The Digital Library Team: Handbook for Digital Library Procedures

STANDARDS / HANDBOOK FOR DIGITAL MATERIALS

Introduction: Why Standards Matter

In the Avery Fisher Center for Music and Media here at NYU, there are several hypermedia works created between 1992 and 1995 created using a software package called Storyspace. The works were authored and edited by some prominent scholars in the fields they address, and represent a significant amount of labor and expense. Unfortunately, the Storyspace product is a proprietary system, and the works were authored on a version which requires Macintosh System 6 or System 7 to run. The works are extremely difficult to view on existing technological platforms, a mere 5 years after they were created. In a few more years, they will be completely unusable, and the effort which went into creating them probably will be lost.

Unfortunately, this example is not unique. The brief history of digital libraries contains several examples of works which, due to their reliance on proprietary technologies, either could not easily be used by their intended audience or which could not be migrated to new data formats and became inaccessible due to obsolescence of their technology. It is fundamental to even the simplest digital objects that their use requires the successful interaction of a complex system of hardware and software. Failure of any part of that system can render a resource unusable. If data is stored in an external storage device which becomes obsolete and is no longer supported by computer manufacturers, or if use of the data relies on software from a manufacturer that goes out of business, then the data is far too likely to become inaccessible.

Digital Library Projects: Prevention and Preservation

Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to defend against these forms of data obsolescence. All of these defenses spring from a common assumption: given the pace of technological change, the hardware and software which you use to create digital resources probably will be completely out of use inside of 15 years. To have the digital resources you create survive longer than that, you must create them in a way which makes it as easy as possible to adopt them for use on a technological platform different than the one on which you created them.

While planning for use on a technological platform which hasn't even been invented yet may sound like an impossible task, it is not terribly different from that of trying to create digital resources which are useful under the variety of hardware platforms, operating systems and applications available today. The links on the left will take you to documents discussing relevant standards and best practices for the creation of digital resources. Familiarizing yourself with these is an excellent first step towards creating digital resources that will continue to be useful in the future. Digital Library Team staff at The Studio for Digital Projects and Research will be happy to consult with you regarding the best approach for digitizing resources on your projects.