Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation: An NDSA Report

8/13/2019 Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation: An NDSA Report

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STAFFINGFOREFFECTIVEDIGITAL

PRESERVATIONAN

NDSA

REPORT

December

2013

ResultsofaSurveyofOrganizationsPreservingDigital

Content

Authors

WinstonAtkins,DukeUniversityLibraries

AndreaGoethals,HarvardLibrary

CarolKussmann,MinnesotaStateArchives

MegPhillips,NationalArchivesandRecordsAdministration

MaryVardigan,InteruniversityConsortiumforPoliticalandSocialResearch(ICPSR)

RepresentingtheNDSAStandardsandPracticesWorkingGroup


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StaffingforEffectiveDigitalPreservation

Contents EXECUTIVESUMMARY......................................................................................................... 2ABOUTTHENATIONALDIGITALSTEWARDSHIPALLIANCE .................................................. 2INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 3METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 3

The Data Files............................................................................................................................................4The Survey Codebook.............................................................................................................................4

SURVEYCONTENT................................................................................................................ 5FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................. 5

Background Information ..........................................................................................................................6Digital Content ..........................................................................................................................................7Digital Preservation Activities ................................................................................................................9Digital Preservation Organization and Staffing.............................................................................13Staff Qualifications and Training....................................................................................................... 16Comments about Digital Preservation Program Staffing and Organization............................. 18

ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................... 19RELATEDWORK ................................................................................................................. 21NEXTSTEPS........................................................................................................................ 22CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 22REFERENCES....................................................................................................................... 23APPENDIXA SURVEYQUESTIONS................................................................................... 24APPENDIXBPOSTER:IPRES2012ATTHEUNIVERSITYOFTORONTO ............................. 26

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Persistent URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gdc/lcpub.2013655113.1

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/


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EXECUTIVESUMMARY

In2012theNationalDigitalStewardshipAlliance(NDSA)StandardsandPracticesWorkingGroupsurveyed

85institutionswithamandatetopreservedigitalcontenttoinvestigatehowsuchorganizationsstaffedand

organizedtheirpreservationfunctions.Itwasfoundthatformostorganizationssurveyed,therewasno

dedicateddigital

preservation

department

to

take

the

lead

in

this

area

so

preservation

tasks

fell

to

alibrary,

archive,orotherdepartment.Closetohalfofrespondentsthoughtthatthedigitalpreservationfunctionin

theirorganizationswaswellorganized,butathirdwerenotsatisfiedandmanywereunsure.

Addressingstaffinglevels,organizationsexpressedapreferencetohavealmosttwicethenumberoffull

timeequivalents(FTEs)thattheycurrentlyhad.Whilethesurveyshowedthatmostorganizationswere

retrainingexistingstafftomanagedigitalpreservationfunctions,questionswerealsoaskedaboutdesired

qualifications fornewdigitalpreservationmanagers.Havingapassionandmotivationfordigital

preservationandaknowledgeofdigitalpreservationstandards,bestpractices,andtoolswereconsidered

themostsoughtafterskills.

Otherfindings

from

the

survey

showed

that

most

organizations

expected

the

size

of

their

holdings

to

increasesubstantiallyinthenextyearwith20%expectingadoublingofcontent.Imagesandtextfileswere

themostcommontypesofcontentbeingpreserved.Mostorganizationswereperformingthemajorityof

digitalpreservationactivitiesinhousebutmanyoutsourcedsomeactivities(digitizationwasthemost

common)andwerehopingtooutsourcemore.

Thesurveyprovidessomeusefulbaselinedataaboutstaffingneeds,andtheNDSAStandardsandPractices

WorkingGrouprecommendsthatthesurveyberepeatedintwotothreeyearstoshowchangeovertime

asdigitalpreservationprogramsmatureandasmoreorganizationsselfidentifyasbeingengagedindigital

preservation.

ABOUTTHENATIONALDIGITALSTEWARDSHIPALLIANCE

Foundedin2010,theNationalDigitalStewardshipAlliance(NDSA)isaconsortiumofinstitutionsthatare

committedtothelongtermpreservationofdigitalinformation.NDSAsmissionistoestablish,maintain,

andadvancethecapacitytopreserveournationsdigitalresourcesforthebenefitofpresentandfuture

generations.NDSAmemberinstitutionsrepresentallsectors,andincludeuniversities,consortia,

professionalassociations,commercialenterprises,andgovernmentagenciesatthefederal,state,andlocal

levels.

MoreinformationabouttheNDSAisavailablefromhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/ .
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/


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INTRODUCTION

Organizationsestablishingorscalingupdigitalpreservationprogramsarefacedwithmanystaffing,scoping

andorganizationaldecisions.Howmanystaffareneededandwhatkindsofskills,educationandexperience

shouldtheyhave?Whattypesofpositionsshouldtheinstitutioncreate?Shouldithirenewstafforretrain

existingstaff?Andhowshouldthepreservationprogrambescoped thatis,whatfunctionsshouldbe

includeddirectlyintheprogram,providedbyotherpartsoftheorganization,outsourced,orimplemented

throughcollaborationwithotherorganizations?Whatorganizationalandstaffingmodelsworkwell?

SeveralmembersoftheNationalDigitalStewardshipAlliance(NDSA)Standards&Practicesworkinggroup

discoveredthattheysharedacommoninterestinknowinghoworganizationswerestaffingandorganizing

digitalpreservationprogramssothattheycouldusetheinformationtoimprovetheirownprogramsand

werewillingtoworktogetheronasurvey.Thegroupbelievedthattheinformationwouldbevaluablenot

onlytoitsownmembers,butalsotothebroaderNDSAanddigitalpreservationcommunities.

ThePreservationStaffingSurvey,conductedbymembersoftheNDSAStandards&Practicesworking

group,was

designed

to

shed

light

on

how

organizations

responsible

for

digital

preservation

are

addressing

thesestaffing,scopingandorganizationalquestions.

