Category: conferences

David Millman, Associate Dean for Technology and CIO New York University Libraries, presented a project update as part of the Lightning Round at the CNI Spring Member Meeting, April 3 – 4, 2023 in Denver Colorado.

View the presentation HERE.

Abstract: This briefing will provide an update on a project focused on the preservation of complex, non-traditional forms of publication, such as those with embedded audio or video, data visualizations, non-linear modes of navigation, and more. The Embedding Preservability for New Forms of Scholarship project builds off of an earlier project called Enhancing Services to Preserve New Forms of Scholarship. Both projects were funded by the Mellon Foundation and led by NYU Libraries. The initial project reviewed book-length publications already published to determine whether they could currently be preserved using a scalable workflow. This resulted in a set of 68 recommendations designed to guide publishers to create digital publications that are more likely to be preserved. The current, second project embeds a small team of preservation experts into publisher workflows and works with publishers and platform developers to test and refine the recommendations from the earlier project. The embedded team includes representatives from NYU Libraries, LOCKSS, Portico, and the University of Michigan Libraries. The presenter will: briefly introduce the two projects and the resulting recommendations from the earlier project; describe their approach to embedding preservationists with publishers (Amherst College Press, British Archaeological Reports, American Psychological Association, University of British Columbia Press, University of Michigan Press, Arte Público Press, and University of Minnesota Press) and platforms (Manifold, Fulcrum, PubPub, and RavenSpace) as they support the creation of complex publications; and summarize some of the initial observations emerging from this process – specifically the challenges to date, and what the evidence is indicating could be useful in terms of tools and the next iteration of the recommendations. 

Karen Hanson and Deb Verhoff present findings from Enhancing Services to Preserve New Forms of Scholarship as part of the Innovation track on Wednesday, September 14th. 

Abstract: The advance in technologies for publishing digital scholarship has outpaced the development of technologies for reliably preserving it. Authors and publishers are creating increasingly sophisticated products without realizing that some of their enhancement choices might put preservability–and valuable scholarship–at risk. In a project funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and led by NYU Libraries, a group of digital preservation institutions, libraries, and university presses collaborated to study examples of these dynamic forms of scholarship to determine they could be preserved in their current form and whether it would be possible to do this at scale. This paper will provide a summary of this project and key themes that could impact preservation of enhanced scholarly works.

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In addition, Karen Hanson will represent the Embedding Preservability project as part of a panel discussion that asks the question: How can bringing together the workflows of publishing and preservation lead to better, longer-term solutions that benefit both?: A panel with COPIM Work Package 7, the Embedding Preservability in New Forms of Scholarship Project (NYU), and Project JASPER

Abstract: Rather than preservation and archiving being an afterthought for digitally published works, research is being done to explore how the concepts, processes, and requirements of preservation can be embedded into publishing, especially OA publishing. How might this be integrated further, and what benefits might extend to academics and researchers themselves? Often the difficulties or challenges of preservation result from scholarly research being generated and published without a preservation policy in mind, which can result in the knowledge becoming lost. This has a particularly emphasised effect upon smaller and scholar-led presses, who often do not have the inbuilt resilience typically provided by either a large business model or a memory institution, which can allow for archiving and preservation to occur procedurally. Our panel will consider the workflows involved, potential solutions, and what additional engagement may be necessary to increase awareness among publishers and researchers. COPIM’s Work Package 7 engages with complex digital OA monographs and the scholar-led publishing community. The Mellon-funded Embedding Preservability in New Forms of Scholarship project (NYU) embeds digital preservation experts with publishers from the beginning of the publishing process to help them to make choices that result in publications, including very complex ones, that can be preserved at scale. And Project JASPER works with small, independent OA journals to facilitate preservation.

Embedding Team Members and Publisher Partners Host a Collaboration Lab at AUPresses Annual Meeting

Scholars are using increasingly diverse digital technologies to express their research. Publishers, in turn, are working to evolve their platforms and services to support publications that integrate dynamic features such as data visualizations, multimedia, maps, and more. In this effort to keep up with the creative demands of scholars, publications may evolve in ways that present a serious challenge to preserving or even sustaining them in the long term.

In a project funded by Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and led by NYU Libraries, a group of digital preservation institutions, libraries, and university presses collaborated to study examples of these dynamic forms of scholarship. The project, Enhancing Services to Preserve New Forms of Scholarship, resulted in a set of guidelines that will help publishers, platform developers, and digitally-oriented scholars make their work more preservable. In this collaboration lab, project team members from NYU Libraries, Portico, Michigan Publishing, and the University of Minnesota Press will present the guidelines and discuss their experiences with preserving complex digital books. The group will then facilitate a discussion among attendees about preservability of digital publishing at university presses.

Facilitators: Daniel Ochsner, University of Minnesota Press; Karen Hanson, Portico; Jeremy Morse, Michigan Publishing; Angela Spinazzè, ATSPIN consulting