that are being
carried out in the libraries are experimental in nature and are mainly for facilitating access
to content which would otherwise be accessible to a very limited number of users.
The National Archives of Singapore (NAS) is doing digital archiving of public records in
electronic format, such as emails, which it has appraised as permanent. In Apr 1999,
NAS formulated and circulated “Procedures and guidelines on archiving of email records”
to all government agencies. The document outlines good housekeeping practices which
include, among other practices, the transfer of emails appraised as archival records to
NAS for long-term preservation.
NAS has three basic strategies in preserving electronic records:

establishment of a generic record-keeping policy and management framework that
could apply across to all types of system applications and the electronic records
they generate;

stipulation of realistic/practical functional requirements for digital archiving;

mapping preservation technologies for electronic records within the specific
framework.
NAS had started in 1996 to digitise selective archival collections to facilitate access on Internet,
and saw the need to establish written policies for storage, inspecting, maintaining, refreshing
the digitised collection, and setting realistic schedules for migration9.
Southeast Asian Studies and the challenges of digitisation, by Ch’ng Kim See. Paper presented at the LAS Seminar 2002 ‘Towards
Digital Libraries: Current practices and projects in Singapore libraries’
8
As above
9
From Imperfectly Seizing the Unknown to Perfecting the Known : A Strategic Policy Framework for Creating and Preserving Digital
Archives in National Archives of Singapore, by Pitt Kuan Wah.
EASTICA Seminar on “Electronic Archives Management Strategy”, 29 Oct-4 Nov 2000, Xiamen, China
7
PAGE 46
BACKGROUND REPORTS
PAGE 47
BACKGROUND REPORTS
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
Some concerns about preservation of digital heritage include:
3)
4)

the rapidly increasing quantity and complexity of digital objects;

the high costs of hardware, software and maintenance cost coupled with cuts in
library budget;

the need for coordination among government organisations with responsibility for
long-term management of digital content;

the rapidly changing technology resulting in technical obsolescence - the
unpredictable life span of digital storage media and the need for periodic migration;

the need for additional manpower resources and new skills;

the lack of a framework/architecture and policies/procedures;

the lack of standards and protocol;

the need for new technologies and tools to lighten load of staff.
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?

To appoint a working group to study the issues of digital preservation and
recommend the best approach to implement it.

To obtain the commitment and support from stakeholders on the importance of
preserving digital heritage

To work cooperatively with other organisations (local, regional or international) with
responsibility for long-term management of information resources in digital format.
This is in order to leverage on any workable framework or standards to facilitate
interoperability across platforms to reduce risk and cost.
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?
It is envisaged that the assistance required in preservation of digital heritage will include
the following:

Funding.

Establishment of a framework to bring together organisation/institutions within the
country with responsibility for long-term management of digital content.

Development of standards and protocols.

Development of policies and economic models.

Developing competencies of staff in the preservation of digital heritage.
PAGE 48
BACKGROUND REPORTS
AUSTRALIA
AUSTRALIAN CENTRE FOR THE MOVING IMAGE
Dr Simon Pockley, Collections Manager
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)
196 Flinders St.
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
simon.acmi.net.au
1)
BACKGROUND
The Australian Centre for the Moving image (ACMI) has a focus on research,
development, collection, exhibition and interpretation of the screen arts. At ACMI, the
moving image is explored and presented in all its forms, including film, television, video,
digital media and the World Wide Web. ACMI aims to generate knowledge,
understanding and appreciation of the screen arts in local, national and international
contexts.
ACMI’s Collection Management infrastructure provides a context for the development of
best-practice procedures for overseeing each step in the life cycle of a resource, from
creation, acquisition, registration, cataloguing, storage, maintenance, access and
exhibition, through to disposal. Each of these steps is currently being re-invented within
the context of emerging international standards for digital content. These standards are
arising from the new ecologies and paradigms of management created by networked
communications technologies.
Global networks create communities that extend beyond geographic borders. Within
these distributed communities of interest, demand is growing rapidly for world-wide
access to moving image content, stored locally in a variety of digital formats.
The term ACMI Collections is the broad descriptor that encompasses all collections and
sub collections within the current ambit of ACMI’s management. Each Collection has
distinctive characteristics that need to be maintained in collaboration with the collection
owners or stakeholders:

Federation Square collections – Exhibition, Public Imaging, Public Programs etc;

ACMI Lending Collection including the Agricultural Collection;

National Film & Video Lending Service (NFVLS);

Chinese Consulate Collection, French Embassy Collection;

Student Collections – e.g. VCA, RMIT Animation and Interactive Media student
works.
The collections include film, video and new media works in a variety of analogue and
digital formats. Together, they form a valuable State and National asset in which the
contents of each work can be viewed as important components of our cultural heritage
and memory.
PAGE 49
BACKGROUND REPORTS
The underlying value of these assets resides in the knowledge of their content. This
knowledge is held in the collection catalogues and in the expertise of staff. Value is, and
will continue to be realised, through the delivery of a variety of services to a diverse and
growing range of stakeholders.
These services not only include the development of the collections through acquisitions,
registration and maintenance, but also through the various interpretive and curatorial
services normally associated with libraries, archives, museums, galleries, educational
units and research facilities.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
These reside in the absence of an appropriate compression and or storage infrastructure,
the prospect of loss, and through forms of restriction that inherently reside within
analogue (copyrighted) notions of value.
The development of key, on-line digital management systems requiring collaborative
networked endeavour in an open source environment are still anathema to an IT
priesthood that has emerged from an inside knowledge of proprietary products.
In addition, there is considerable insecurity about keeping 'born digital' material live on a
server. In the face of unresolved disaster prevention strategies, IT generally backs things
up onto physical media for 'safe' keeping. Issues of technical redundancy for such media
and supporting systems are usually not considered.
With hindsight, it was no co-incidence that the initial enthusiasm for sharing knowledge in
borderless information spaces coincided with the explosion web based initiatives
anchored in the values of the ‘networked paradigm’. Unexpected resistance seems to
have come from separated domains or communities re-inventing themselves and their
identities within these spaces. Perhaps this is related to the way in which the tectonic
forces of globalisation are encountering fierce points of regional resistance.
Collaborative initiatives (such as the Dublin Core) have brought the development of the
syntax and semantics of metadata expressions for static objects a long way in a short
time. However, metadata specific to dynamic objects such as moving images have been
explored in the context of multimedia (sometimes described as rich media) by:

Software developers building digital asset management systems as commercial
products;

Collaborative developers of enabling architectures such as SMIL and MPEG;

Cultural and educational organisations making pragmatic choices about managing
digital resources.
The first of these groups usually attempt to build ‘end-to-end solutions’ often
characterised by a range of proprietary dependencies. These are useful for content
management in stand-alone systems but not so useful when it comes to exchanging
metadata with other communities and systems.
The second group develops fairly complex conceptual models. The tension between
simplicity and complexity becomes apparent when the third group attempts to deploy
these models with limited resources and even less understanding.
This third group, (to which ACMI belongs) is where the reality of not yet having an
effective infrastructure to support long-term access to the riches of audio-visual and
dynamically generated content makes for a hard bed in which to dream of the borderless
information spaces required for providing ready access to cultural memory. It is easy to
observe tensions arising from:
PAGE 50
BACKGROUND REPORTS
3)

Short history - it took more than a century for librarians to create a cultural and
organisational infrastructure that enabled the recall of text-based content with
precision. While there are moving image archives in many countries, there are only
a few moving image libraries with a brief to provide public access to the canon of
screen arts;

Legal minefields - the rights status of the bulk of moving image content and
material derived from this content is not widely understood. In many cases rights
and copyright status has been buried in an ever-growing strata of time, location
and format-based restrictions. There is no legal or intellectual tradition of 'quoting'
or sampling moving image sequences for use elsewhere;

Meaning as a derivative of format - films do not easily translate to the display
space of video or palm pilots. Similarly, analogue broadcast television looks lousy
on big screens and worse on HDTV;

Universal formats - we have yet to develop an equivalent of ASCII text or Unicode
on which to build moving picture transfer protocols;

Digitisation requiring compression is still synonymous with loss. Without loss, 6
terabytes of storage space is required for a single 100-minute movie;