METHODOLOGY

Todeterminesomeoftheapproachesorganizationsusedtostaffandorganizedigitalpreservation

programs,anadhocworkinggroupformedtodevelopandadministerasurvey.Overthecourseoftwo

monthsinthespringof2012,theworkinggroupmemberscollaboratedusingGoogledocstodraftthe

surveyquestions.ThesurveywasthentransferredtoQualtrics1,awebbasedsurveytoolsubscribedtoby

HarvardUniversity,anNDSAmember.Qualtricsprovidedtheabilitytopublishpreviewsofsurveys,so

workinggroup

members

were

able

to

review

and

provide

additional

feedback

on

the

look

and

behavior

of

thesurveyasitwouldappeartoapersonfillingoutthesurvey.

ThestaffingsurveywasannouncedinlateJune2012throughmultiplenationalandinternationalmailing

listsassociatedwithdigitalpreservationandremainedopenthroughthebeginningofSeptember.Itwas

opentoanyinstitutionchoosingtorespond.Thesurveywasstarted131timesandcompleted85timesfor

a65%completionrate.ResultswereanalyzedusingtheQualtricssoftwareduringSeptember2012and

werepresentedaschartsandgraphsonaposteratiPRES2012inTorontoamonthlater(SeeAppendixB).

Tomorewidelysharethedatafiles2inorderforotherstorevieworextendourfindings,itwasdecidedto

makethemavailablethroughtheInteruniversityConsortiumforPoliticalandSocialResearch(ICPSR),a

digitalrepository

that

archives

social

and

behavioral

science

data.

The

process

involved

exporting

data

out

ofQualtricsandcreatingacodebookdocumentingthesurveydata.Sincethisprojectwasconductedunder

1Qualtrics.Qualtrics.com|SophisticatedResearchMadeSimple.http://www.qualtrics.com.AccessedSeptember26,2013.2NationalDigitalStewardshipAlliance(NSDA).StandardsandPracticesWorkingGroup. SurveyofStaffingPracticesand

NeedsRelatedtoDigitalPreservation,2012.ICPSR34901v1.AnnArbor,MI:InteruniversityConsortiumforPoliticaland

SocialResearch[distributor],20131001.doi:10.3886/ICPSR34901.v1.
http://www.qualtrics.com/http://www.qualtrics.com/


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theauspicesoftheNDSA,theteamfeltitwasimportanttodemonstrateacommitmenttodigital

preservationbyproperlyarchivingitsowndata.Detailsaboutthedatafilesandresultingcodebookare

providedbelow.

The Data Files

TheQualtricssoftwareprovidedseveraloptionsforexportingthesurveyresponsedata,includingoptions

forexcludingresponsesthatcouldrevealrespondentsidentities.Usingthisfeature,weexcludedresponses

forQuestions2,21,and22.3Afterexaminingtheexporteddata,weexcludedresponsesfortwoadditional

questionsbecausetheycontainedinformationthatcouldbeusedtoidentifytherespondents

organizations: IPaddress(automatically suppliedbyQualtrics),andQuestion13.

Wechosetodepositthedataintwoformats:CSVandSAV,whichisaformatcompatiblewithSPSS.4

The

CSVformatprovidesreadyaccesstothedataanddoesnotrequirespecializedsoftware.TheSPSS

compatibleformatcontainedmorerobustmetadata,whichwefeltcouldbeuseful.

Anadditionaldecisiontomakewaswhichsetofresponsestodepositthoseinwhicharespondent

reached

the

final

page

and

hit

the

Submit

button

(85

responses),

or

the

larger

set

of

all

surveys

that

were

begun,whetherornottherespondentsubmittedtheresponses(131responses).Wedecidedtoincludeall

theresponsesinthearchiveddata,whetherornottherespondentcompletedthesurvey,althoughonly

thecompletedresponseswereincludedinthesurveyanalysisdescribedinthispaper.

TheInteruniversityConsortiumforPoliticalandSocialResearchsGuidetoSocialScienceDataPreparation

andArchiving5helpedustoassemblethenecessarydocumentationforthesurvey.WealsousedICPSRs

guidelinesonfileformatstodecidewhichformatswewouldusetodepositthedataandthecodebook.6

The Survey Codebook

Thecodebookestablishesthecontextforthesurveyanditsresponses.Itassumesthatfutureuserswill

havenopriorknowledgeofthesurveyoritsdata,somuchofoureffortwentintoensuringthatthe

SummaryandScopeofSurveysectionconveyedtheworkinggroupsmissionandthesurveygoals,and

providedanoverviewofourapproachtoinvitingresponses.Thecodebookalsodocumentsthefulltextof

eachquestion,thequestionslocationinthetableofresponses,thepossibleresponses,andtheformatsin

whichresponsescouldbeentered.Inaddition,wecreatedanadditionalreportusingSPSSsCodebook

reportutility.

3ThecompletesurveyisincludedinAppendixA.4

SPSSstatistical

software:

http://www

01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/.

Accessed

September

26,

2013.

5InteruniversityConsortiumforPoliticalandSocialResearch(ICPSR).GuidetoSocialScienceDataPreparationand

Archiving:BestPracticesThroughouttheDataLifeCycle.5th

Edition.AnnArbor,MI:InteruniversityConsortiumforPolitical

andSocialResearch.http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/deposit/guide/.AccessedAugust28,2013.6Acodebookisadocumentthatprovidesinformationonthestructure,contents,andlayoutofadatafile.

http://www.ddialliance.org/bp/definition.AccessedAugust28,2013.
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www.ddialliance.org/bp/definitionshttp://www.ddialliance.org/bp/definitionshttp://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/


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Ifarespondenteitherquitthesurveyorchosenottoansweraquestion,thatdecisionwasrecordedwith

anemptycellorthevalue99.Anemptycelltypicallymeantthatthequestionwasformattedfortext

inputwhilethevalue99indicatedthattheunansweredquestionwasseenbutnotansweredand

formattedforanumericresponse.

