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The
Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) is conducting a research project
supported by IMLS to assess the preservation needs of digital collections in
museums, libraries and archives across the nation. NEDCC
needs your participation in a survey to gather data on the current status of
digital collections. The data will be used to develop tools that can assist
organizations in planning for the preservation of digital resources, with the
ultimate outcome of helping organizations provide long-term access to growing
digital resources. The
survey can be completed at: www.tdcorp.org/surveys/NEDCC
and will take about 30 minutes. Please
note: one person in your organization may not be able to answer all of the
questions. Therefore, it may be
necessary to first look at all the questions and gather input from other
departments before completing the survey online. (A paper version is attached below for your reference
OR access and print the survey from the website link noted above.) If
you cannot complete all questions, please do the best you can as any answers
you provide will still be helpful to us.
We
understand that this is a significant investment of your time and appreciate
your participation in helping address the needs of digital collections
preservation. Data
and a report from this survey will be made available on NEDCC’s
website with links to partner sites when ready.
Thank
you in advance for your help. NEDCC Digital Collections Survey The Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
is currently working with its partners to develop a methodology for assessing
the preservation needs of digital collections in museums, archives, and
libraries as an increasing number of organizations seek to digitize their
collections and make them available through a digital network. As part of this work, NEDCC has created the
following survey to determine the status of digital collections at other
organizations. The results of this
survey will be made available on the NEDCC website and shared with a project
advisory committee, made up of 12-15 nationally recognized experts representing
museum decision-makers. This information
will then be used to create and disseminate practical assessment tools and
guidelines to assist organizations in planning for the maintenance and
preservation of existing digital resources. Please complete all questions as they fit with
practices at your organization by We understand that one person in your organization
may not be able to answer all of the questions.
Therefore, it may be necessary to gather input from other departments
before completing the survey. One
suggestion is to print out the survey, gather the needed information, and then
fill out the survey online. Even if you
cannot complete all questions, please do the best you can as any answers you
provide will still be helpful. Thank you in advance for your participation! If you have any questions about the survey, please
feel free to contact Rebecca Hatcher at NEDCC by phone at (978) 470-1010 or by
email at rhatcher@xxxxxxxxxx You may
also contact Shannon O'Brien at (617) 728-9151 or via email at
sobrien@xxxxxxxxxxx Institutional Profile Please select the category which best describes your
institution: •
Archives • State
Library •
Historical Society • Art
Museum •
College/University Library •
Ethnology/Anthropology Museum •
Public/Municipal Library • •
School Library •
Science/Technology Museum •
Other: Please fill in below _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ How many FTEs are employed in your institution?
(Note: "FTE" = full-time equivalent) • 1 to
20 • 101
to 500 • 21 to
100 • 501
or greater What is your institution's annual operating budget? • Up to
$250,000 • More
than $20 million up to $50 million • More
than $250,000 up to $1 million • More
than $50 million • More
than $1 million up to $20 million What is your primary role within your institution? •
Administrator •
Information technologist •
Librarian •
Registrar •
Conservator •
Other: please fill in below •
Photographer •
Archivist •
Preservation officer •
Curator ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Preservation Readiness Here is a short list of common preservation
activities. Which, if any, is your institution likely to engage in during a
typical year? (Select ALL that apply) •
User/staff education on preservation issues •
Making or purchasing protective enclosures for re-housing of collections •
Fundraising for preservation •
Item-level condition assessment of objects •
Environmental monitoring •
Item-level conservation treatment •
Emergency preparedness activities •
Visual documentation •
Creation of preservation surrogates •
Other: please fill in below ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Indicate how many staff members in your institution
are assigned responsibility for some preservation activities. staff with full-time preservation responsibilities:
_________________________________________________________________________________ staff with part-time preservation responsibilities:
_________________________________________________________________________________ Does your institution have written policy, planning,
or procedure documents in the following areas? • Yes • No • Being
Developed Strategic planning • Yes • No • Being
Developed Collection development • Yes • No • Being
Developed Emergency preparedness • Yes • No • Being
Developed Exhibitions • Yes • No • Being
Developed Preservation • Yes • No • Being
Developed Creation of digital resources • Yes • No • Being
Developed Is there someone in your institution whose primary
responsibility is to make preservation decisions? • Yes • No In a typical year, approximately what percentage of
your institution's annual budget is allotted for preservation activities? • No
funds allocated • 6% to
10% • Less
than 1% (but not zero) • Over
10% • 1% to
5% •
Unknown Over the past five years, allowing for inflation, has your preservation budget: •
Remained stable (including “no funds allocated,” above) •
Decreased •
Increased •
Unknown Has a general preservation survey (e.g., a
Collection Assessment Program survey) been performed at your institution? • Yes • No Has a collections condition survey been performed at
your institution? • Yes • No Information Technology Infrastructure Does your institution have information technology