Unrealistic delivery expectations such as video on demand.
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
Primary strategies involve the development of integrated tools for recording preservation
metadata for the range of formats manifested by the moving image. However, this implies
the collaborative development of standards. While initiatives such as the Dublin Core
provide us with an example of how a community of interest can work collaboratively
towards a common goal. The communities of interest that are forming around the
development of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) are made up of
individuals and interests (Hollywood) that are not accustomed to working collaboratively
outside their special fields of influence. Such individuals and interests have been slow to
collaborate with us in the production of preservation metadata because:

We have failed to raise understanding beyond a conceptual model;

We have been unable to effectively demonstrate the benefits of collaborative
activity through a ‘killer application’ or effective interface design or copyright
security;

We have been unable to resolve the tension between search, browse, filtering and
direct access;

We have had great difficulty in developing internal workflows and processes to
ensure the production of authoritative metadata.
Consequently, our stakeholders:

do not understand the need for authoritative metadata;

have deeply entrenched paper-based or industry work practices;

are uncertain about the 'ownership' of information;

are not used to working and thinking in an electronic environment;

are not used to being 'in control' of technology;

have difficulty imagining how they can draw from a collective pool of memory.
PAGE 51
BACKGROUND REPORTS
In this community, it is interesting to observe a peculiar intransigence amongst 'digital
creators' concerning the need for high levels of metadata literacy. In part, this is due to
the persistence of an analogue idea that archivists, curators or catalogues will 'clean up'
after content creators have finished. In part, because the speed of technological change
has not allowed us time to develop the desire or incentive for working to 'best practice'.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

A non-proprietary and loss-less archival moving image format.

Availability of reliable format migration tools.

Development of preservation metadata standards for moving image formats.

Development of segment level description and synchronization tools.

Development of networked storage and delivery infrastructures.

Recognition that the moving image is a store of cultural memory.

Development of a funded National Film Heritage program.

Lots of collaborative and federated projects.
PAGE 52
BACKGROUND REPORTS
AUSTRALIA
DRAFT electronic version
COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN STATE LIBRARIES
Alan Howell, Manager, Preservation and Storage Division
Council of Australian State Libraries
State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Australia
ahowell@slv.vic.gov.au
1)
BACKGROUND
The Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), as the peak body for the State, Territory
and National Libraries, supports the provision of information and library services across
Australia through collaborative partnerships, cooperative policy development and
representation.
The members are the CEO/State Librarians of the following major library services:

Australian Capital Territory Library Service

National Library of Australia

State Library of Tasmania

State Library of Victoria

State Library of New South Wales

State Library of Queensland

Northern Territory Library and Information Service

State Library of Western Australia

State Library of South Australia
These libraries collect the documentary heritage for their state or territory, provide
reference services, and support the provision of public library services to the people of
Australia. In particular, the Council of Australian State Libraries works to:

promote and advance the provision, awareness and use of library and information
services.

strengthen the national information infrastructure through cross-sectoral
collaboration.
PAGE 53
BACKGROUND REPORTS

collaborate with the public library network to improve services to the community.

formulate common plans, policies and programs for library services.

represent the interests of libraries in matters of public interest.
CASL libraries serve all Australians, providing equitable access and an extensive range
of information services including essential support to the formal education sector;
specialised services for scholars; preservation and expertise in Australia’s documentary
heritage; law, consumer health and genealogy resources; support for life-long learning
initiatives; and much more. Services are provided for clients who visit library onsite
facilities; for those using library websites; and for those contacting their library by email,
phone or fax.
As libraries work to make their resources and services available online they also continue
to maintain and develop their service to onsite clients. Though the overall number of
onsite client visits has declined slightly (by 4.2% over the last three years, on average,
across CASL libraries), there were still more than 6 million visits to CASL member
libraries (not including the public library networks) in the year to June 2000 and use of
library websites is increasing at a rate of more than 68 per cent per year. This number
rises to 99.4 million visits for the same period when the visits to public libraries across
Australia are included (ABS Cat. No.8561.0).
Australian content online is essential in the changing information environment. CASL
Libraries are involved in many in-house and partnership projects to produce Australian
online information resources but the demand is extensive and will continue to grow as
information seeking focuses primarily on the internet. CASL libraries are digitising
Australian content and making it available online, and encouraging and supporting private
and public development of Australian online resources. As at June 2002, more than
590,000 items have been digitised by CASL libraries, especially high use or high profile
items.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
CASL libraries are aware that digital information will be a significant and growing part of
tomorrow's heritage. However, there is a growing understanding that tomorrow's digital
heritage will not be available without concerted international and cross-sectoral
cooperation, particularly an ongoing commitment to sharing knowledge.
The obstacles to the preservation digital heritage in CASL libraries include uncertainties
about selection for preservation, archiving and storage, authenticity, technological
obsolescence, costs, and roles and responsibilities.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
In recent years CASL libraries have actively participated in a number of innovative and
well received collaborative initiatives, including:

the conference Multimedia Preservation: Capturing the Rainbow, Brisbane, 1995;

the project Preserving Access to Digital Information (PADI); a subject gateway to
digital preservation resources (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi);

the Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia
(PANDORA) strategy to preserve selected Australian online publications such as
electronic journals, organisational sites, government publications and ephemera
(http://www.nla.gov.au/pandora/);
PAGE 54
BACKGROUND REPORTS
4)

the development of the seven Principles for the Preservation of and Long-Term
Access to Australian Digital Objects
(http://www.nla.gov.au/preserve/digital/princ.html);

significant work in the development of preservation metadata
(http://www.nla.gov.au/preserve/pmeta.html);

the Safekept project (http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/safekeeping/safekeeping.html);

the Digital Continuity Forum (http://www.swin.edu.au/lib/DigCon2001.htm).
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?
The following assistance is required to those memory organisations and institutions
charged with preserving digital heritage:

development of an awareness-raising and advocacy campaign among key
stakeholders, including creators and governments;

development of a major national training initiative in all aspects of digital
preservation;

collaborative selection and archiving of electronic information for preservation and
access;

sharing of knowledge about what strategies have worked, and what have not
worked (and why);

research into the many unsolved issues facing the preservation of digital heritage;

resources to do the above.
PAGE 55
BACKGROUND REPORTS
AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA
Dr Stephen Ellis, Director, Preservation
National Archives of Australia
PO Box 7425
Canberra MC ACT 2610
stephen@naa.gov.au
1)
BACKGROUND
The Preservation program of the National Archives of Australia is responsible for
developing strategies and arrangements to preserve the archives of the Australian federal
government, so that they can continue to be accessible to current and future generations.
The program undertakes research and investigations into materials and processes used
in the creation, management and care of records, and in particular into the long-term
preservation of digital records produced by federal government agencies.
While most Australian government agencies create a large quantity of digital materials,
currently only a small, but growing, proportion of the records that have archival value are
created digitally. Many types of records are created in this form: emails, word-processing
documents, reports, publications and Internet resources, as well as datasets from
databases and multi-media objects that use combinations of databases, documents,
graphics and video-clips.
The National Archives is developing the capacity to accept transfers of digital archives.
Our fundamental principle is to be able to accept transfers of digital material in any
format. Today, however, we are currently accepting into custody email, bitmap graphics
(ie, TIFF, GIF, JPEG images and the like), office productivity documents (ie, word
processing, spreadsheet, and presentation documents) and datasets (typically reports
from database applications). We expect to accept records of web resources next year.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
HERITAGE
The main concern at the moment is the lack of staff with the necessary combination of
technical and archival skills required for preservation of digital archives. The approaches
in this field are still developing and there is no established “common body of knowledge”
on which to base training for such skills. This will be resolved as successful approaches
are implemented and become better documented and more widely known.
Changes in technology have to be accepted as part of the environment in which
preservation has to be practised. Effective methodologies have been developed for the
long-term preservation of the more common office formats of digital records listed above.
The main challenge for future developments lies in the more complex areas of preserving
the more complicated rendering objects such as graphics, multimedia and products from
geographical information systems.
PAGE 56
BACKGROUND REPORTS
Another important area of concern is the management of digital material by agencies.
The adoption of new information technologies by agencies has disrupted traditional
information and records management processes. As a result, many technology managers