SURVEYCONTENT

Thesurveyposedaseriesofquestionsrelatedtothenatureoftheinstitutionpreservingcontent,thescope

ofthedigitalpreservationprogram,andthenumberandtypesofpositionsresponsibleforcarryingout

digitalpreservationwork.Italsosolicitedinformationabouttheorganizationalstructureoftheprogram:

whethertherewasadedicateddigitalpreservationdepartment,andifnot,whethertheresponsibilityfor

thisworkwascentralizedinanotherdepartmentordecentralizedinotherpartsoftheinstitution.The

surveyalsoqueriedrespondentsaboutwhichfunctionswereperformedinhouseandwhichwere

outsourced,andwhatthefutureplansforthesefunctionswere.Finally,tolearnmoreaboutnotjusthow

organizationswereapproachingdigitalpreservationbutwhichapproacheswereperceivedasworkingwell,

thesurveyprobedforwhethertheinstitutionwassatisfiedwiththecurrentorganizationalstructure

aroundpreservation.

There

was

also

an

option

in

the

survey

to

reference

or

send

related

organizational

chartsorpositiondescriptions.

FINDINGS

Thissectionofthereportincludesthetextoftheoriginalquestionsclusteredintorelatedthemes,a

presentationoftheresultsforeachquestion,andashortdiscussionoftheimplicationsoftheresults.A

longerdiscussionofthelargerpictureofdigitalpreservationstaffingprovidedbythesurveyfollowsinthe

Analysissection.

Themajor

themes

are:

BackgroundInformation DigitalContent DigitalPreservationActivities DigitalPreservationOrganizationandStaffing StaffQualificationsandTraining CommentsaboutDigitalPreservationProgramStaffingandOrganization

Sinceamajorgoalofthesurveywasfindingouthowrepositorieswithdifferentcharacteristicswere

currentlystaffed,whethertheyweresatisfiedwiththeircurrentstaffing,andwhattheywouldliketheir

staffingmodeltolooklikeinthefuture,questionsfoundinseveralofthesectionscoverbothwhatwe

haveandwhatwewant.Forexample,boththeDigitalPreservationOrganizationandStaffingand


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Figure

1:

Types

of

organizations

represented

by

respondents

Digital Content

Additionalquestionsdesignedtoelicitinformationaboutthescopeofpreservationeffortsfocusedonthe

amountofdigitalcontenteachorganizationwaspreservingandexpectedtobepreservinginthenear

future.

Q6 Howmuchonlineorofflinestoragespaceareyouusingforyourdigitalcontent,notincluding

backupcopies?

Q7 Whatdoyouexpectthepercentofgrowthtobeofyourpreserveddigitalcontentoverthe

nextyear?Pleaseenteranumberrepresentingapercentage.

Q8 Roughlyhowmuchofeachareyoupreservingintermsofnumberoffiles?(None,alittle,

some,alot)

Surveyresults(seeFigure2)showthatoverhalfoftherespondents(59%)werepreserving150TBof

digitalcontent;32%werepreserving51500TB;asmallnumber(4%)werepreservingover500TB;anda

smallnumberofrespondentswerenotyetpreservingdigitalcontentorwerepreservingover500TB.

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Figure2:Amountofcontentorganizationswerepreserving

Whileitisimportantininterpretingthesurveyresultstoknowtheamountofcontentorganizationswere

preserving,itisalsoimportanttoknowtheamountofcontentgrowththeywereexpectinginthenear

future.Thesurvey(Q7)askedforanestimateofthepercentgrowthofpreserveddigitalcontentexpected

overthenextyear.AsshowninFigure3,68%expecteduptoa49%contentincrease,12%expecteda50

99%contentincrease,and20%expectedatleasta100%contentincrease(atleastadoublingofcontent).

Ofthoseexpectingcontenttoatleastdouble,mostorganizations(76%)held150TBofcontent.

Figure3:Expectedpercentgrowthinpreservedcontent


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Itisalsohelpfultounderstandthetypesandvarietyofdigitalformatsorganizationswerepreserving.The

surveyaskedrespondentstospecifyandroughlyquantifytheformatstheywerepreserving(Q8).The

qualitativeresponseoptions(Alot,some,alittle,none)werechosentoelicittheoveralldominanceof

typesofcontentwithineachcollection,regardlessofthesizeofthecollectionortheexactnumberoffiles

orpercentageofstoragespaceusedforeach.Figure4showstheresultsbyresponsecount.Imagesand

textdocumentsmadeupthemajorityofdigitalfilesbeingpreserved;however,otherformatssuchasaudio

andvideo,

data

sets,

and

GIS

data

collectively

made

up

alarge

collection

of

digital

content

that

must

be

managedbytherespondingorganizations.

Figure4:Typesofcontentbyresponsecount(multipleitemscouldbeselectedbyeachrespondent)

Digital Preservation Activities

Tounderstandhoworganizationsdefineddigitalpreservationandhowtheymanagedthesefunctions,the

surveyaskedquestionsaboutparticipationincooperativeefforts,thetypesofactivitiesrespondents

consideredinscopefordigitalpreservation,andwhichoftheseweredoneinhouseoroutsourced.

Q9 Doyouparticipateinanydigitalpreservationconsortialorcooperativeefforts?

Q10 Whichoftheseactivitiesareconsideredpartofthescopeofthedigitalpreservationfunction

atyour

organization,

whether

or

not

you

have

implemented

this

activity

yet?

Check

all

that

apply.

Q11 Whichoftheseactivitiesareyoucurrentlydoinginhouseand/oroutsourcing?Ifyouhavent

implementedanactivityyet,leaveitunchecked.

Q12 Whichoftheseactivitieswouldyouliketooutsource?Alsoincludeanyactivitiesthatyouare

alreadyoutsourcingandwouldliketocontinueoutsourcing.

