UAL Research Online – repository preservation objectives

I suppose the first thing I should comment upon is ‘UAL Research Online’. While I have worked upon and am still employed as Kultur Project Officer, the Kultur project has actually finished and I am working upon UAL Research Online. This is of course one of the outcomes from the Kultur project and while what I discover and learn and attempt as part of the KeepIt! Project can be shared among the Kultur partners it will be specifically applied to UAL Research Online. Unfortunately I don’t have a lovely logo (and I’m at an arts institution!) but this will happen soon.

So UAL Research Online is the soon to be launched (honestly) institutional repository for the University of the Arts London. We are an arts institution comprising 6 colleges across London and covering the widest range of arts and creative practice in the UK. We do produce a lot of text, probably more than most people would think but of course we produce a huge amount of research in  multimedia formats. We will also be collecting teaching and learning materials at some point in the near future so this again will have an impact upon our digital preservation needs.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly producing these ‘objectives’ was harder than I thought. I would also add that I am sure that I will want to change them at the end of the project! However the main point for myself is that this is an entire learning process. It is about learning about digital preservation. My learning process will mirror my own institution’s and mirror our own researcher’s process. So cue drumroll…..

1. To produce a set of information guides detailing the issues, possible solutions and problems for the digital preservation of the wide range of formats that UAL Research Online holds. This should include a way to evaluate what to preserve and what to leave.These guides should be for both a general research audience and for repository staff.
2. To gain enough knowledge and experience of the issues around digital preservation in order to be able to advise staff and researchers about digital preservation and to also advocate its importance at senior levels.
3. To produce a costing for digital preservation at our institution. This will help to develop a realistic business plan that can be presented at senior management level
4. To provide training on identifying the needs and the tools to conduct digital preservation for the repository and to plan and implement a preservation programme that can be then integrated within the management of the repository.