now find themselves responsible for archival digital records without the subject-matter
expertise or discipline to manage these records appropriately. This impacts on records
not only during their creation and maintenance by agency but also at the point of transfer
to the National Archives as it is sometimes hard to gather appropriate metadata about the
records’ use within the creating agency.
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
To address the training need, the National Archives of Australia is developing the
information technology skills of its archival staff, and is also recruiting specialist IT staff
and developing their archival skills in-house. We hope to develop some specific training
for internal staff in 2003/2004.
To address the need for effective methodologies for preserving more complex digital
objects, the Archives will be continuing its research and investigation into the
preservation of digital records in the light of its experience with less complex digital
objects. The Archives has a number of developmental activities underway, especially in
the area of XML document formats, Java migration utilities, and the long-term storage of
digital objects.
To overcome the problems of agency practices and knowledge, the Archives will be
developing extra advice and guidance on digital records to supplement its already
comprehensive advice on best practice record keeping.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?
The main assistance needed to progress these matters is exchange of ideas and
information about approaches to preservation of digital materials.
As many cultural institutions face similar digital preservation concerns (even if their
business environments and missions are different), in the long term it would be extremely
useful to have collaborations that result in new tools that can be openly shared and
developed by all those working in the digital heritage. Areas where shared, open tools
could be developed include software for managing digital repository systems, tools for
managing preservation metadata, document formats (such as XML Schemas) and tools
for the migration of digital objects from one data format to another.
PAGE 57
BACKGROUND REPORTS
AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA
Adrian Finney, Chair of ICOM/CIDOC
National Gallery of Australia
Parkes Place
Parkes ACT 2600
Australia
adrian.finney@nga.gov.au
1)
BACKGROUND
CIDOC is the international focus for the documentation interests of museums and similar
organisations. It is a constituent committee of the International Council of Museums
(ICOM), established during the 1950 ICOM General Conference in London. CIDOC now
has over 992 members in 86 countries, including 455 voting members. These members
include documentation specialists, registrars, computer managers, system designers,
advisors and trainers.
An increasing focus of CIDOC has been on the implementation and use of digital
material, both the digitally born and the digital surrogates of collection items. A
Multimedia Working Group was established by CIDOC to allow concentration on issues
by those with expertise or interest in the areas of digitisation and delivery systems for the
digitised artefacts. It is expected that the focus of the group will shift to promoting
standards and ‘best practice’, in areas covering both theory and practical applications.
An example of this work is the planned publication of Guidelines for Multimedia:
This document is an updated report of a summary document originally published by
Jennifer Trant and Jan van der Starre in 1996. It contains core guidelines particular to
authors of multimedia. It also serves as an introduction to terms and standards of
relevance to multimedia development, with a particular focus on web and kiosk/CD-ROM
authoring. It is anticipated that these guidelines will be revised by the end of February
2003.
The theme of the next CIDOC conference in September 2003 is the application of
information technologies in museums. CIDOC anticipates that there will be some intense
discussions on digitisation and digital heritage.
In the museum sector in general there is a very diverse level of knowledge and
experience in the digital environment. Some institutions are quite advanced in their use of
technologies, both in digitally born material and in the digital capture of collection items.
Examples of this can be seen at the:

Australian War Memorial with the digitisation of photographs and archival records;

National Gallery of Australia with the digital capture of works of art, also some art
now being digitally born;
PAGE 58
BACKGROUND REPORTS