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Thesurveyaskedrespondentsaboutwhatactivitieseachorganizationconsideredpartofdigital

preservationwithintheirorganization(Q10).Choicesincluded:

Selectionforpreservation Digitization Metadatacreation/extraction Descriptivecataloging Transformation/migrationofformats Creationofaccesscopies Normalizationoffiles Fixitychecks Fileformatidentification Fileformatvalidation Emulation Contentreplication Securestoragemanagement Technologywatch Developmentandmaintenanceoftools Preservationplanning Developmentofpreservationpoliciesandstrategy Developmentofguidelinesforcontentcreators Research Preservationeducation,trainingandoutreach

Figure5:Inscopedigitalpreservationactivities


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Figure5showsthateverythingonthelistwasinscopeforoverhalfoftherespondentswiththeexception

ofemulation,whichwasonlyinscopefor22%.Thisdemonstratesthecomplexityofdigitalpreservation

anditsmultifacetednature,underscoringthefactthatavarietyofskillsareneededtoaddressdigital

preservationissues.

WhileQ10askedwhichactivitiesrespondentsconsideredtobepartofdigitalpreservation,afollowup

question

(Q11)

asked

respondents

which

of

these

activities

were

currently

being

done

in

house

or

outsourced(notethatrespondentswereonlypresentedwiththeoptionsthattheyselectedinQ10aspart

ofthedigitalpreservationscopeattheirinstitutions).

Figure6:Percentofdigitalpreservationactivitiesdoneinhouseandoutsourced

AsFigure6shows,themajorityofdigitalpreservationfunctionswerebeingdoneinhouse.Wherethese

functionswereinscopefordigitalpreservationatrespondentsinstitutions,100%wereconducting

preservationplanning,developingguidelinesforcontentcreators,andmakingselectionsforpreservation

inhouse.Over90%werealsoconductingthesefunctionsinhouse:developingpreservationpoliciesand

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strategies;fileformatidentification,validationandnormalization; descriptivecataloging;preservation

education,trainingandoutreach;andtechnologywatches.

Notsurprisingly,thehighestfunctionbeingoutsourcedwasdigitization(37%),although63%werealso

doingitinhouse.Otherfunctionsoutsourcedbymorethan15%oftherespondentsforthisquestion

includedsecurestoragemanagement(22%),creationofaccesscopies(20%),contentreplication(17%),

developmentand

maintenance

of

tools

(17%),

emulation

(17%)

and

metadata

creation/extraction

(16%).

Whenrespondentswereaskedwhichfunctionstheirorganizationswouldliketooutsource(Q12),including

functionsalreadybeingoutsourcedthatwouldcontinuetobeoutsourced,digitization(65%),secure

storagemanagement(43%),fileformatmigration/transformations(34%),metadataextraction(32%),and

thedevelopmentandmaintenanceoftools(29%)wereatthetopofthelist(seeFigure7).Asbefore,

respondentswereonlypresentedwiththeoptionsthattheyselectedinQ10asinscopeforthedigital

preservationfunctionattheirinstitutions.

Figure7:Functionsrespondentswouldliketooutsource

Respondentswerealsoaskediftheyparticipatedindigitalpreservationconsortiaorothercooperative

efforts(Q9).Thisresponsewasa54%/46%yes/nosplit.Thosewhoansweredyeswereaskedtolistthe

nameoftheconsortiumorcooperative.Answersincludednational,regionalandlocalorganizationssuchas

HathiTrust,LOCKSS,MetaArchive,NDSA/NDIIPP,PeDALS,localdigitallibrariesandmanymore

organizationsandinitiatives.Somewerecontentspecificwhileothersweremoregeneral.


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Q16askedifthewaytheinstitutionsdigitalpreservationfunctionwascurrentlyorganized(staffinglevels,

expertise,wheretheywereplacedwithinthelargerorganization)workedwell.Thegoodnewsisthat43%

agreedorstronglyagreedthatthedigitalpreservationfunctionwithintheirorganizationswaswell

organized;however,asignificantnumber,34%,werenotsatisfiedwithhowthingswereorganized,and

23%wereunsure(answeringNeitherAgreenorDisagree),asshowninFigure9.

Figure9:Levelofagreementthatthedigitalpreservationfunctionwasorganizedwellwithinthe

organization

Tobetter

understand

how

organizations

staffed

themselves

in

regards

to

digital

preservation,

organizations

wereaskedhowmanyfulltimeequivalents(FTEs)theyhadforspecificpositionsorrolesrelatingtodigital

preservationaswellaswhattheiridealnumberofFTEsforeachrolewouldbe.Thedifferencebetween

thesetwovaluesshowshowcurrentstaffinglevelscomparedtorespondentsneeds/wants.

Q15 Foreachofthesepositions,howmanyFTEdoyoucurrentlyhavedoingdigitalpreservationin

yourorganization,andhowmanywouldbeideal?FTEstandsforFulltimeequivalent.Forexample

a1.0FTEcouldmeanonepersonfulltimeor2peoplehalftime;a0.5FTEcouldmeanoneperson

halftimeor2peoplequartertime.Donotincludepeopledoingworkotherthandigital

preservation.Pleaseusewholenumbersordecimalsasappropriate.

Inevaluating

the

responses,

it

was

found

that

organizations

would

like

to

have

almost

twice

as

many

FTEs

astheycurrentlyhadworkingondigitalpreservationactivities.Specificresultsforeachpositionareshown

inFigure10.(Note:Thegraphbelowonlyincludesresponsesforwhichtherewerenoblankanswers.For

example,ifaresponseforcurrentFTEswas2andthefieldforidealFTEswasleftblank,wecouldnot

makeassumptionsregardingwhethertherespondentwashappywiththetwoFTEsandtheidealvalue

shouldbethesameorwhethertherespondentwantedmoreorlesspeople.Similarlyifarespondentfilled


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intheidealFTEsbutleftthecurrentFTEscolumnblank,itwasnotrecordedinthegraphbelow;wecould

notassumeablankanswerwaszero.)

Figure10:Currentvs.idealstaffing

Tolearnabouthowandwherethedigitalpreservationfunctionfitwithinorganizationsuniquestructures,

respondentswereaskedtoshareorganizationalchartsand/orapplicablepositiondescriptions:

Q20 Doyouhaveorganizationalchartsorpositiondescriptionsthatyoudbewillingtoshare?Any

documentsyousharewouldprovidecontexttoyouranswersandwouldbekeptprivatetothe

NDSAStandardsandPracticesWorkingGroupunlessyougiveusexplicitpermissioninthefutureto

sharemore

broadly.

