History of the Levels of Preservation Working Group
The Levels of Preservation (LOP) Working Group was initiated in March of 2018. While the main goal was producing an updated LOP Matrix (or grid) it was recognized early on that to responsbily do so required the work of many. A call for interest was made to the community, to which over 100 responded. Many sub-working-groups were formed. These groups worked in parallel and sometimes informed the work of the other groups. Details on the groups are provided below.
Version 2.0 of the Levels of Preservation was made available in October 2019. Supporting documetation followed. All completed materials are available on the 2019 LOP OSF project page.
This page documents the project plan and work done between 2018-2019 by the Levels of Preservation Working Group.
Levels of Preservation Working Group (2018)
The NDSA initially launched its Levels of Digital Preservation guidelines in 2013. The Levels’ authors wrote about the philosophy behind the publication here. Since that time practitioners across the globe have been working with the guidelines and some have been extending and adapting them. Response to and adoption of the Levels has far exceeded NDSA’s expectations.
This new Working Group’s primary task will be to provide the methodology by which the important NDSA Levels of Preservation document can be adapted more readily—taking in the broadest possible feedback in the process. We will not limit the group to NDSA members, though we will strongly encourage everyone interested in this project to consider joining the NDSA. The preliminary charge for this group will be to:
- Identify those actively engaged in adapting the Levels
- Cast a wide net for those willing to engage in updating the current version
- Create a methodology by which disparate approaches can be fully vetted and harmonized into a Version 2.0 of the Levels
- Devise an ongoing strategy by which the Levels can be adapted on a regular basis.
A call for interest and participation was sent out in April 2018 and the community’s response has been tremendous. Practitioners from all over the globe have responded that they are either using the NDSA’s Levels guidelines or would like to assist in the creation of Version 2.0. We hope to harness the excellent work that is already underway and create a series of international groups to help refine and test the new proposed changes.
Levels Reboot Team
The Levels Reboot Team included the chair/co-chairs of the many sub-working groups of the 2019 Levels of Preservation Working Group
- Karen Cariani, The David O. Ives Executive Director of the WGBH Media Library and Archives
- Aaron Collie, FRASER Digital Library Manager, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
- Bradley Daigle, Partnerships and Content Lead, Academic Preservation Trust (APTrust)
- Corey Davis, Digital Preservation Coordinator, Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL)
- Amy Kirchoff, Archive Service Product Manager, ITHAKA
- Carol Kussmann, Digital Preservation Analyst for the University of Minnesota Libraries
- Mary Molinaro, Executive Director, Digital Preservation Network (DPN)
- Bethany Nowviskie, Executive Director, Digital Library Federation (DLF - ex officio)
- Sibyl Schaefer, Chronopolis Program Manager and Digital Preservation Analyst for the University of California, San Diego
- Nathan Tallman, Digital Preservation Librarian, Penn State University Libraries
- Helen Tibbo, Alumni Distinguished Professor, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina
- Lauren Work, Digital Preservation Librarian, University of Virginia Libraries
The Levels Reboot Project Plan
Project overview and description
Overview
The NDSA launched its Levels of Preservation (LoP) guidelines in 2013 as a tiered set of recommendations on how organizations should begin to build or enhance their digital preservation activities. They function as the key tool to help practitioners of all levels deploy a sustainable digital preservation strategy. Since that time practitioners across the globe have been working with the guidelines and some have been extending and adapting them.
The original intent of the LoP was to create tiered set of recommendations for either preservation practitioners who were just starting out or for those looking to deepen their preservation strategy. Not meant as a comprehensive preservation strategy but rather a lightweight tool to encourage organizations to think through preservation issues. The LoP are organized into five functional areas that are at the heart of digital preservation systems: storage and geographic location, file fixity and data integrity, information security, metadata, and file formats. By design, they do not cover policy or staffing considerations. They are considered to be a technical implementation of a variety of preservation decisions and are utilized by many organizations across the country and even internationally.
With the current rapid changes in technology, a document that functions as the technical implementation of a preservation strategy, needs updating after 5 years. In addition, after 5 years of active use, users have expressed the need to add features and considerations.
Description
This project will engage key stakeholders and other communities to:
- Create an updated version of the Levels document;
- Create other materials to support an updated Levels document, such as case studies and teaching materials; and,
- Articulate an ongoing strategy by which the Levels can be adapted and updated on a regular basis.