National Museum of Australia were great use is made of digital material in
multimedia presentations.
There are many other examples of the use of digital technologies throughout the museum
community. Mention must also be made of digitisation of administrative functions such as
Human Resource and other administrative records.
Many Institutions are addressing the requirements of digitisation and at various times
cross-institutional groups have convened to share information and discuss the pros and
cons of projects undertaken. The ultimate aim of such groups has been to create models
of best practice including how best to preserve the mentioned digital artifacts.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
MOVING IMAGE HERITAGE
On a physical level there is great concern, especially among the museum conservation
community about the stability and future proofing of the new technologies. For example
there has been a great push by some practitioners in the use of CD or DVD, the problem
some conservators have with these technologies is their longevity – how long before a
disc will delaminate? Will the technology in use today be available in the future?
Control of rights is a hotly discussed topic. In the art museum sector there is, often
intense, debate over not just copyright but artists moral rights. The digital environment
makes it far easier for breaches of such rights if proper controls are not considered and
put in place.
CIDOC is concerned about how best to get information about topics such as the
preservation of digital heritage to the broader museum community in ways that are
responsive to the diversity of CIDOC’s international membership. CIDOC also
encourages the use of best practice and standards.
Also of great concern to CIDOC and many in the museum community is the need to
share information, and how best to ensure the standards required to facilitate this
process.
CIDOC is close to having it’s Conceptual Reference Model (CRM) endorsed as an ISO
standard. The primary role of the CRM is to serve as a basis for mediation of cultural
heritage information and thereby provide the semantic 'glue' needed to transform today's
disparate, localised information sources into a coherent and valuable global resource.
While this model covers a wide range information, increasingly, part of this data is being
digitally born requiring additional approaches to describe such content.
PAGE 59
BACKGROUND REPORTS
AUSTRALIA
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA
Mr Colin Webb, Director, Preservation Services
National Library of Australia
Parkes Place
Parkes ACT 2600
colin.webb@nla.gov.au
1)
BACKGROUND
The National Library Australia (NLA) is the major legal deposit library in Australia, but it is
currently building digital collections without legal deposit for digital materials. The Library
manages four main types of digital heritage materials: online publications; physical format
digital publications (mostly issued on CD-ROM and floppy disk); oral history recordings
either created digitally or converted to a digital form from our extensive analogue
holdings; and digital copies of analogue materials in the print, pictures, maps and
manuscripts collections. It is also worth mentioning the preservation work of our subject
gateway on digital preservation, PADI.
Online publications. These are managed through what we have called the PANDORA
Archive (Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia),
which has operated since 1996, following a period of investigations and commitmentbuilding over the previous couple of years. Using the framework of the Draft UNESCO
Guidelines to consider its activities, PANDORA:

Works with creators, providing advice and guidelines and raising awareness, and is
trying to foster relationships with specific sectors such as government and
scholarly publishers.

Selects online publications that fit into our publicly available selection guidelines.

Transfers material to our custody, negotiating permissions with rights owners,
generally gathering material using harvesting robots, and applying a high degree of
quality control checking.

Controls material, applying title level bibliographic control via the Library’s
catalogue, creating a title entry page and persistent identifier, and strict version
control. Material is accepted in its original format, although we are selective about
what is gathered from each site. The level of preservation metadata is still
uncertain.

Controls access in accordance with rights permissions negotiated with each
publisher, and provides both copyright information and links to publishers’ ‘live’
sites.

Stores the material securely, with a high level of redundancy, media refreshing and
transfer.
PAGE 60
BACKGROUND REPORTS

Has taken some early steps to preserve accessibility such as a minor migration to
maintain access to files in HTML versions that may have been threatened by
changes in the HTML standard. Basic approach is to store material in original
formats, while maintaining access to another copy by whatever means seem to
work best from time to time. Still trying to organise our understanding of the
collection and what it needs.
On these foundations, we are working collaboratively to develop a National Collection of
Australian Online Resources in partnership with the other major deposit libraries (State
and Territory libraries) and ScreenSound Australia (the National Film and Sound
Archive). In a reasonably centralized model, partners accept responsibility for selecting
relevant materials; some partners also undertake transfer and control activities, although
almost all material is transferred to NLA for storage and preservation. The use of common
tools to manage the process has been important.
Important things to understand about our approach include:

Online publishing in Australia has featured a large number of new and small
publishers, a rapidly growing use of online publishing by governments, and a
relatively slow participation rate by larger commercial publishers.

There is a logical difficulty in identifying ‘Australian material’ given the blurring of
boundaries that is common in online publishing; however, the Library has found
that much material can be readily identified as meeting our selection guidelines.
We are also willing to sort out the material we want to preserve that is on the ‘blurry
edges’.