Q21 Iftheyareonline,whataretheURL(S)?Iftheyarenotonline,pleaseemailthis

[email protected]

InresponsetoQ20,sixteenorganizationsindicatedthattheyhadandwerewillingtosharethistypeof

information.InresponsetoQ21,eighteitherprovidedlinksorrespondedthattheywouldsendthe

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information.Thesmallnumberofresponsesmayshowthatthedocumentationofdigitalpreservation

processeshasyettobeformalizedandthatinstitutionsarestilldevelopingtheseastwothirdsofsurvey

respondentswerewillingtosharetheirowncontactinformationforfollowupquestions.

Staff Qualifications and Training

Questions17and18askedforthedesiredqualificationsofdigitalpreservationstaff,andwhether

organizationshirednewstaffwithdigitalpreservationexperienceorretrainedexistingemployeesto

managedigitalpreservationfunctions.

Q17 Forinhousestaff,didyouhireexperienceddigitalpreservationspecialistsand/orretrain

existingstaff?Checkallthatapply.

Q18 Pleaseratetheimportanceofeachoftheseitemsifyouwerehiringanewdigital

preservationmanageratyourorganization.

Figure11:Hiringnewstaffvs.trainingexistingstaff

Understandingthatrespondentscouldselectmorethanoneanswer,wefoundthat75%retrainedexisting

staff,35%hiredexperienceddigitalpreservationspecialists,and21%selectedother(seeFigure11).

Explanationsintheothercategoryincludedhiringnewstaffwithcompetenceorotherexperienceand


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trainingthemondigitalpreservationskills,hiringspecialiststotrainstaff,andjustlearningtherequired

skillsastheprocessesmovedforward.

Giventhechancetohireanewdigitalpreservationmanager,organizationswereaskedtoranktherelative

importanceofskills,knowledgeandeducation.Theycouldberankedasextremelyimportant,very

important,somewhatimportant,somewhatunimportant,veryunimportant,ornotatallimportant.

Apassion

and

motivation

for

digital

preservation

and

knowledge

of

digital

preservation

standards,

best

practicesandtoolswereconsideredthemostsoughtafterskills,followedbygeneralcommunicationand

analyticalskills.Respondentswerelessconcernedwiththespecificdegreesorcertificatespeopleheld.

Figures12and13belowbreakouttheresultsbywhatrespondentsconsideredthemostimportantandthe

leastimportantqualificationsforadigitalpreservationmanager.

Figure12:Mostimportantqualificationsbypercentageofrespondents

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Figure13:Leastimportantqualificationsbypercentageofrespondents

Comments about Digital Preservation Program Staffing and Organization

Togiverespondentsachancetovoicetheiropinion,clarifyresults,orexplaintheirsituations,anopen

endedquestionwasaskedaboutdigitalpreservationprograms.Twentyfiveorganizationsrespondedwith

additionalcomments.

Q19 Isthereanythingelseyoudliketoshareaboutthewayyouthinkaneffectivedigital

preservationprogramshouldbestaffedandorganized?

Collaboration,both

within

an

organization

and

externally,

was

the

most

frequently

discussed

topic.

Many

organizationswerelookingforexamplesfromotherswhohadalreadyaddressedtheissuestheywere

facing.Sharingexperiencescanbeafirststepincollaborating.

Smallerorganizationswilldependoninternalandexternalcollaborations.

Collaborative,multiinstitutionaleffortswillbeincreasinglycosteffectiveascontentdemands

scaleup.

Notsurprisingly,responsesalsoemphasizedtheimportanceofbuyinfromtheentireorganizationand

budgetsustainability.

Thereisagenerallackofunderstandingofthebudgetarydemandsondigitalcollectionsand

preservationthatequal,andusuallyexceed,traditionalcollectiondevelopment.Thelightson

costarerarely,ifever,discussedorbudgeted,thusdigitallibrariesandpreservationstypicallyare

fundedwithleftovers.


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Commentsspecificallyaboutstaffingfocusedonhiringorhavingamainpersoninchargeofdigital

preservationwithwhompeopleperformingdigitalpreservationtaskswouldallwork.Inmanycasesthese

otherpeoplewouldbeinvariousdepartmentsacrosstheorganization.

Idontthinkthisneedstobeabigstaffworkingsolelyondigitalpreservation,buthaveoneperson

fulltimeandthenhavesystemsanddigitalcollectionspeoplecoordinatingwiththatperson.

Otherresponses

focused

on

the

challenges

of

deciding

how

to

organize

staff

as

digital

preservation

programsatorganizationsdevelop.Onerespondentsaidthereisasignificantlydifferentstaffinglevelfor

projectstartupandongoingmaintenance.AnothersaidOurdigitalpreservationeffortsarestillintheir

infancy.Itisthereforequitedifficulttogaugewhatourfuturestaffingneedswillbe.Werecentlyhireda

DigitalPreservationLibrarianandourresponseswouldlikelybequitedifferentoneyearfromnow.Future

staffingneedswilldependonthesystemsandtoolswedecidetoimplement,andthebuyinweareableto

obtainfromadministratorsinsupportofourlongtermgoals.

Theresultingthemesandsimilarityofthecommentsshowthatorganizationsarenotaloneintheir

concernsandchallenges.

ANALYSIS

Overall,theresultsoftheDigitalPreservationStaffingsurveyindicatethatorganizationsaremakingdo

withwhattheyhaveandgenerallythinkthattheirdigitalpreservationprogramsandstaffingareworking

well,buttheyfeeladistinctneedformorepeopletohelpdothework.Itwouldbeinterestingtocompare

thenumberofadditionalpeopledesiredforthedigitalpreservationfunctionwiththeadditionalpeople

desiredforotherfunctionsintheseorganizations.Isdigitalpreservationmoreunderstaffedthanother

functions?Isthepoolofqualifiedapplicantssmaller?Itwasalsointerestingthatrelativelyfew

organizationshadadedicateddigitalpreservationunit.Inmostcases,digitalpreservationwasashared

responsibilityor

was

assigned

to

acustodial

unit

like

alibrary

or

archives

in

alarger

institution.