Levels of Preservation Subgroups and Charges
Assessment Subgroup (Lead: Carol Kussmann)
- This group will explore the past and current use and adaptation of the LoP framework for institutional benchmarking and assessment of digital preservation readiness or as a method to review progress towards institutional preservation goals.
- The groups initial charge is provided for you to review but is subject to change as we work through logistics and review past projects and determine the best course of action moving forward.
- Co-chairs: Carol Kussmann and Amy Rudersdorf.
Curatorial Layer Subgroup (Lead: Bradley Daigle)
- About: Explore the creation of a non-technical preservation decision layer that will allow curators and collections stewards to make initial preservation decisions that map to the LoP.
- Charge
- Curatorial Group Folder
- Co-chairs: Bradley Daigle and Angela Beking
Implementation Subgroup (Lead: Corey Davis)
- About: Explore the use and adaption of the LoP framework to implement or improve digital preservation infrastructure, administration, and maintenance.
- Charge
- Member list
- Co-chairs: Corey Davis and Abby Adams.
Levels of Preservation Revision Subgroup (Lead: Karen Cariani)
- About: Update and add to the current themes included in the LoP (storage, fixity, migration, security, metadata, file formats, etc.).
- Charge
- Co-chairs: Karen Cariani and Dan Noonan
Teaching, Outreach, and Advocacy Subgroup
The work of this group, as expected, did not take place during 2018-2019. Work of this group will be taken up by a new group in 2020.
- About: Explore the use and adaption of the LoP as a teaching tool for understanding digital preservation concepts and pragmatic use and to advocate for preservation resources.
Levels of Preservation Presentations, Workshops, and Updates
Conferences were used as opportunities to share the status of the updated Levels and as a method to gather feedback. Some of these are listed below.
- Levels of Preservation Reboot Overview and Update 30 January 2019
- Digital Preservation Coalition Blog Post describing work up to 2019 and current observations Link
- Society of American Archivists (Washington, DC) 14-18 August
- Poster Session at the Research Forum
- iPres (Boston) 24 September 2018: 9:30-12:30 EST
- 103 Cool Change: The NDSA Levels of Preservation Reboot: Update, Discussion, and Future Steps. A workshop by: Bradley Daigle, Helen Tibbo, Corey Davis, Karen Cariani, Carol Kussmann, Sibyl Schaefer and Mary Molinaro – Pechet Room 2. Link
- DigiPres 2018 (Las Vegas, NV) 18 October: 8:30-10:00 AM PST
- NDSA Levels of Preservation Reboot: The NDSA Levels of Preservation is a guide to assess digital preservation efforts against best practices. This session will present, what the levels currently are, how they have been used, the work to update the document, and an open discussion with the audience for feedback and suggestions for improvement. Link
Related documents
These documents provide additional background information on the Levels themselves and the modivation of the revision.
- Levels of Digital Preservation
- The NDSA Levels of Digital Preservation: An Explanation and Uses
- NDSA Levels of preservation original Project Plans, Internet Archive Wayback Machine
- Expanding NDSA Levels of Preservation, Shira Peltzman from the UCLA Library
Dates and deliverables
The following section outlines initial deliverables with the proviso that as Working Groups are established and start their work, dates and deliverables will need to be added to reflect their specific work plans, which may also affect the timing and strategies for finalizing and sharing results.
