STEWARDING THE INVISIBLE Setting the Stage for Institution-Wide Digital Preservation at the Smithsonian Final Report November 15, 2016 Submitted by AVPreserve 253 36th St, Suite C302 Brooklyn, NY 11232 917-475-9630 Kara Van Malssen [email protected] Chris Lacinak [email protected] With contributions by Beth Delaney and Amy Rudersdorf, AVPreserve. Special thanks to Anne Van Camp, Director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives and chair of the pan-Smithsonian Digital Preservation Working Group, and all Working Group members. Stewarding the Invisible: Setting the Stage for Institution-Wide Digital Preservation at the Smithsonian Final report | Submitted by AVPreserve | November 15, 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Background a nd Previous Work ................................................................................................................................. 6 1.2 Goals and Objectives ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 1.3 Scope ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 1.3.1 Functional Scope ............................................................................................................................................................. 9 1.3.2 Content Scope ................................................................................................................................................................ 11 1.3.3 Organizational Scope ................................................................................................................................................. 15 1.4 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................................... 15 1.4.1 Interviews ........................................................................................................................................................................ 15 1.4.2 Researcher Survey ....................................................................................................................................................... 17 1.4.3 Documentation R eview ............................................................................................................................................. 17 1.4.4 Analysis ............................................................................................................................................................................ 18 1.5 Evaluation Fr amework ................................................................................................................................................ 18 2 FINDINGS: INTERVIEWS ..................................................................................................... 20 2.1 Resource Types and Quantities ................................................................................................................................ 20 2.1.1 R esource Types .............................................................................................................................................................. 20 2.1.2 Quantities ........................................................................................................................................................................ 23 2.2 Systems ............................................................................................................................................................................... 25 2.2.1 Repositories .................................................................................................................................................................... 26 2.2.2 Systems in Use ............................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.3 Current Obstacles or Issues ....................................................................................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Collecting U nits ............................................................................................................................................................. 32 2.3.2 Repositories .................................................................................................................................................................... 33 2.3.3 Content Creators .......................................................................................................................................................... 35 2.4 Ideas and Opportunitie s for Improvement ......................................................................................................... 37 3 FINDINGS: RESEARCHER SURVEY ........................................................................................ 41 3.1 Data Amounts ................................................................................................................................................................... 43 3.1.1 Data Total Calculation .............................................................................................................................................. 43 3.1.2 Future projections ....................................................................................................................................................... 44 3.2 Data Types .......................................................................................................................................................................... 45 3.3 Data Retention Periods ................................................................................................................................................. 47 3.4 Data Storage Locations ................................................................................................................................................. 49 4 FINDINGS: DOCUMENTATION REVIEW .............................................................................. 53 4.1 Digitization Strategic Plan .......................................................................................................................................... 53 4.2 SD 600 & SD 610 ............................................................................................................................................................. 55 4.3 Digital Asset Management Plans / Data Management Plans ....................................................................... 57 4.4 Sharing Smithsonian Digital Scientific Research Data from Biology ....................................................... 59 5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ................................................................................................... 62 2 Stewarding the Invisible: Setting the Stage for Institution-Wide Digital Preservation at the Smithsonian Final report | Submitted by AVPreserve | November 15, 2016 5.1 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................................................... 62 5.2 Organizational Maturity .............................................................................................................................................. 65 5.3 Threats ................................................................................................................................................................................ 67 6 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................ 70 6.1 Instill a sense of urgency .............................................................................................................................................. 71 6.1.1 Quantify the need .......................................................................................................................................................... 71 6.1.2 Communicate broadly ................................................................................................................................................. 74 6.2 Establish g overnance and oversight ...................................................................................................................... 74 6.2.1 Establish a Digital Preservation Directorate .................................................................................................. 75 6.2.2 Establish a n advisory board .................................................................................................................................... 75 6.2.3 Define roles and responsibilities ........................................................................................................................... 76 6.3 Create a vision for digital preservation ................................................................................................................ 76 6.3.1 Demonstrate the value .............................................................................................................................................. 77 6.3.2 Incorporate the vision into Strategic