services in the following areas? Desktop Support • Yes • No • Being
Developed Network Support • Yes • No • Being
Developed File management and storage • Yes • No • Being
Developed Back-up and disaster recovery • Yes • No • Being
Developed Centralized hardware and software acquisition and
maintenance • Yes • No • Being
Developed Security and protocols (authentication,
authorization, etc) • Yes • No • Being
Developed Which, if any, of the following information
technology applications for digital collections management does your
institution currently support? (Select ALL that apply) •
Digital imaging (e.g., scanning, direct digital capture, digital photography) • Web
development/design •
Collection information management database •
Publicly searchable collections database Does your institution have an information technology
department? • Yes • No Indicate how many FTE(s) in your institution are
assigned responsibility for some information technology activities: ___________________________________________________________ Is there someone in your institution with primary
responsibility for information policy? • Yes,
this is a full-time responsibility • Yes,
this is a part-time responsibility • No If yes, what is their title? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Is there someone in your institution with primary
responsibility for systems administration and/or database administration? • Yes,
this is a full-time responsibility • Yes,
this is a part-time responsibility • No Approximately what percentage of your institution's
annual budget is allotted for information technology? • No
funds allocated • 6% to
10% • Less
than 1% (but not zero) • Over
10% • 1% to
5% Over the past five years, allowing for inflation, has your information technology budget: •
Remained stable •
Decreased •
Increased •
Unknown How many workstations does your information
technology department support? • 1-10 •
51-100 • 11-50 • More
than 101 What percentage of your
institution's workstations are networked? • 0 to
25% •
51%-95% •
26%-50% •
96%-100% What best describes your Internet access? • No
Internet access •
Dial-up •
Broadband •
Other: please fill in below _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Does your institution systematically update
hardware? • Yes • No Does your institution systematically update
software? • Yes • No Digital Collections: Creation and Acquisition Digital collections may include born digital
material and digital surrogates originating at the institution; or born digital
material and digital surrogates originating from outside the institution that
have been acquired through purchase or donation. This definition of digital
collections does not include digital material licensed by the institution with
perpetual access, which is not stored by the institution. Is your institution creating or has your institution
created digital assets from physical source materials? • Yes • No •
Unknown If so, from which of the
following types of source materials? (Select ALL that apply) • Flat
works on paper/photographic prints •
Analog audio and video • Film • Books
and other multi-page items •
Microfilm • Three
dimensional objects •
Other: please fill in below _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Is your institution collecting/acquiring/creating
digital assets? • Yes • No •
Unknown If so, which of the following types of digital
material are you collecting/acquiring/creating? (Select ALL that apply.) •
Simple text •
Music, spoken word, or other audio materials •
Encoded text (e.g., blogs, websites, listservs, pdf documents) •
Applications, operating systems or other software •
Photography or other still images •
Documentation or research data •
Moving images •
Geographic or geo-spatial data • Any
art or visual materials with a database or digital component What percentage of items in these
collections include both digital and analog components in a single work?
(for example, a book with a CD, an art installation
which includes digital material) • 0 to
25% •
51%-75% •
26%-50% •
76%-100% Of all the items you consider to belong to digital
collections, are the majority (Select ONE): •
Unique (single copy works) •
Replicated in other analog versions •
Replicated in multiple digital versions •
Replicated in both digital and analog versions.
In general, does your institution know which file
formats (e.g., tiff, jpg, psd, .mov)
exist in its collections? • Yes,
for almost all files • Yes,
for some files • No To the best
of your knowledge, how many formats do you have for each genre identified
above? Text • Fewer
than 3 formats • • More
than 5 formats Encoded text • Fewer
than 3 formats • • More
than 5 formats Still images • Fewer
than 3 formats • • More
than 5 formats Moving image • Fewer
than 3 formats • • More
than 5 formats Sound • Fewer
than 3 formats • • More
than 5 formats Geo-spatial • Fewer
than 3 formats • • More
than 5 formats Digital Collections: Delivery In this section, the term “collections”
refers to digital resources discussed in the previous section. Who may access digital collections? (Select ALL that
apply). •
Internal staff •
On-site visitors •
Selected external users (controlled availability via the internet or other
network) •
Worldwide users (General availability via the internet or other network) How do you provide access to your digital
collections? (Select ALL that apply.) •
Through a website associated with your organization •
Stand-alone computer •
Through a website associated with another organization •
CD-ROM/other removable media •
Other: please fill in below _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To facilitate discovery and use of digital
collections, have you created descriptive metadata (i.e., name, subject or
other information to identify a work) for digital assets? • No,
not for any items • Yes,
for some items • Yes,
for all items Rate the importance of the following goals of your
digital program on a scale of 1 (least important) to 5 (most important): Identification (e.g., collections
management, cataloging, etc.) • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Study and use by local users • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Study and use by remote users • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Publication • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 To replace collection items in the event of
