Revolutionizing Digital Preservation for the 21st Century
The Harvard Library has been at the forefront of digital preservation for over two decades, leading the way in safeguarding the University’s ever-growing digital collections. However, as new technologies emerge and user needs evolve, it has become clear that a generational modernization of Harvard’s preservation infrastructure is crucial. Enter the DRS Futures project – an ambitious initiative to reimagine and reinvent the heart of Harvard’s digital preservation efforts, the Digital Repository Service (DRS).
At the very core of this transformative project lies a bold vision: to create a repository that can support “any” content, conditions, users, and uses. From dynamic multimedia to complex datasets, from specialized research materials to administrative records, the new DRS aims to be a versatile and future-proof solution that can adapt to the University’s diverse and ever-changing digital landscape.
Harvard Library’s Digital Preservation Initiatives have long been at the forefront of best practices, but the time has come to take a leap forward. The DRS Futures project is guided by a set of “radical” principles that challenge traditional approaches, embracing experimentation, transparency, and a deep commitment to sustainability.
Laying the Groundwork: Ambitious Goals and Radical Strategies
The DRS Futures project is structured in three distinct phases, each designed to thoughtfully address the complex challenges of digital preservation. The initial Discovery phase focused on blue-sky ideation, allowing the team to envision an “ideal” repository without the constraints of current realities. This visionary thinking was then grounded in the Planning phase, where the team worked to specify an achievable solution that could be deployed without disrupting the University’s existing preservation operations.
At the heart of this process are ten aspirational goals that serve as a guiding light for the project:
- Support for any genre of digital content
- Accommodate any number of digital objects
- Manage any size of digital files
- Accommodate any level of complexity in digital content
- Support any language or script
- Ingest and preserve any file format
- Manage any type of metadata
- Ensure preservation for any duration
- Prepare for any eventuality that may impact the repository
- Enable any type of use or reuse of the preserved content
These lofty aims may not be fully realized immediately, but they represent Harvard Library’s unwavering commitment to long-term digital stewardship and a challenge to continually push the boundaries of what is possible.
To provide a strong foundation for progress towards these “any” goals, the Futures project has embraced ten “radical” work strategies:
- Radical questioning of long-standing assumptions
- Radical openness to experimentation and new ideas
- Radical transparency throughout the process
- Radical democratization of content eligibility and self-service user functionality
- Radical partnership working with stakeholders, not just on their behalf
- Radical engagement with stakeholders, peers, and solution providers to catalog the diversity of needs and approaches
- Radical collaboration between the Library and IT
- Radical sustainability, including operational, financial, and environmental considerations
- Radical commitment by Library and University administration, evidenced by dedicated staffing, generous timeline, and substantial funding
- Radical humility, acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers and anything we put into place always can be made better
These strategies underscore the project’s determination to challenge traditional norms and embrace a truly transformative approach to digital preservation at Harvard.
Engaging the Community: A Collaborative Journey
The DRS Futures project has placed a strong emphasis on stakeholder engagement, recognizing that the success of this endeavor depends on the active participation and buy-in of the broader Harvard community. From the outset, the team has sought to foster radical transparency, openness, and partnership, ensuring that users, curators, and administrators are not merely passive recipients of the new system, but integral collaborators in its development.
Through a diverse array of engagement methods – including broad surveys, targeted interviews, focus groups, and open office hours – the DRS Futures team has diligently gathered insights and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders. This holistic approach has been crucial in shaping the project’s priorities and requirements, ensuring that the new DRS truly addresses the needs and pain points of its users.
As shared at the recent iPRES 2024 conference, the stakeholder engagement process has surfaced several key organizational and technical insights that have significantly informed the project’s direction. For instance, the team recognized that preservation and access remain tightly intertwined in the eyes of the Harvard community, prompting the inclusion of user-friendly access and delivery functionalities as a core requirement for the new system.
Additionally, the engagement process highlighted the importance of providing a “safe space” for curators and archivists to process and update digital content before it is ingested into the preservation repository. This “Workspace” concept, distinct from the persistent “Archive,” has become a driving design principle for the DRS Futures project, ensuring that the new system aligns with the real-world workflows and needs of its users.
Balancing Sustainability and Innovation
As the DRS Futures project moves into the final Implementation phase, the team has placed a strong emphasis on ensuring the long-term sustainability of the new repository. Recognizing that digital preservation efforts must address not only technical and operational challenges, but also environmental and financial considerations, the project has adopted a holistic approach to sustainability.
On the environmental front, the team has explored strategies to reduce the repository’s carbon footprint, such as transitioning to hosted cloud infrastructure and optimizing storage and fixity practices. The DRS Futures RFP also required vendors to provide transparent information about their own sustainability practices, underscoring the project’s commitment to environmentally responsible choices.
From a financial perspective, the project team has carefully analyzed the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the alternative repository solutions under consideration. This includes not only the initial development and deployment costs, but also the ongoing operational expenses associated with licensing, support, and staffing. The team has engaged with Harvard Library’s Finance office to identify sustainable funding streams, exploring options such as a cost-recovery model that apportions expenses across the University’s curatorial units based on their respective usage of the repository.
Throughout this process, the DRS Futures project has remained steadfast in its dedication to innovation, pushing the boundaries of traditional digital preservation practices. By embracing a “radical” approach that challenges long-standing assumptions, the team is poised to deliver a repository solution that not only meets the University’s immediate needs, but also remains agile and adaptable in the face of future technological and organizational changes.
The Path Forward: Lessons for the Digital Preservation Community
As the DRS Futures project nears the completion of its Implementation phase, the Harvard Library team has identified several key lessons that may prove invaluable for other institutions embarking on similar digital preservation transformations:
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Clearly Define Project Scope and Goals: Establish a clear vision for the project, including a comprehensive understanding of what will and will not be undertaken. Effective communication of these parameters is crucial for managing stakeholder expectations and securing administrative support.
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Scale Resources to Match Ambitions: Ensure that the project is adequately resourced, both in terms of dedicated staffing and financial commitments from the institution’s leadership. Ambitious goals require a commensurate investment of time and funding.
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Foster Effective Team Dynamics: Prioritize the cultivation of a cohesive and collaborative project team, guided by a set of agreed-upon norms and principles. This foundation of trust and mutual understanding is essential for navigating the challenges that inevitably arise.
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Embrace Holistic Collaboration: Digital preservation is not solely a technical endeavor; it requires the active involvement of diverse stakeholders, including curators, archivists, IT professionals, and administrative leaders. Fostering genuine partnership and open communication is key to the project’s success.
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Emphasize Transparency and Accountability: Maintaining transparent decision-making processes and regular reporting to both internal and external stakeholders builds trust and demonstrates the project’s commitment to its stated goals.
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Plan for Sustainability: Consider the long-term operational, financial, and environmental implications of the new repository solution, and implement strategies to ensure its continued viability and evolution over time.
As the Stanley Park High School community looks ahead to the future of digital preservation, the Harvard Library’s DRS Futures project serves as a powerful example of how an institution can thoughtfully and collaboratively reinvent its core preservation infrastructure. By embracing ambitious goals, radical strategies, and a steadfast commitment to sustainability, this transformative initiative offers valuable insights and inspiration for institutions of all sizes as they navigate the ever-evolving landscape of digital stewardship.
