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Government of Canada Publications – it’s about access, not format
[Editor's note: my Canadian colleague Amanda Wakaruk, government information librarian at the University of Alberta asked me to post the following. Please direct questions and/or interest in partnership to her at amanda.wakaruk AT ualberta DOT ca. JRJ] On Friday the Depository Services Program of Canada (DSP) announced that, by 2014, it would, “no longer be producing, printing, or warehousing hard copies of publications.” (The announcement was distributed on INFODEP, a list for depository libraries, and appended to this post). The Library of Parliament will stop distributing paper publications with the end of September’s session. Library and Archives Canada will stop obtaining Government of Canada (GOC) publications in print format by 2014. Many GOC agencies have moved exclusively to born digital publishing. For those of us on the privileged side of the digital divide, the main problem with the transition to digital is not format, it’s the absence of any comprehensive GOC policy on digital integrity, preservation, and long-term access. To make matters worse, the intellectual organization and capital of the GOC information landscape is increasingly fractured through policy decisions including, but not limited to, government cutbacks. For example, Statistics Canada moved away from the DSP’s e-archive to mount their own. Implementation of the Common Look and Feel for the Internet website standard removed countless publications in pdf and also access to several databases (including library catalogues) from GOC web sites – it’s unlikely that many of these were captured by the DSP or other e-archive services. Federal departmental libraries have been in quiet decline for years. CISTI was decimated (70% budget cut), multiple libraries closed (most recently HRSDC), staff reductions have touched practically every agency, and I've been told that librarians are being replaced with less-expensive and precariously employed support staff. As an academic librarian, I’ve lost a good portion of an important referral network of experienced, knowledgeable colleagues. And, because of this, my clients – who are important assessors of our governing bodies – are underserved. Transitions like this one require an influx of professional knowledge and action. At the moment, this means starting a discussion to establish a Canadian federal government LOCKSS PLN similar to the USDOCS LOCKSS PLN partnership between the US GPO and academic institutions. Let me know if you are interested in partnering on this project. Better yet, attend the CLA Government Information Network meeting in Ottawa (May 31) – it will be on the agenda. Amanda Wakaruk, MLIS, MES Government Information Librarian Liaison Librarian, British History Humanities and Social Sciences Library University of Alberta amanda.wakaruk@ualberta.ca
From: infodep@lists.canada.gc.ca On Behalf Of Publications Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 12:33 PM Subject: infodep DSP Important Notice/PSD Avis important Notification of Deficit Reduction Action Plan Implications for PWGSC's Depository Services Program Dear Sir or Madam, Further to the 2012 Budget, tabled on March 29, 2012, this is to advise you of a decision that affects the business relationship between Public Works and Government Services Canada Publishing and Depository Services Program, and your organization. As part of the Deficit Reduction Action Plan, the decision has been made to completely transition all publications published by the Publishing Program and publications provided by departments to the Depository Services Program from traditional print to exclusively electronic publications. This aligns with the Government of Canada's greening government initiatives. This also aligns directly with Canadians' increasing access to electronic information and use of e-publications. Recent statistics from publications.gc.ca show a significant increase in the number of unique visitors to the site which was close to 2.2 Million and the number of downloads close to 10 Million annually. The resulting demand for paper publications has greatly declined. This decline is expected to continue as the trend towards the use of the Internet to access publications increases. By fully transitioning to free web-based publications we will eliminate the costs associated with producing, printing, distributing and warehousing hard copies. In 2014, Publishing and Depository Services will no longer be producing, printing, or warehousing hard copies of publications. However the Depository Services Program will continue to provide access to Government of Canada publications through publications.gc.ca. Other services under the Publishing and Depository Services Program remain as they are. Please be assured of our utmost co-operation in limiting the impact of this decision on your operations and in continuing to offer a high-quality service. Thank you for your understanding and continued co-operation. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to communicate with us at: publications@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.Continue reading
Crazy born digital content
One of the best things that could happen for digital preservation is for producers of digital content to understand that they need to produce preservable content. If producers and publishers created digital content in neutral, preservable formats, we would not have to spin our wheels with the Sisyphean task of constantly trying to fix un-preservable content with techniques such as emulation and format migration. For publishers (and of course this includes government agencies) to create preservable content, they would have to understand that their essential role in the information lifecyle includes creating information that is preservable -- not just instantaneously deliverable in the short-term. Although there are efforts to develop this understanding and to create appropriate formats and processes, most born-digital information seems to be generated with only the most short-term utility in mind. A lot of born digital content is badly-formed and uses non-standard, proprietary, and closed formats. All that brings me to this example of what looks to be shoddy content creation.
- 2011 U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Annual Report On Intellectual Property Enforcement. U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, March 2012.
In June 2010, the Administration, through the IPEC‘s Joint Strategic Plan, emphasized the protection and enforcement of U S intellectual property rights These rights drive the economy, create jobs for American workers, promote innovation, and secure America’s position as the world’s leader for creativity and ingenuity The 2011 Annual Report provides an illustration of the coordinated efforts that the U S Government is undertaking to address the challenges of enforcing intellectual property of U S rightholders abroad, securing supply chains, pursuing sources of counterfeit and pirated goods, and meeting the challenges posed by emerging criminal trends such as the online sales of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, economic espionage, and targeted theft of trade secretsThis is probably just some odd, unique production mistake. But that is the point: When an agency cannot even take the time to make sure its born digital text has periods at the end of sentences, how can we expect agencies to produce digital content that conforms to preservation technology requirements? There is a lot of work to be done before we can ensure the public that we can preserve digital government information! (Hat tip to Mike Masnick who, in a highly critical review of the report, says, with tongue in cheek, that the reason the report "seems to do away with the grammatical icon known as 'the period' at the end of sentences" might be that the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator found it "too expensive to license.") Continue reading
Profile of Mike Wash
The Library of Congress Digital Preservation blog The Signal has a brief biographical portrait of Mike Wash who was chief technical officer at GPO and is now chief information officer of the National Archives and Record Administration.
- Digital Pioneer: Mike Wash, by Mike Ashenfelder, The Signal (December 21st, 2011).
The best way to preserve digital content…
Here is an interesting article that examines the use of criminal digital forensic tools to discover and repair corrupted digital information in digital archives, but there is another story here as well. Although the title doesn't tell you this, Fox actually looks at two alternatives for digital preservation: digital forensics and what he calls "the buddy system."
- Fox, Robert, Forensics of Digital Librarianship, OCLC Systems & Services, 27 (2011), 264-271
Studies over the last decade have indicated that digital preservation is most successful when the information "is best preserved by replicating it at multiple archives run by autonomous organizations".... These concepts have been in place for almost ten years, but it has only been in the last four-to-five years that libraries have attempted to preserve anything beyond e-journal content using P2P network systems. [emphasis added]Continue reading
The oxymoron of digital preservation
February 21, 2012 / 1 Comment on The oxymoron of digital preservation
This story is making it around the interwebs/twitterverse today. Brainpicker, a wonderful blog, posted a story today about digital preservation in the film industry -- "The future for digital storage is constant migration.". While focusing on independent filmmakers and nonprofit archives, it's worthwhile to do a find-and-replace "film" with "government documents" and "filmmakers" with "government information (nee documents) librarians." Digital preservation takes collaboration and long-term vision. period!
[HT to Brainpicker!] Continue reading →Continue Reading →