disaster, deterioration, etc. • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Documentation of condition • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Reduce handling • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 To contribute to a collaboration/consortium • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Generating revenue • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Digital Collections: Administration and Management The term “collections” refers to the
digital resources discussed in the previous two sections. In general, are digital collections subject to
quality control while they are maintained? • Yes • No If your institution creates digital collections,
approximately what percentage of your institution's annual budget is allotted
to this activity? • No
funds allocated • 6% to
10% • Less
than 1% (but not zero) • Over
10% • 1% to
5% If your institution acquires digital collections,
approximately what percentage of your institution's annual budget is allotted
to this activity? • No
funds allocated • 6% to
10% • Less
than 1% (but not zero) • Over
10% • 1% to
5% Approximately what percentage of your institution's
annual budget is allotted to manage and sustain digital collections you have
created or acquired? • No
funds allocated • 6% to
10% • Less
than 1% (but not zero) • Over
10% • 1% to
5% Over the past five years, allowing for inflation, has the budget allotted to manage and sustain
digital collections: •
Remained stable •
Decreased •
Increased •
Unknown How does your institution fund or intend to fund
digital preservation? •
Through grants •
Through the regular budget •
Through a combination of grant and budget funds •
Other: please fill in below
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Is there someone in your institution for whom
digital preservation is a primary responsibility? • Yes • No Do any of the IT staff identified previously have
responsibility for digital collections? • Yes • No Do any of the preservation staff you identified
previously have responsibility for digital collections/work with electronic
formats? • Yes • No Does your institution support staff
development/professional education and training in the area of digital
preservation? • Yes • No Digital Collections: Administration and Management If your institution has written policy, planning, or
procedure documents in the following areas, do they address digital holdings? • Yes • No • Being
Developed Collection development • Yes • No • Being
Developed Emergency preparedness • Yes • No • Being
Developed Exhibitions • Yes • No • Being
Developed Preservation • Yes • No • Being
Developed Strategic planning • Yes • No • Being
Developed Public services • Yes • No • Being
Developed Rights and licensing • Yes • No • Being
Developed Of the digital preservation strategies listed below,
select all that your institution has actively discussed implementing: •
Migration •
Refreshing data • Data
back-up •
Outsourcing (to an external managed repository) •
Maintenance of legacy equipment •
Emulation •
Other: please fill in below _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the maximum lifespan required to retain any
digital material? • 1-3
years • 4-10
years • 11-25
years •
Longer than 25 years What is the maximum lifespan to retain
deliverability and usability of digital material/serve intended purpose? • 1-3
years • 4-10
years • 11-25
years •
Longer than 25 years Where are digital collections stored? • In
house, in systems your institution manages • By a
partner organizations •
Outsourced to a storage vendor •
Combination of these methods Digital Collections: Administration and Management What media are used for storing digital collections?
(Select ALL that apply.) •
Removable magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, zip disks, flash memory) •
Online magnetic media (e.g., networked hard drives) •
Optical • Tape Are you employing a back-up strategy for your
digital assets? • No • Yes,
they are backed up once • Yes,
they are backed up regularly Are digital assets insured? • Yes • No •
Unknown What is the level of access to stored digital
collections? •
On-line (e.g., Internet,
network connection) •
Off-line (e.g., stored on removable media such as a CD/DVD/floppy disk) • Both Digital assets require metadata for management. Of the following types of metadata, which do
you create for your digital collections? (Select ALL that apply.) •
Technical metadata (i.e., information that described the production process or
digital attributes of the work) •
Administrative metadata (i.e., to track access privileges, rights, ownership of
material) •
Descriptive metadata (i.e. name) •
Structural metadata (for purposes of aggregation of data) For the metadata indicated above, which of the
following methodologies do you use for management? (Select ALL that apply.) • None •
Stand-alone database/s •
File-directory conventions •
Integrated database • File
structure Digital Collections: Rights and Licensing As before, “collections” refers to the
digital resources discussed in the previous three sections. Rate the extent to which the following statements
are accurate on a scale of 1 (not at all accurate) to 5 (very accurate): We consider copyright and intellectual property
concerns in digitizing material. • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 We feel confident making copyright licensing and/or
digital copyright decisions which relate to our digital collections. • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Copyright/licensing concerns deter us from
acquiring/creating and intending to preserve digital collections • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 We record and maintain rights metadata to limit
delivery of collections to authorized users. • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 We do enforce or anticipate enforcing your
rights/licensing agreements. • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 Do you attempt to acquire digital rights to
materials when you acquire/collect digital materials? • Yes • No Do you distinguish any of the following when
managing digital collections? •
Materials for which your organization holds copyright •
Materials in the public domain •
Materials under the copyright protection of another entity •
Materials of unknown copyright status Thank you very much for your response to the NEDCC
survey! Your participation in this effort is much
appreciated. Shannon O'Brien Associate TDC Phone: (617) 728-9151 Fax: (617) 728-9138 |