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Building a Sustainable Digital Preservation Network in Alabama

The Alabama Digital Preservation Network (ADPNet) aims to create a low-cost, sustainable network for preserving digital content in libraries, archives, and museums across the state. Inspired by the NDIIPP MetaArchive Project, ADPNet utilizes LOCKSS technology to ensure secure archiving of valuable collections. The network is geographically distributed, built on existing structures, and focuses on simple, cost-effective solutions with low maintenance requirements.

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Building a Sustainable Digital Preservation Network in Alabama

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  1. The Alabama Digital Preservation Network (ADPNet) A statewide private LOCKSS network Aaron Trehub, Auburn University Libraries NDIIPP Partners Meeting Washington, D.C. July 8-10, 2008

  2. Objective To create a low-cost, low-maintenance, sustainable, geographically distributed digital preservation network for libraries, archives, and museums in Alabama.

  3. Background • ADPNet inspired by Auburn’s experience with Library of Congress-funded NDIIPP MetaArchive Project • ADPNet supported by an IMLS grant: September 2006 through September 2008 • Grant awarded to and administered by Alabama Council on Higher Education/Network of Alabama Academic Libraries in Montgomery • Project director at Auburn University Libraries • Commitments from seven institutions across the state

  4. The seven participating institutions • Alabama Dept. of Archives and History (Montgomery, AL) • Auburn University (Auburn, AL) • Spring Hill College (Mobile, AL) • Troy University (Troy, AL) • University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL) • University of Alabama at Birmingham • University of North Alabama (Florence, AL)

  5. The network • ADPNet is a Private LOCKSS Network (PLN) • “Dark” archive: for preservation ONLY, not access or display • Uses off-the-shelf equipment and software • LOCKSS servers (“nodes”) at all seven participating institutions • Each institution maintains its LOCKSS server • Each institution contributes content for harvesting and archiving by the network • Runs on sweat equity, with help from LOCKSS staff

  6. Why Alabama? • Hurricanes • Tornadoes • Growing number of rich digital collections (e.g. AlabamaMosaic) • Modest financial resources • Uneven technical support • Ideal test case for geographically distributed digital preservation network

  7. Why LOCKSS? • Familiar with it (through the NDIIPP MetaArchive project) • Simple and robust • Cheap (except for membership in LOCKSS Alliance—more on that later) • Excellent technical support • Know it works

  8. Costs • Servers: LOCKSS server and Web server (for making content available to the network) • Staff time: less than we anticipated • Communication: e-mail listserv, weekly conference calls, some meetings • Some travel: mostly in-state • The biggie: annual LOCKSS Alliance membership fee. Supports LOCKSS software development and technical support

  9. ADPNet cached content • ADPNet currently contains 35 collections (“archival units”) from five of the seven member institutions • Approximately 250 gigabytes harvested • Network capacity: one terabyte, soon to be upped to 1.5 terabytes • Plenty of room for more collections • More collections on the way, including audio and video files

  10. ADPNet administration • ADPNet is a single-state network • Folded into existing administrative infrastructure: Alabama Commission on Higher Education/Network of Alabama Academic Libraries (NAAL) • Not a service organization • No membership fees—but LOCKSS Alliance membership mandatory • In-kind contribution: bring up and run a LOCKSS node in the network—with exception for smaller institutions • Governance document in the works

  11. ADPNet digital preservation awareness survey • Sent to academic and public libraries, archives, schools, and state and municipal offices in Alabama in February 2008 • 79 responses: public libraries largest single group of respondents • Most important decision factors: reliability (91 percent), expertise and support (88 percent), cost (86 percent), staffing (84 percent), and preservation of mission-critical collections (84 percent) • Most people learn about new initiatives from conferences and colleagues, so focus on those

  12. Achievements • ADPNet is the first single-state private LOCKSS network in the U.S. • Appears to be serving as a model for other states and consortia • Similar networks being built by the Arizona State Library and a consortium of Canadian academic libraries • Presentations at Alabama Library Association, Best Practices Exchange, and LITA national forum

  13. Lessons learned • Keep it simple • Keep it cheap • Don’t get fancy • Aim for low maintenance and low administrative overhead • Take advantage of existing structures and relationships (easier to do with a single-state network)

  14. The future • Add more content to the network • Recruit more member institutions, including public libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations • Develop partnerships with other PLNs • Spread the word

  15. For more information… ADPNet: http://adpn.org/ LOCKSS: http://www.lockss.org/ MetaArchive: http://www.metaarchive.org/ Aaron Trehub Auburn University Libraries trehuaj@auburn.edu (334) 844-1716

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