Preservation of Web Resources: Making a Start

University of Bath : Case StudyLizzie Richmond and Alison Wildish - University of Bath

Web Specialist

University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Lizzie Richmond

Head of Web ServicesAlison Wildish

•Archivist

•Background in collection cataloguing and archival administration and conservation

•Paper environment

•Responsible to the archives – keep them safe and accessible for the future

•Web specialist

•Background in information technology, web design and development, communication and marketing

•Digital environment

•Responsible to the user – keep things up to date and useful

Marieke Guy and Brian Kelly (UKOLN):

We’re doing these workshops on Web Preservation and

wondered if you’d be willing to give us a case study about the approach from the University of

Bath…

“

“

”

GULP

Alison Wildish and Lizzie Richmond (University of Bath):

Initial thoughts…

University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator

Oh no… not this again!

Why me? This sounds technical… I’m a paper person

I have enough trouble trying to preserve hard copy records without having to worry about the web

I can see the value in theory, but in practice it’s too huge

I guess it might be a good idea, but no one much cares what I think

I am interested though…

Now

and t

he p

ast

Web Specialist

Head of Web Services

EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!

In all honesty it isn’t interesting to me…

We struggle to keep the site current – never mind thinking about preserving the old stuff

I am future watching… need to know what to bring in not how to keep hold of the past

Why is it something I should think about now?

I’m not really that interested

Now

and t

he f

utu

re

Case Study…

The Prospectus

Why the prospectus?

• Practice makes perfect

• Starting small = less daunting

• Everyone has one

• There’s strong demand for digital

• Raises wide web preservation issues

We already have lots in the archives…

1953

1960

1965

1966

1968

1970

1976

1982

1985

1991

1994

1999

2001

2004

2008

Why preserve? What value?

• Over 50 years of institutional history

• Rise of the logo

• Dominance of design

• From stuffiness to street cred

• Competitive market

• Contextually valuable

And this is just a ‘snapshot’…

With more and more moving to

the web what will we have in 50

years?

Implications for online…Past

Print Web

Web Print

Pre

sent

/ Fu

ture

The record The publication

We are doing some things…

Version controlled information:• Developing an online prospectus• CMS• Wiki

However:• Systems could change? • How much would we migrate?

?

Core course content

Latest publications (feed)

NSS data (feed) ?

Student reviews (feed) ?

Department news (feed) ?

A typical record - online course

What could that tell us?

• How additional data sources affected our recruitment?

• Picture of the current climate (our research, what we were doing, how students rated the course)

• What was important to the University?

Interesting…but do we need

this?

Yes!

• Publication and record• Good information management =

good management• Our past helps inform our future• WWW.witness• Integral to corporate continuity• Preservation to track progress• Institutional heritage

• File formats may change• Equipment may change – do we keep

a paper copy of web pages too?

• Resource implications – file storage

• Who’s responsibility?

Considerations…

Web Specialist

University Archivist, Records Manager and FOI Co-ordinator Lizzie Richmond

Head of Web ServicesAlison Wildish

•Better informed about differences between printed and web records and their implications

•Recognition that web preservation should be addressed to avoid gap in University history

•This is worth doing•There’s a lot to think about•We’ll need to work together to succeed•We need a strategy because:

- its important at an institutional level- consistency of approach will be crucial- the line between publication and record is blurred

What have we learned?

• What do we need to preserve?

• How can we preserve this?

• Set realistic expectations

Steps forward…

Thank youAny questions?