EPrints should be reconsidered as preservation-aware repository
software, according to a recommendation in the final report from the
JISC-funded Preserv project
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/preservation/preserv-final-report1.0.pdf
This follows the addition of preservation support features in EPrints
version 3, the latest release, including
1 A history module to record changes to an object and actions
performed on an object
2 METS/DIDL plugins to package and disseminate data for delivery to
external preservation services
http://wiki.eprints.org/w/Preservation_Support
The significance of this became apparent when reading about the
migration from EPrints to a Fez-based repository at the University of
Queensland. Among the features Fez was developed to provide is an
"audit trail data for Actors and Events", c.f. the history module in EPrints.
Fez has also "integrated the work of the Automatic Obsolescence
Notification System (AONS) although this has not yet been released
with a Fez distribution, pending further testing, documentation and packaging."
Obsolescence notification involves a number of stages: format ID,
technology watch and preservation planning, the latter advising what
to do for formats identified to be at-risk. To implement this
requires expert services that are external to the repository. AONS,
an APSR project in Australia, uses preservation information about
file formats taken from PRONOM, developed by The National Archives in
the UK. This is just the first stage in obsolescence notification.
The AONS approach is designed to work primarily with DSpace
repositories, although in general terms the work is examining the
interface between repository software and registries such as PRONOM.
Preserv put format ID based on PRONOM into the Registry of Open
Access Repositories (ROAR)
http://trac.eprints.org/projects/iar/wiki/Profile
PRONOM-ROAR covers many more repositories for format ID (currently
EPrints and DSpace repositories only
http://trac.eprints.org/projects/iar/wiki/Profile#RepositorySupport)
than will be possible through Fez
Is it worth migrating to new repository software to support
preservation? If the repository preservation services envisaged in
Preserv are realised, then repository softwares are likely converge
on features to support and interface with these services, just as we
can see happening already with EPrints and Fez. Against proven
software with a responsive development cycle, for most users the case
for switching probably needs to be more compelling.
See also
Introducing EPrints 3 http://www.eprints.org/software/v3/
Migrating eprints.org data to a Fez repository, 2007-03-6
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view.php?pid=UQ:12868
AONS System Documentation, September 2006
http://www.apsr.edu.au/publications/aons_report.pdf
Steve Hitchcock
Preserv Project Manager
IAM Group, School of Electronics and Computer Science
University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 7698 Fax: +44 (0)23 8059 2865
http://preserv.eprints.org/
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