Therewasaninterestingrelationshipbetweentheresponsestodifferentquestions.Forexample,the

organizationsthatreportedthegreatestanticipatedincreaseinthesizeoftheirholdings(>=50%)overthe

nextyear(Q7)weretheleasthappywiththeircurrentstaffing(Q16)asshowninFigure14.Oneimagines

thattheseorganizationsanticipateasignificantincreaseinworkloadandareconcernedabouthowthey

willdotheworkwithexistingstaff.


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Figure14:Differenceinsatisfactionwithstaffingbetweentheinstitutionsexpectingaveryhighcontent

growthrate

and

all

survey

respondents

[In

response

to

Q16,

which

asked

organizations

to

rank

The

way

ourdigitalpreservationfunctioniscurrentlyorganized(staffinglevels,expertise,wheretheyareplaced

withinthelargerorganization)workswell.]

Thefairlyhighpercentageofrespondentswhoansweredthattheircurrentdigitalpreservation

organizationwasneitherworkingwellnornotworkingwell(i.e.answeredneitheragreenordisagreeto

Q16)begsforfurtherwork.Itislikelythatthisresponsereflectsseveraldifferentsituations:some

organizationsmayhavechosentheoptionsbecausesomethingsworkedwellandothersdidnt,some

becausetheywerentsureyetwhatsuccesslookslike,andsomebecausetheircurrentsituationwas

passable,but

neither

really

good

nor

really

bad.

ItisdifficulttoknowexactlyhowtointerprettheinterrelatedresponsestoQ10,Q11,andQ12.Question10

askedwhetheralonglistoffunctionswasconsideredinscopefordigitalpreservation,andQ11andQ12

askedwhichfunctionsweredoneinhouseoroutsourced,orwhichtheorganizationwouldliketo

outsource.ThephrasingofQ10putthefocusonhowtheorganizationdefinedthedigitalpreservation

function,notwhichofthosefunctionstheyconsideredimportantorwhichtheyperformed.Forexample,in

someorganizations,thecreationofaccesscopiesmightbeconsideredanaccessfunctionratherthana

preservationfunction.Itmighthavebeeninterestingforthesurveytoelicitwhetherthatfunctionwas

doneinhouseoroutsourced,regardlessofwhetherornotitwasconsideredpartofdigitalpreservation.

Theresponsesaboutwhatshouldbedoneinhouseversusoutsourcedhelpindicatewhatareconsidered

corepreservationfunctionsthatmustbetheresponsibilityoftheorganizationitself.Ingeneral,planning

andpolicymakingactivitiesareleastlikelytobeoutsourced;theyareviewedascorefunctionsofthe

organization,whichmakessense.Implementationtasksinvolvedincarryingoutpreservationpoliciesand

plans,whilestilldoneofteninhouse,aremorelikelytobeoutsourcedastheseprocessescanoftenbe

standardizedandperhapsdonemorecheaplybyspecialists.Forexample,thetaskofdigitizationis


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currentlydoneinhousebyover90%ofrespondents,butoutsourcingdigitizationisalsowellaccepted;

outsourcingstoragemanagementisdesiredbyover40%oforganizations.

Theskillsetdesiredforadigitalpreservationmanagerhasinterestingimplicationsfordigitalpreservation

education.Thepersoninchargeofdigitalpreservationataninstitutionshouldbecommittedand

knowledgeableaboutstandards,butmanyoftheirhighlydesiredskillsaretheskillsofanyeffective

manager

and

collaborator.

The

survey

did

not

ask

about

the

desired

skills

for

lower

level

positions;

presumablythemixofmanagerialandtechnicalskillswouldbedifferentformoretechnicalpositions.

RELATEDWORK

Overthepastfewyearsseveralsurveysandstudieshavesoughttoanswerquestionssimilartothoseasked

intheNDSAStaffingSurvey.

InEurope,asurveybyEngelhardtetal.7fortheDigitalCurationVocationalEducationEurope(DigCurV)

projectfocusedondigitalpreservationandcurationtrainingneeds.Itincludedquestionsaboutthenumber

ofdigitalpreservationstaffintheorganization,hiringofnewdigitalpreservationstaff,trainingexisting

staff,andtherelativeimportanceofparticularskills.ThemajorityoftherespondentscamefromEurope:

only56respondentscamefromtheUS.Incomparison,themajorityoftheNDSAstaffingsurveys

respondentswerefromtheUS.

Similarly,arecentsurveyconductedbytheAllianceforPermanentAccesstotheRecordsofScience

Network(APARSEN)8includedaquestiononthenumberofpeopledoingdigitalpreservationwork.Their

surveywasaimedatresearchlibrariesinEurope,whiletheNDSAstaffingsurveywastargetedtowardmany

differenttypesoforganizations,andprimarilyintheUS.

AsurveybyNelsonetal.9fortheAssociationofResearchLibraries(ARL)askedaboutthenumberofstaff

and

how

new

staff

were

identified

or

recruited.

However,

the

focus

of

their

query

was

different.

The

ARL

questionsappliedtostaffcollectingaswellasmanagingdigitalmaterial,andthatsurveyrestrictedthe

materialtoborndigitalcontent.TheNDSAstaffingsurveyfocusedondigitalpreservationstaffingonlyand

appliedtoalldigitalcontenttheorganizationwaspreserving,notjustborndigitalcontent.

FinallyKimetal.10

investigatedjobannouncementswithinacademiclibrariestoidentifycompetencies

requiredfordigitalcurationpositions.

7Engelhardt,C.,Strathmann,S.&McCadden,K.(2012).Reportandanalysisofthesurveyoftrainingneeds.Retrieved6/8,

2012,fromhttp://www.digcureducation.org/eng/Resources/Reportandanalysisonthetrainingneedssurvey.8

APARSEN

(2013).