|
Dates |
Deliverables |
Responsibility |
Status |
|
Preliminaries |
|||
|
March-April 2018 |
Form subgroup of NDSA Coordinating Committee to oversee initial activities (Levels Reboot Team) |
NDSA Coordinating Committee |
Done |
|
April 2018 |
Put out call for participation (CFP) to the global digital preservation community |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
April 2018 |
Create communications listserv based on CFP respondents |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
April-June 2018 |
Complete project plan, get feedback, finalize |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
Establish Working Groups |
|||
|
June 2018 |
Send follow-up survey asking for active members and reviewers for Working Groups |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
June 2018 |
Establish Working Groups in the following areas: Access, Teaching/Outreach/Advocacy, Implementation, Assessment, and Documentation (subject to change as survey results come in), with each WG to be led by co-chairs, one of which should be--where possible--a member of the Levels Reboot Team |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
June-July 2018 |
Create a work plan template for (optional) use by Working Groups in establishing their priorities and deliverables |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
June-July 2018 |
Hold initial Working Group meetings to discuss work plan (including deliverables and dates, communications strategies, reporting out mechanism, etc.) |
Working Group leads |
Done |
|
Summer- |
Finalize Working Group work plans |
Working Group leads |
Done. Subject to change as needed. |
|
Summer- |
Approve Working Group work plans |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done |
|
Working Group deliverables |
|||
|
Winter- |
Each working group has its own plans and deliverables. |
Working Group leads, with oversight from Levels Reboot Team |
Intitial group work done. |
|
Share activities and final results (provisional timeline) |
|||
|
September - October 2018 |
Hold iPres and DigiPres workshops (to provide project updates and gather feedback) |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done. |
|
March 2019 |
Working Groups complete final reports and/or other deliverables |
Working Group leads |
Done. |
|
April 2019 |
Reconcile Working Group reports and/or deliverables |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done. |
|
April-May 2019 |
Draft shared for community comment |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done. |
|
Spring 2019 |
Coordinate conference schedule proposals for 2019 conference season |
Working Group leads and Levels Reboot Team |
Done. |
|
Late Spring 2019 |
Articulate publications strategy and share results |
Levels Reboot Team |
Done. |
Principle audiences
Key stakeholders
- NDSA Coordinating Committee
- Digital Library Federation (DLF) and subgroups (e.g. Born-Digital Access Group)
- Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)
- NDSA Interest Groups (Infrastructure, Content, Standards and Practices)
- NDSA Working Groups (especially National Agenda, Fixity, and Conference Planning)
- Other NDSA-led groups (e.g. Preservation Storage Group, Cloud Studies Subgroup)
Communities whose input or support is needed
- NDSA member organizations
- Digital preservation service providers
- Allied national and international organizations
- The global digital preservation practitioners’ community
Community consultation and communications
Consultation and communication with NDSA members and the broader digital preservation community is especially critical in the early stages of this project.
The Levels Reboot Team will report to NDSA Coordinating Committee on a regular basis and provide project updates via regularly scheduled Zoom meetings. The Levels Reboot Team will also ensure that Working Groups convene on a regular basis and report out on progress. All documentation related to these meetings, as well as related documents, will be made accessible for review and approval as appropriate. The Levels Reboot Team will also provide written updates and other documentation to the NDSA Coordinating Committee ahead of all Annual General Meetings, in a timely manner as directed by the NDSA Coordinating Committee Chair, and will also make themselves available for presentations and discussions as required.
Communication strategies for principal audiences
|
Key stakeholders |
||||
|
Audience |
Description |
Frequency |
Method(s) |
Comments |
|
NDSA Coordinating Committee |
Verbal communication of project progress and deliverable status |
Monthly |
Report delivered via regularly scheduled conference calls |
Levels Reboot project update is a running agenda item on the monthly NDSA Coordinating Committee |
|
DLF |
Verbal communication of project progress and deliverable status |
Monthly |
Report delivered via regularly scheduled conference calls |
DLF Executive Director is an ex officio member of the NDSA Coordinating Committee and will receive updates at monthly teleconferences. Members of the Levels Reboot Team will be available to update DLF interest/working group leadership as needed. |
|
CLIR |
Communication of project progress and benefits |
As needed |
Reports delivered as needed, to be determined by the DLF Executive Director |
DLF Executive Director reports to the president of CLIR and the CLIR Board of Directors and will provide updates with the support of members of the Levels Reboot Team as needed |
|
NDSA Interest Groups, Working Groups, and other groups |
Verbal communication of project progress and deliverable status |
Monthly + as needed |
Report delivered via regularly scheduled conference calls |
Most groups meet monthly, and have members from the Levels Reboot Team that can provide occasional updates as events dictate |
|
Communities whose input or support needed |
||||
|
Audience |
Description |
Frequency |
Method(s) |
Comments |
|
NDSA member organizations |
Communication of project progress and benefits |
Annually + as needed |
Report delivered at AGM and via updates at annual DigiPres Conference |
Members of the Levels Reboot Team, and representatives from Working Groups as required, will actively engage with member organizations as needed |
|
Digital preservation service providers |
Communication of project progress and benefits |
As needed |
Updates delivered at digital preservation focused conferences and events and through the NDSA website and social media channels |
Members of the Levels Reboot Team, and representatives from Working Groups as required, will actively engage with service providers as needed |
|
Allied national and international organizations |
Communication of project progress and benefits |
As needed |
Updates delivered at digital preservation focused conferences and events and through the NDSA website and social media channels |
Members of the Levels Reboot Team, and representatives from Working Groups as required, will actively engage with allied organizations as needed |
|
The global digital preservation practitioners community |
Communication of project progress and benefits |
As needed |
Updates delivered at digital preservation focused conferences and events and through the NDSA website and social media channels |
|