We have adopted a selective approach – within our current resource constraints
and with our current tools, we have not found it possible to collect everything while
still achieving our fundamental goal, which is to ensure that we can, technologically
and legally, provide access to everything we collect. This goal requires us to
negotiate access permissions with rights owners, provide enough bibliographic
control for users to find the material, impose enough version control and
documentation for users to understand what they find, and ensure that everything
‘works’. While we see value in collecting comprehensively, we believe our
preservation responsibility requires our current level of control (though not
necessarily our current means of achieving it).
Collection of Australian physical format digital publications. This material generally
comes into our collections by voluntary deposit or by purchase. The selection process
focuses on what will be given priority for preservation. Material is accepted in its original
format, but material is transferred to a standard medium such as CD-ROM or a mass
storage system. Software dependencies are noted and where possible, the necessary
software is also stored. It has been necessary to keep obsolete hardware for some
material while it is transferred to currently accessible carriers. Ongoing accessibility is
likely to require use of emulation to cope with complex multimedia materials.
Oral history recordings. Most recordings are the result of either commissions by the
Library or the Library’s own recording program, so there is tight control over the creation,
selection and transfer processes, the media and file formats used, and documentation.
Managing the rights of interviewees is a particularly important requirement. There is a
strong tradition of preservation metadata for this material. Secure storage has been
managed on CD-R, as a medium-term interim carrier, and more recently on a digital mass
storage system. Ongoing accessibility should be relatively easy to achieve with migration
from one file format to another.
Digital copies of analogue originals. In most cases, the Library retains the original
material so the digital copy is not unique; however, in some cases the original material is
dispersed over the collections of a number of institutions so the digital copy is particularly
important as a ‘virtual collection’. Most work is done in-house, so there is tight control
over creation standards, file formats and metadata. There is strong interest in using
resource discovery metadata to support federated searching through vehicles such as
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BACKGROUND REPORTS
PictureAustralia and MusicAustralia. Ongoing accessibility will be preserved by format
migrations.
PADI and resources on digital preservation. The PADI website is an important
international gateway to information about digital preservation, and NLA wants to ensure
that the most valuable resources listed on PADI remain accessible. In 2001 the Library
undertook what it called a ‘safekeeping’ project, to identify the key documents in the field
of digital preservation, and negotiate some degree of preservation commitment from their
creators or current custodians. The Library has decided to take a more active role in
preserving these materials, requesting the right to take its own preservation action, as a
more cost-effective way of achieving reliable preservation.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
MOVING IMAGE HERITAGE
The NLA’s primary concerns should be evident from the action described: concern that
Australian online and physical format digital publications of enduring value will not remain
accessible in the face of technological change, media instability, and unclear
responsibilities.
Even with the current strategies in place, the Library has a number of concerns:
3)

Whether we will be able to adapt our procedures and technologies so we can
collect far more material without sacrificing quality, accessibility, rights
management and our ability to preserve.

Whether our preservation program can be sustained: while we have been very
good at reallocating resources, and squeezing the maximum benefit out of what we
do, we know long-term preservation will almost certainly take more resources than
we currently have.

Whether our approaches to description can provide effective access to evolving
digital objects.

How to meet a range of technical challenges, including viable means of collecting
online materials with a database structure, and reliable means of preserving
access to complex and diverse multimedia objects.

How to find sustainable ways of recording the preservation metadata we need, and
of determining the essential characteristics (or significant properties) we have to
maintain.

How to make our national model work, primarily in the library sector, but also with
other sectors in identifying and preserving important digital heritage materials that
are currently at risk.
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
Many of the Library’s strategies are evident from the background description. To support
these the Library has invested in infrastructure that includes software tools for gathering
online materials; a digital mass storage system; a digital collection manager to manage
metadata and access, including rights management; a range of important policy
documents covering the creation of material in-house, selection, description, and ongoing preservation of digital collections; and an organisational structure that draws on
specialist expertise in Acquisition, Cataloguing, Preservation and IT areas, within the
mainstream management structures of the Library.
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BACKGROUND REPORTS
The Library is also committed to pursuing strategies that include:
4)

Working proactively to develop a workable legal deposit regime for digital materials
that adequately protects rights owners while enabling preservation and ongoing
accessibility.

