Advancing File Format Policymaking for Digital Preservation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This research seeks to advance digital preservation theory and practice by presenting an evidence-based model for file format policy management in digital repositories.Ope

Digital collections usage at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library: 2015 report

This report analyzes administrative data (number of collections, total items) and web analytics usage data (sessions, users, page views) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library’s locally managed digital collections from July 30, 2014 to July 30, 2015.Ope

Identifying Barriers to File Rendering in Bit-level Preservation Repositories: A Preliminary Approach

This paper seeks to advance digital preservation theory and practice by presenting an evidence-based model for identifying barriers to digital content rendering within a bit-level preservation repository. It details the results of an experiment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign library, where the authors procured a random sample of files from their institution’s digital preservation repository and tested their ability to open said files using software specified in local policies. This sampling regime furnished a preliminary portrait of local file rendering challenges, and thus preservation risk, grounded not in nominal preferences for one format’s characteristics over another, but in empirical evidence of what types of files present genuine barriers to staff and patron access. This research produced meaningful diagnostic data to inform file format policymaking for the repository. Data files created to support this research are available at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89994.Ope

Building a Sustainable Statewide Institutional Repository Service

These slides accompanied a web presentation to CARLI members on planning for a statewide institutional repository service.Ope

Strategic digital collection development in academic libraries

This 2015 study uses web analytics, subject term analysis, and download statistics to gauge the presence, visibility, and popularity of University of Illinois digital collections on the web. With a grounding in current best practices, it provides a pragmatic methodology for the institutional analysis of digital collections with an eye to strategic digital collection development.Ope

Providing Access to Digitized Newspapers: A Case Study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library

In 2013, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library assessed its preservation and access infrastructure for locally digitized historical newspaper collections. At the time, the library was locally serving 900,000 pages of web-accessible historical newspapers using an internally managed system, and 200,000 pages via the Library of Congress’(LC) Chronicling America project. When the library reviewed its repository architecture for locally digitized newspapers, they also conducted a user survey, performed an environmental scan of digital newspaper management systems at peer institutions, and established user requirements. Following this analysis, the library implemented the Veridian digital newspaper platform in 2014 and transferred its digitized newspaper collections into it, and all of its digitized newspapers are now available from a single access point. This paper provides a detailed overview of the library’s assessment process, and a summary of the current status its digital newspaper repository services.Ope

Preservation and Access of Illinois Newspapers

These presentations for the 2017 Conference on Illinois History discuss preservation and access of Illinois newspapers, specifically focusing on non-English newspapers published in Chicago. The first section addresses the history of newspaper preservation in libraries, looking into challenges Illinois libraries have faced historically, as well as those they will face in the future as they endeavor to steward a comprehensive record of journalism in print. The second section examines Polish-American newspapers in American and European digital collections and addresses the importance of including Polish-American newspaper content in the Library of Congress Chronicling America database. The third section explores the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) and its goal of building an online, fully-searchable database of U.S. newspapers featuring curated digitized content. The final section discusses the 2016-2018 NDNP project at the U of I, evaluating complexities of making non-English content accessible and searchable.Ope

Overly honest data repository development

After a year of development, the library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has launched a repository, called the Illinois Data Bank (https://databank.illinois.edu/), to provide Illinois researchers with a free, self-serve publishing platform that centralizes, preserves, and provides persistent and reliable access to Illinois research data. This article presents a holistic view of development by discussing our overarching technical, policy, and interface strategies. By openly presenting our design decisions, the rationales behind those decisions, and associated challenges this paper aims to contribute to the library community’s work to develop repository services that meet growing data preservation and sharing needs.Ope

Medusa at the University of Illinois: A Digital Preservation Repository Built Upon PREMIS

Slides from an overview of the use of PREMIS in the Medusa digital preservation system, presented October 2, 2012 at the iPres conference in Toronto.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Illinois Campus Media Census: Final Report

The final report produced as a result of the Illinois Campus Media Census. This 72 page document covers the background, methodologies, results, recommendations and outcomes resulting from a 3 year project designed to determine the extent of audiovisual holdings across the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus. The study identified 408,492 physical audiovisual assets in 101 campus units, the majority of which represent obsolete or obsolescent “legacy” formats being stored in conditions detrimental to their long-term usability. As a result, this report recommends prioritizing campus-wide planning for a sustainable infrastructure for the efficient, cost-effective preservation of valued media content.Ope