This article describes the Preservation of Electronic Government Information Project, a two-year initiative aimed at addressing national concerns around the collection and preservation of born-digital government information by cultural memory organizations for long-term public use

Sittel, Roberta

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Sittel, Robbie

UNT Digital Library

Preservation of Electronic Government Information (PEGI) Project

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Against the GrainVolume 29 | Issue 6 Article 14December 2017Preservation of Electronic GovernmentInformation (PEGI) ProjectRoberta SittelUniversity of North Texas Libraries, roberta.sittel@unt.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atgPart of the Library and Information Science CommonsThis document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact epubs@purdue.edu foradditional information.Recommended CitationSittel, Roberta (2017) "Preservation of Electronic Government Information (PEGI) Project," Against the Grain: Vol. 29: Iss. 6, Article14.DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.787836 Against the Grain / December 2017 - January 2018 <http://www.against-the-grain.com>continued on page 38Preservation of Electronic Government Information (PEGI) Projectby Roberta Sittel  (Department Head of Government Information Connection, University of North Texas Libraries)   <roberta.sittel@unt.edu>The Preservation of Electronic Govern-ment Information (PEGI) Project is a two-year initiative aimed at addressing national concerns around the collection and preservation of born-digital government in-formation by cultural memory organizations for long-term public use.  The Project grew, in part, from a panel discussion at the 2015 Depository Library Council meeting and a number of national meetings.The PEGI Origin StoryAt the October 2015 meeting of the De-pository Library Council (DLC), a panel convened to discuss collaborative models of preserving federal government information. Panelists included librarians from California, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, as well as then-Dean of the University of North Texas Libraries, Dr. Martin Halbert.  During this session, the discussion largely focused on preservation of physical collections and the conversion of tangible collections to digital format.  Dr. Halbert, in contrast, spoke of the critical importance to advance an agenda of preserving electronic, i.e., born-digital, gov-ernment information.  As information shifts to a digital born environment, libraries and archives do not have the automatic fail-safes that they do for tangible materials, where items are received, made discoverable and then found and used by researchers.  In most cases, librarians and researchers are not aware of materials produced and published solely on the web.  Publishing directly to the web by federal agencies and commissions circumvents reporting and listing requirements within Title 44, Section 1902,1 thus making discoverability that much more difficult.  During the DLC discussion Dr. Halbert noted, “It will be a challenge to cultivate a stronger consensus on the understanding of and importance of preserving digital government information.”2 Dr. Halbert left the 2015 DLC meeting with the intention to build that stronger consensus and to engage stakeholders within libraries, archives, and research communities in con-versation about the importance of preserving born-digital information and with the federal government about current policy and practice around information creation and possibilities for better preservation.In conjunction with the 2016 spring Co-alition for Networked Information (CNI) meeting, a group of librarians, archivists, technologists, and information professionals gathered for the Digital Preservation of Fed-eral Information Summit (DPFIS).  Lead by Dr. Halbert and the University of North Texas, the DPFIS used Col-lective Impact as a framework3 to engage national leaders in a structured, facilitated dialogue about at-risk digital government information and aimed to explore the development of a national agenda to address preservation and access of elec-tronic government information.  Outcomes of the summit revealed a shared concern among participants about the high risk of loss of elec-tronic government information and a shared consensus about the need for an active coalition across public and private sectors to address preservation in this area.  One surprising out-come of the summit was a lack of consistency in terminology.  Despite participants being from similar and closely aligned professions, it quickly became apparent that each discipline defines some of the same terms differently.4 Terms like record, data, and publication dif-fered greatly across professional practices. Based on takeaways from the DPFIS, Dr. Halbert decided to convene another group of interested participants in conjunction with the 2016 fall CNI meeting.  This much smaller meeting addressed some of the same issues, further evidencing the need for a shared vo-cabulary and a better understanding of current laws, practices, and preservation efforts.  Ad-ditionally, this meeting brought together many of the individuals who would eventually join PEGI’s steering committee.  At the closure of this meeting, participants reached consensus to pursue grant funding to conduct an environmen-tal scan that would address the core set of themes and concerns common to the DPFIS meetings and to engage relevant stakeholders on broader needs and future implications of preserving electronic government information.  