Minutes July 30

Meeting Minutes

Date: July 30th, 2012

Time: 9:00am-10:15am

Place of Meeting: Conference Call/FO-409 at NIU

Attendees: Jaime, Sarah, Lynne, Drew, Katharine, Patrice, Meg, Sharon

Video Conferencing – open source software? Skype?

Project Website, Wiki, Blog

• Purpose of each
  • Website as the touch point for the public. Hopefully it will come up in searches. General information.
  • Wiki will be a project workspace for the team. Some will be public, hopefully able to password protect pages so we have a more private workspace. All will eventually become public as per IMLS guidelines. Also hoping to put documents up on the wiki. (Things like product information, agendas, minutes, testing guidelines, etc).
  • Wiki link – powrr-wiki.lib.niu.edu/index.php
    • Will update Project Lead for CSU when new Archivist starts this week.
  • If you have suggested content please let us know!
  • Blog – For updating on what is going on and what we are doing.
  • Please share your word press user name with us and we will give you rights to contribute to the blog.
• Feedback/Content
  • We have a good start. Send any feedback to Jaime.

• Resources page contributions
  • On main webpage. We’d like to have links to things that address the issue in a simplistic way so the public can better understand. The most important things to know and help understand.
  • Send Jaime an e-mail with 3-5 things that really address the issue at hand, maybe 2-3 webinars or media presentations, or case studies of stories about the importance of digital preservation.
  • Videos done by DRP, in cartoon style, very easy to understand
  • Some lists may already exist at the Library of Congress and CARLI, we can pull from these lists and add to it. Maybe some of the more basic things can be pulled from here.

Partner Updates

• Bottom up digital object survey
  • Sharon – Spoke with faculty members, have information on personal computers, willing to participate. Institutional Repository information also gathered for their institution. New Archivist will be coming to the school and will become the new Project Lead. Will be loading more information about data size and file type to spread sheet.
  • Meg – Didn’t have new information to add from last time. Still waiting from some responses. Some music and art professors who have issues with transferring file formats and hoping to add information from them.
  • Patrice – Has not had a chance to get started yet. Going to reestablish contact with some people soon. Large VICON file/information? Not sure where this file was generated.
  • NIU – Electronic files received are being maintained locally as best as we can for the current time. Hard drives are located in the same location as back-ups at the current time.
  • Metadata?? In Rare Books department using Archon – keeping donors name, date, maybe some file names. We are still working on forming plans at this point.
  • University Archives in same boat as Rare books here at NIU. Also currently printing items at this time. Keeping flash drives and materials and making note in the inventory. Born digital files are being backed up to server and one other copy at a different sight twice a year.
  • Non printer friendly formats? Floppy discs are presenting some problems. Files are being altered in simple ways and we are actively looking for better solutions. 5 1/4 in floppy reader that is being used every day.
  • DPOE – showing transferring of discs? Video?
• Feedback based on Jaime’s visits

August Face-to-Face

• Finalize scheduling
  • August 15th at NIU around 10am-3pm
  • Vegetarians? Not here. If you are let us know.
  • Parking passes will be mailed to you.
  • Miles/travel expenses count toward the cost share
    • Make sure to be making notes in the quarterly cost share documents.
    • Official start was Dec 1st, 2011, cost share documents should start from that date. Therefore we need to catch up on past quarters!! The next quarter will end on August 31st, 2012
• Discussion points

Educational Component of Project

• What will this look like?
  • Digital preservation is good, but digital preservation education is also necessary. We need to distinguish what it is that we are doing.
  • What is digital preservation?? Make it relatable. Examples of when accessing files from the past fails. Examples from other media deteriorating. Make clear that it is not merely storage. Also trying to make it personal, everyone may be different.
  • We want to preserve for documents for when they are past copyright? It is a huge amount of time. Will the document survive to that date? Decisions about public availability can come later, you can’t make it available if it doesn’t exist!
  • Something to think about. Will we have the option to lock and unlock files at our discretion? Can we manage that?
  • We have to get people to think about digital files in a similar manner as paper objects. (Or better than they treat paper objects). Decisions need to be made about what things should be kept and what should be gotten rid of.
  • “How do you make choices?” – Flow chart, it’s not physically possible to save everything, so how do we decide?
    • Meg may have seen something before and will look.
  • Systems may be in place that work, but our point in this investigation is how do we do it with less money? We may have to rule out more things. We may need to be more critical and we need to make that clear. “Restricted Resources”
  • What policies can institutions have and still fit within certain budgets? Are there going to be different levels? Higher budgets lead to less stringent policies. Less money means harder choices.
  • It’s like buying a car...$10,000 versus $100,000…what you buy will get you from point A to point B…but in different styles and such.
• Begin experimenting using the project website?
• DPOE’s Train-the-Trainer
  • Hoping to reach out and see if we can get a regional training.
  • CARLI is working in digital preservation sub-committee on getting a regional trainer as well – Current chair: Laurie
  • Community partners may be able to attend something like this to aid in learning and training others.

Upcoming Advisory Group Meeting in October

• Scheduling
  • All but two have agreed to Oct 11th-12th. Waiting to hear from last two advisors. PLEASE PENCIL IN THIS DATE! This would be at NIU with the partners and the advisors.
  • Agenda for this will be part of what is discussed at the Face-to-face at NIU on August 15th.