Working with publishers’ representatives to develop a code of practice setting out
preservation and access principles for commercially published online materials in
Australia.

Continuing to work collaboratively with its partners in the Australian library sector,
but also with actual and potential preservation agencies in other sectors, to
improve the coordination of a national preservation effort for digital materials.

National and international collaboration to develop standards and best practices
wherever there is a useful opportunity to do so.

Investigations and planning in support of preservation decisions, including
understanding the collections, the threats, the options, and the likely costs and
benefits of different options.

Seeking resources to sustain its preservation effort.
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?

Either automated or more streamlined ways to undertake at least the routine
aspects of labour-intensive steps such as selection, transfer, quality control,
description (including recording of preservation metadata), and identification of the
essential characteristics that must be maintained.

International collaboration to find practical ways of dealing with difficult technical
challenges of complex materials such as database structures and software.

Agreements with publishers to work together, covering the preservation steps they
can take, what is required to support longer-term preservation programs, and the
management of rights.

Partners in other sectors willing to develop a coordinated preservation effort.

Community awareness of the issues at stake and community will to preserve digital
heritage.
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BACKGROUND REPORTS
AUSTRALIA
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE VICTORIA
Justine Heazlewood, Public Record Office Victoria
PO Box 2100
North Melbourne VIC 3051
Australia
Justine.Heazlewood@dpc.vic.gov.au
1)
BACKGROUND
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is an Australian state archival authority responsible
for preserving and providing access to the records of the Victorian State Government.
Government agencies are currently producing many of their records in electronic form
(email, Office application documents, databases, websites, images, e-business
application records). In order to ensure the long-term preservation of this material, PROV
has instituted an initiative known as the Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS).
VERS is a framework of open standards, tools and advice designed to enable
Government agencies to capture electronic records into a standard long term format
along with enough contextual information (metadata) to permit the management of those
digital objects over time. VERS also provides a means for sealing these electronic
records in order to prevent tampering and maintain the records’ integrity and authenticity.
2)
PRIMARY CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF DIGITAL
MOVING IMAGE HERITAGE
Our greatest concerns revolve around the need for this problem to be tackled at a
national (and even an international) level. While the State of Victoria has invested
considerable time and money in a solution to this problem to date, this level of investment
is unsustainable unless taken up by others. This work should be carried out cooperatively
and collaboratively.
Another issue is that, to date, much of the work in this area has been research based,
producing work of a theoretical and high-level perspective. Much of this work posits
solutions which are still abstract theory within the discipline of computing. However,
producers and users of these digital materials require cheap and practical solutions now
which operate with today’s technology.
Finally, one of our key concerns is that the need to preserve digital material runs counter
to the market ethos of the computing industry, which requires high turn-over of hardware
and software in order to survive financially. This outlook necessitates rapid changes in
formats and functionality and an unwillingness to support ‘obsolete’ technology, all of
which make it harder and harder to preserve access to digital materials.
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BACKGROUND REPORTS
3)
WHAT STRATEGIES DOES YOUR ORGANISATION HAVE IN PLACE
TO ADDRESS THESE CONCERNS?
VERS has received continuing support from the State Government of Victoria. Since
1995, some $6 million ($AUD) has been spent on the VERS initiative. This $6 million has
been spent on research and development, proof of concept and commercial
implementation. Recently (July 2002) PROV received a further $8.2 million ($AUD) to
continue the work of VERS. The work program for VERS over the next 2 years will be to
build an archive to manage and provide access to electronic records, to further expand
the range of digital materials covered by VERS, to further refine the VERS standards, and
to increase the uptake of VERS both within government and within the computing
industry.
4)
WHAT ASSISTANCE DO YOU NEED TO OVERCOME THESE
OBSTACLES?
The greatest assistance which PROV could receive would be in the widespread adoption
of a solution to the problem of electronic records preservation (be that VERS or
something else). If a solution was developed and adopted across the world (or even just
in Australia) by government and the private sector, then PROV and the Victorian
Government would no longer be required to fund our own solution.
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