It was decided to move forward as the PEGI Project.Informing the PEGI ProjectThe PEGI Project is directed by its steering committee — Martin Halbert (now at the University of North Carolina at Greens-boro);  Roberta Sittel (University of North Texas);  Marie Concannon (University of Missouri);  James R. Jacobs (Stanford Uni-versity);  Lynda Kellam (University of North Carolina at Greensboro);  Shari Laster (now at Arizona State University); and Scott Matheson (Yale University School of Law). The PEGI steering committee also includes Bernie Reilly and Marie Waltz, both of the Center for Research Libraries, and Deborah Caldwell, a graduate research assistant at the University of North Texas.  The steering com-mittee works in consult with staff at the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the National Archives and Records Admin-istration (NARA). We are primarily government infor-mation librarians, four of whom have served as chair of the Depository Library Council, and some have limited connections to digital preservation community.  To this point, the PEGI Project is informed by the previously mentioned DPFIS meetings and, in part, by initiatives that have gained promi-nence in recent months, including DataRefuge and the Environmental Data Governance Initiative (EDGI).Our committee consists of government information librarians who oversee Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) col-lections, which are shifting in information transmission from print-centric to born-digital content.  The committee is aware of outdated requirements and shortcomings of Title 44, which is the federal law that governs the GPO, the FDLP, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and NARA.  It is one of the goals of the Project to document and distill the policy and guidance around production, dissemination, and preservation of government information. Members on the steering committee facili-tate discussions that help to inform the Project on issues of infrastructure and workflows related to preserving electronic information as well as converting tangible content to digital formats.  Additionally, all of the steering com-mittee members bring experience and expertise in approaching projects and large initiatives collaboratively.  The Project is identifying existing digital preservation partnerships and projects to understand efforts in this area and ways the PEGI Project can align with these efforts for greater collective impact.The Project has engaged in a number of interviews with representatives across the federal government.  PEGI Project team mem-bers met with employees from the Library of Congress Digital Preservation unit, NARA, the GPO, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Marine Mammal Com-mission (MMC), and FEDLINK, the Federal Library and Information Network, which promotes consortia resources sharing among federal agencies.  From these interviews, the team members learned more about the challenges of adapting print-centric law and policy to an electronic environment.  Based on these interviews, the Project team is looking to identify additional agencies to consult regard-ing challenges and benefits with born-digital content as well as continuing conversations with NARA and GPO.Activities and Outcomes of  the PEGI ProjectAs mentioned above, the PEGI Project is a two-year initiative, with 2017 being the inaugural year, and year two concluding De-38 Against the Grain / December 2017 - January 2018 <http://www.against-the-grain.com>cember 2018.  The first year of the Project, funded by the University of North Texas (UNT) and the Center for Research Librar-ies (CRL), included a series of interviews with representatives from federal agencies, steering committee meetings, and the begin-ning of an environmental scan. For year two of the Project, PEGI re-ceived an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership for Libraries grant to support a series of mini-fo-rums to engage stakeholder communities in conversation around the importance of pre-serving electronic government information and perceived future needs and potential bar-riers.  The year’s activities will culminate in a larger national forum that aims to synthesize information gathered across the mini-forums. Utilizing the model of Collective Impact, the national forum aims to articulate common issues across stakeholder groups, identify interconnections and synergies, and end with a review of activities leading to a final report, which will serve as a blueprint for future PEGI efforts.Endnotes1.  Public Printing and Documents, 44 U.S.C. § 1902 (2012), accessed November 14, 2017, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/44/1902. 2.  United States Government Publish-ing Office, “2015 Depository Library Council Meeting and Federal Depository Library Conference,” accessed September 20, 2017, https://www.fdlp.gov/acade-my/2015-dlc-meeting-and-fdl-conference.3.  Collaboration for Collective Impact.  “The Collective Impact Framework,” ac-cessed September 20, 2017, http://www.col-laborationforimpact.com/collective-impact/.4.  