D36.1

Business

Preparedness

Report.

Retrieved

April

23,

2012,

from

http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wpcontent/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSENREPD36_1011_0.pdf9Nelson,N.,Shaw,S.,Ghering,C.,Schmidt,L.,Belden,M.,Esposito,J.,Pyatt,T.,Deromedi,N.andShallcross,M.(2012)

SPECSurveyonManagingBornDigitalSpecialCollectionsandArchivalMaterials.RetrievedJune8,2012,from

http://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtml10Kim,J.,Warga,E.,andMoenW.(2012).Digitalcurationintheacademiclibraryjobmarket.ASIST2012,October2831,2012;Baltimore,MD.RetrievedApril23,2012,fromhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdf
http://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdfhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdfhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdfhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-survey


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WhilethesesurveysdifferfromtheNDSAsurveyinvariousways,itwouldbeinterestingtodoamorein

depthanalysisofthefindingsforcomparisonpurposes.

NEXTSTEPS

TheNDSADigitalPreservationStaffingSurveyprojectteamisplanningseveralactivitiestowrapupitswork

onthissurveyandfollowupontheinformationgathered.

Theprojectteamisencouragingreuseofthesurveyquestionsinotherenvironments.Recognizingthe

preponderanceofUnitedStatesrespondentstotheNDSAsurvey,itwouldbeworthwhiletocirculateit

amongotherpreservationcommunities,forexampleinEurope,sothattheresponsescouldbecompared.

Theprojectteamplanstorepeatthesurveyinacoupleofyearstoseeifanychangecanbedetectedas

digitalpreservationprogramsmatureandasmoreorganizationsselfidentifyasbeingengagedindigital

preservation.(TheincreasingmembershipintheNDSAitselfoverthelastyearisanindicationthatthenext

surveymayreachmoreorganizations.)

Whilerepeating

questions

exactly

will

guarantee

that

responses

to

aquestion

over

time

are

comparable,

thereareafewquestionsthattheteamwillconsiderclarifyingevenattheriskofmuddyingfuture

comparison.Forexample,thechoicesavailableinQ4todescribethetypeoforganizationsrespondingto

thesurveywereapparentlynotclearormutuallyexclusive.Anumberoforganizationschooseother

whentheteambelievedtheycouldhavechosenalistedcategory.Itmayalsobehelpfultoclarifytheintent

ofQ10aboutthescopeofdigitalpreservationinanorganization,andtherelationshipbetweenQ10and

Q11andQ12withrespecttooutsourcing.

Perhapstheteamwillalsofollowuponfunctionsthatanorganizationperforms,butthatarenot

consideredwithinthedomainofdigitalpreservationinthatorganization.Thesurveycollectedseveral

commentsfrom

respondents

indicating

that

it

was

difficult

for

them

to

answer

the

question

about

the

roles

andnumberoffulltimeequivalentstaffdoingdigitalpreservation.Somesaid,forexample,thatbecause

titlesarenotuniformlyrelatedtotasksacrossinstitutions,thesamebasicjobcouldbedonebypeoplewith

quitedifferenttitles.Similarly,ifajobwasperformedbutnotconsideredinscopeofthedigital

preservationfunction,howshouldanorganizationanswerthisquestion?

CONCLUSION

TheNDSADigitalPreservationStaffingSurveyestablishedausefulbaselinedescriptionofhow85

organizationsinvolvedindigitalpreservationin2012,mainlyintheUnitedStates,addressedstaffing,

scopingand

organizational

questions.

In

particular,

the

survey

answered

questions

about

how

institutions

definedthescopeofthedigitalpreservationfunction,organizedandhiredortrainedstaff,andconducted

theirworkinhouseorthroughoutsourcingorcollaborativerelationships.Althoughthissurveyonlyasked

abouttypesandvolumeofdigitalmaterialbeingpreservedtosetthecontextforstaffingand

organizationalquestions,thenatureofthecollectionsandtheirexpectedgrowthratearesignificant


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findingsinthemselves.Futuresurveyscanfollowuponthe2012surveytolookfortrendsovertimeasthe

fieldanddigitalpreservationprogramsmature.

REFERENCES

APARSEN(2013).D36.1BusinessPreparednessReport.RetrievedApril23,2012,from

http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wpcontent/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN

REP

D36_1

011_0.pdf

Engelhardt,C.,Strathmann,S.&McCadden,K.(2012).Reportandanalysisofthesurveyoftrainingneeds.

Retrieved6/8,2012,fromhttp://www.digcureducation.org/eng/Resources/Reportandanalysisonthe

trainingneedssurvey.

Kim,J.,Warga,E.,andMoenW.(2012).Digitalcurationintheacademiclibraryjobmarket.ASIST2012,

October2831,2012;Baltimore,MD.RetrievedApril23,2012,from

https://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdf

NDSAStandards

and

Practices

Working

Group

(2012).

Whos

Minding

the

(Data)

Store?

Results

of

the

NDSADigitalPreservationStaffingSurvey.PosterpresentedatiPRES2012attheUniversityofToronto

http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSAstaffsurveyposteripres2012.pdf

NationalDigitalStewardshipAlliance(NSDA).StandardsandPracticesWorkingGroup. SurveyofStaffing

PracticesandNeedsRelatedtoDigitalPreservation,2012.ICPSR34901v1.AnnArbor,MI:Interuniversity

ConsortiumforPoliticalandSocialResearch[distributor],20131001.doi:10.3886/ICPSR34901.v1

Nelson,N.,Shaw,S.,Ghering,C.,Schmidt,L.,Belden,M.,Esposito,J.,Pyatt,T.,Deromedi,N.andShallcross,

M.(2012).SPECSurveyonManagingBornDigitalSpecialCollectionsandArchivalMaterials.RetrievedJune

8,2012,fromhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtml

Pilette,R.(2012,June6).digitalpreservationposition[Electronicmailinglistmessage]digital

[email protected]. Retrievedfromhttps://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi bin/webadmin?A2=digital

preservation;c0dea43.1206

Qualtrics.Qualtrics.com|SophisticatedResearchMadeSimple.http://www.qualtrics.com.Accessed

September26,2013.