Halbert, Martin, Katherine Skinner, and Robbie Sittel, “Digital Preservation of Federal Information Summit: Reflections,” report from the Digital Preservation of Fed-eral Information Summit, April 3-4, 2016, accessed September 20, 2017, https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc826639/.Preservation of Electronic ...from page 36Ongoing throughout both years of the Project is an environmental scan that aims to identify aligned projects and existing digital repositories;  gain a better understanding of policy and law around information production, dissemination and preservation;  and describe differences in vocabulary and terminology across the library, archives and other aligned communities.  Additionally, the Project team intends to continue to engage federal agencies and other identified stakeholders in one-on-one interviews.  The interviews conducted during year one of the Project showed that federal agencies are interested in engaging more deliberately with the dissemination, access and preservation of their information products.  The PEGI Project hopes to inform ways for all interested parties to convene more deliberately.In conclusion, the PEGI Project aims to raise concerns and articulate solutions around the high risk for loss of electronic govern-ment information, and to address modes for preservation and permanent public access to born-digital government information.  The library and archival community is, in some ways, ill-prepared for collecting, describing, and making available electronic government information.  PEGI aims to identify current continued on page 39Book Reviews — Monographic MusingsColumn Editor: Regina Gong  (Open Educational Resources (OER) Project Manager/Head of Technical Services and Systems, Lansing Community College Library)  <gongr1@lcc.edu>Column Editor’s Note:  I cannot believe 2017 is almost over.  It has been another banner year for me both professionally and per-sonally.  I have done a number of exciting projects this year mainly related to OER, with the biggest thing being that I am now managing a $500K budget intended for our faculty to move their courses into OER.  I also travelled a lot this year with the most memorable trip being one to Jordan and Israel as part of our Holy Land pilgrimage. It was indeed a life-changing experience and one that I would like to do again in the near future.As usual, we have a collection of good reviews from our regular book reviewers.  I have a new book reviewer from Michigan State University Libraries, Robin Dean, who gladly volunteered to review the book Dynamic Research Support for Academic Libraries.  I hope this is not her last time reviewing a book for this column.  And if you want to be a book reviewer yourself, please let me know.  Just send me an email at <gongr1@lcc.edu>.  There’s always a free book waiting for you if you do.  Happy reading! — RGJones, Ed and Michele Seikel, editors. Linked Data for Cultural Heritage Chicago, IL: ALA Editions, 2016.  978083914397.   134 pages.  $67.00  Reviewed by Don Todaro  (Director of Reference/Research and Collections Management, Library of Michigan)   <todarod@michigan.gov>The slim volume Linked Data for Cultural Heritage, an edited col-lection of six short chapters, provides a diverse range of perspectives by noted experts on the current state of developments with linked data and related individual projects in LAM (Libraries, Archives and Museums). The introduction, by editor Ed Jones (National University, San Diego), eases the reader into the complex waters of linked data with a straight-forward example of a search for Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.  A by-now familiar “Knowledge Graph” box appears to the upper right on search results screens that pulls specially structured data, images, etc., from websites such as Wikipedia, Amazon, organization websites, etc. The curious searcher can then click on highlighted data points of interest to trigger new searches leading to fuller information about a particular aspect, e.g., clicking on Hugo’s birthplace leads to zoomable views of the town of Besançon in France, its current weather, time, places of interest, size, etc.  This example segues into an explanation over the span of just a few pages of what linked data is, how it works, and how it differs from HTML, and amusingly describes a dreamt-of future “nir-vana” scenario when one’s cellphone schedules medical appointments and selects the best books for one’s research needs by just entering a few simple voice commands.  Jones then sketches the five-star rating system outlined by Tim Berners-Lee in 2010 for elements in achieving fully linked and open data, and offers a “very simple description of linked data” to introduce the reader to the essential concepts of RDF (Resource Description Framework) and the SPARQL query language for searching an RDF database of “triplestores.”  This brief opening sets the stage for the six chapters that follow containing more in-depth discussions of projects, challenges, and possibilities of linked data and related standards, ontologies, vocabularies, etc. The volume opens with a survey of significant linked data projects across the cultural heritage domain, such as Europeana and the Digital Public Library of America, in the chapter “Linked Open Data and the Cultural Heritage Landscape” by Hilary Thorsen (Stanford University) and M. Cristina Pattuelli (Pratt Institute).  The brief practices and potential efforts to create improved scenarios for future researcher communities to access tomorrow what is available today.  To learn more about the PEGI Project’s objectives and activities, visit pegiproject.org.  

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