SPSSstatisticalsoftware:http://www01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/ .AccessedSeptember26,2013.
http://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdfhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttps://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206http://www.qualtrics.com/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/http://www.qualtrics.com/https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=digital-preservation;c0dea43.1206http://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.arl.org/stats/specsurveys/index.shtmlhttp://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/documents/NDSA-staff-survey-poster-ipres2012.pdfhttps://www.asis.org/asist2012/proceedings/Submissions/283.pdfhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.digcur-education.org/eng/Resources/Report-and-analysis-on-the-training-needs-surveyhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdfhttp://www.alliancepermanentaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/APARSEN-REP-D36_1-01-1_0.pdf


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APPENDIXA SURVEYQUESTIONS

Q1.ThissurveywascreatedbytheStandardsandPracticesWorkingGroupoftheNationalDigital

StewardshipAlliance(NDSA).IfyouwouldliketolearnabouttheNDSA,includinghowyourinstitutioncan

becomeamember,pleaseseetheNDSAwebsite(http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/).

Thissurveyisintendedfororganizationsthatarecurrentlyresponsiblefordigitalpreservation,whether

thatresponsibility isfulfilledinhouseoroutsourcedtoacommercial,nonprofit,orconsortialprovider.It

willbeusedtounderstandcurrentandidealpracticeinstaffingdigitalpreservationprograms.

Onlyoneresponseshouldbesubmittedperorganization.

Wewillmakeourbestefforttoprotectyourindividualsurveyresponsessothatnoonewillbeableto

connectyourresponseswithyouoryourorganization.Anypersonalinformationthatcouldidentifyyouor

yourorganizationwillberemovedorchangedbeforeresultsaremadepublic.Wewillcombineyour

responseswiththeresponsesofothersandmaketheaggregatedresultspublic,andpreservethe

anonymous

data

long

term

for

research

purposes.

Pleaseemailanyquestionstondsa@loc.govwiththesubjectlineStaffingSurvey.

Allquestionsareoptionalunlessotherwisenoted.

Q2.(Required)Whatisthenameofyourorganization?

Q3.Canweincludethenameofyourorganizationinalistoforganizationsthatrespondedtothissurvey?

Knowingspecificrespondingorganizationsmaybehelpfultopeopleinterpretingthesurveyresults.

Ifyouagreetothiswewillstillmakeourbestefforttoprotectyourindividualsurveyresponsessothatno

one

will

be

able

to

connect

your

responses

with

you

or

your

organization.

Q4.(Required)Whichofthefollowingmostcloselydescribesthetypeorfunctionofyourorganization?

Q5.Inwhichcountrydoyoureside?

Q6.Howmuchonlineorofflinestoragespaceareyouusingforyourdigitalcontent,notincludingbackup

copies?

Q7.Whatdoyouexpectthepercentofgrowthtobeofyourpreserveddigitalcontentoverthenextyear?

Pleaseenteranumberrepresentingapercentage.

Q8.

Roughly

how

much

of

each

are

you

preserving

in

terms

of

number

of

files?

Q9.Doyouparticipateinanydigitalpreservationconsortialorcooperativeefforts?

Q10.Whichoftheseactivitiesareconsideredpartofthescopeofthedigitalpreservationfunctionatyour

organization,whetherornotyouhaveimplementedthisactivityyet?Checkallthatapply.
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/ndsa/


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Q11.Whichoftheseactivitiesareyoucurrentlydoinginhouseand/oroutsourcing?Ifyouhavent

implementedanactivityyet,leaveitunchecked.

Q12.Whichoftheseactivitieswouldyouliketooutsource?Alsoincludeanyactivitiesthatyouarealready

outsourcingandwouldliketocontinueoutsourcing.

Q13.Isthereadedicateddigitalpreservationdepartmentwithinyourorganization?

Q14.Whichdepartment(s)taketheleadfordigitalpreservationwithinyourorganization?Ifthisisafairly

equallydistributedeffortchoosemorethanone.

Q15.Foreachofthesepositions,howmanyFTEdoyoucurrentlyhavedoingdigitalpreservationinyour

organization,andhowmanywouldbeideal?FTEstandsforFulltimeequivalent.Forexamplea1.0FTE

couldmeanonepersonfulltimeor2peoplehalftime;a0.5FTEcouldmeanonepersonhalftimeor2

peoplequartertime.Donotincludepeopledoingworkotherthandigitalpreservation.Pleaseusewhole

numbersordecimalsasappropriate.

Q16.Thewayourdigitalpreservationfunctioniscurrentlyorganized(staffinglevels,expertise,wherethey

areplaced

within

the

larger

organization)

works

well.

Q17.Forinhousestaff,didyouhireexperienceddigitalpreservationspecialistsand/orretrainexisting

staff?Checkallthatapply.

Q18.Pleaseratetheimportanceofeachoftheseitemsifyouwerehiringanewdigitalpreservation

manageratyourorganization.

Q19.Isthereanythingelseyoudliketoshareaboutthewayyouthinkaneffectivedigitalpreservation

programshouldbestaffedandorganized?

Q20.Doyouhaveorganizationalchartsorpositiondescriptionsthatyoudbewillingtoshare?Any

documentsyousharewouldprovidecontexttoyouranswersandwouldbekeptprivatetotheNDSA

StandardsandPracticesWorkingGroupunlessyougiveusexplicitpermissioninthefuturetosharemore

broadly.

Q21.Iftheyareonline,whataretheURL(s)?Iftheyarenotonline,pleaseemailthissupplementarydata

[email protected]

Q22.Pleaseprovideyourcontactinformationifyouarewillingtorespondtofollowupquestions.


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APPENDIXBPOSTER:IPRES2012ATTHEUNIVERSITYOFTORONTO

Documents

Staffing for Effective Digital Preservation: An NDSA Report