Managing bequests and digital estates: new challenges for libraries

LIBER Forum for Digital Cultural Heritage

Organized by: Liber, CERL

Speaker(s): Alix Bruys,Frédéric Blin,John McColl,Paolo Budroni,Spiros Agorgianitis,Stefan Wiederkehr,Ulf Göranson

Preserving the literary, musical and scientific heritage of the past centuries has always been at the core of national, regional and academic libraries’ missions. Today’s writers, composers and scientists are no longer using the pen, but the computer to compose their work, challenging libraries to develop the appropriate strategy in order to preserve the digital manuscripts and all other kinds of documents related to the act of creation, from the basic text file until the e-mails and even the text messages sent and received by the author. This session explored what kind of answers libraries are beginning to put in place to respond to this challenge.

We invite contributions from libraries that are exploring operational solutions to address the management of digital estates, including the handling of all documents created by a person through her/his professional activity. Among the questions which are being address in libraries across Europe: should the traditional “manuscript department” now also be in charge of managing the “digital manuscripts”, or should a new service be formed specifically and where would it located within the institution’s organisation? What kind of competences are required and how is the competent staff trained or recruited? Are the catalogues the same for analogue and digital manuscripts and archives? Are specific bibliographical formats or metadata required? Are the tools used to manage the files the same that those which are used for the digital library or the institutional repository? What specific challenges represent e-mails, text messages, or other social contents? Do easy-to-use technical solutions exist that could be shared among libraries? Does literary creation present the same issues as scientific or musical creation? How are copyright challenges addressed?

Programme

– 9.00-9.15: Welcome – Ulf Göranson, Chairman of CERL and former Director of Uppsala University Library

SCHEDULE AND TOPICS

Managing Digital Estates: Challenges for the National & University Library Strasbourg

– 9.15-9.30: Introduction of the topic – Frédéric Blin, Directeur de la conservation et du patrimoine (BNU Strasbourg, France): Managing Digital Estates: Challenges for the National & University Library Strasbourg: presentation

Summary:
Academic and research library with the largest printed collections in France, the National & University Library (BNU) in Strasbourg is also one of the main heritage library in the country, with the mission of preserving the regional documentary heritage of Alsace. In parallel, a closer relationship to the University of Strasbourg and a new national strategy for collections of scientific significance, in which the BNU plays a leading and coordinating role, challenge the preservation mission to be again at the forefront of the institution’s development strategy. Digital estates in this regard represent a new type of documents for which adequate and sustainable solutions need to be found, probably on a collaborative way. This presentation of a local example is meant to be a short introduction to the theme of the workshop, not exposing answers but some of the different challenges that lie ahead heritage academic libraries today.

Short biography:
Alumnus of the Ecole nationale des chartes in Paris, Frédéric Blin is currently Director for Preservation and Heritage Collections at the National and University Library Strasbourg (France), where he has the responsibility on the second largest heritage collection in French libraries and on its digitisation. He began his career working for the French Ministry for Higher Education as policy officer in charge of international relations, information literacy and digital issues for academic libraries. He served in the Governing Board of IFLA from 2011 until 2015, being IFLA Treasurer during the last two years.

The time is now! How postponing leads audiovisual heritage to irrevocable loss

– 9.30-9.50: Dr Spiros Agorgianitis, Head of the Hellenic Archive of Scientific Culture, Athens: The time is now! How postponing leads audiovisual heritage to irrevocable loss: presentation

Short biography:
Dr Spiros Agorgianitis is the Head of the Hellenic Archive of Scientific Culture, a non-profit organization mainly focusing on Greece’s industrial, technological and scientific heritage, and also founder and CEO of Realiscape Typorama Ltd a well-known Greek company in the field of Cultural Informatics. He is active for almost 30 years in the digitisation, IT and design areas having successfully completed over 200 projects.

Management of Born Digital Materials at Research Libraries

– 9.50-10.10: Paolo Budroni, Head of Dpt., Library and Archive Services, University of Vienna: Management of Born Digital Materials at Research Libraries: presentation

Summary:
Research libraries have become industry leaders in the development of digital infrastructures on a national scale. Time and again they have demonstrated their unique ability to respond to creative challenges across a broad range of digital projects and services, leading in both strategy and implementation. By developing visionary digital ecosystems, emphasizing sustainable outcomes, and leveraging their expertise with complex knowledge infrastructures and large-scale project management, research libraries will continue to play a central role in the emergence of national digital research capacity. This presentation will introduce participants to the fundamentals of managing digital assets, with particular emphasis on research data objects. It will provide a short introduction to the complex “world of data” that is produced routinely at their research institutions. Budroni will also provide insight into the core components of research data and digital objects.

Program objectives include:

Ensuring better handing of born-digital assets
Raising awareness around the key dimensions of effective management of digital assets
Improving digital workflows and services

Integrating born-digital documents into heritage collections : first achievements of the project Acquisitions and Donations of Digital Documents

10:00-10.30 Alix Bruys, adjointe au chef de service Gestion centralisée des acquisitions, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris: Integrating born-digital documents into heritage collections : first achievements of the project Acquisitions and Donations of Digital Documents: presentation

Short biography: Alix Bruys graduated from the Ecole nationale des Chartes and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques. First she became head of the periodicals legal deposit department in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (2008-2012). After that, she joined the acquisitions department in the same establishment where she was entrusted the charge of project manager for acquisitions and donations of digital documents (AD3). She is now process manager for AD3, which will, by coincidence, see the launch of the display of born-digital photographs in the BnF digital library during the week of the LIBER conference.

Digital Cultural Heritage – ETH Zurich’s Approach

11:00-11:15 Dr. Stefan Wiederkehr, ETH Library, Zürich: Digital Cultural Heritage – ETH Zurich’s Approach: presentation

Short Biography:
Dr. Stefan Wiederkehr took his PhD in Eastern European History from the University of Zurich (Switzerland). He also graduated in Library and Information Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany). Since 2014, he has been the Head of Collections and Archives at ETH Library (Zurich, Switzerland). Before, he was the head of library at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw (Poland) from 2004 to 2009 and at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Berlin (Germany) from 2009 to 2014. His publications include Thilo Habel/Stefan Wiederkehr: ETH Zurich’s Collections and Archives. Scientific Heritage for Future Research. Zürich 2015. DOI: 10.3929/ethz-a-010529579.

How are archival services in Scottish research libraries meeting the challenge of digital archives?

– 11:15-11:30: John MacColl, University Librarian and Director of Library Services, University of St Andrews: How are archival services in Scottish research libraries meeting the challenge of digital archives? Presentation

Short Biography:
John MacColl has been University Librarian & Director of Library Services at the University of St Andrews since 2011. He has spent most of his career in libraries and information services in Scottish universities. He was Head of the Digital Library at the University of Edinburgh for seven years, and before moving to his current role he spent three years as European Director of the OCLC Research Libraries Partnership, based in St Andrews while attached to the OCLC office in San Mateo, California. John was elected to the Board of RLUK in March 2013, and was elected as Vice-Chair the following year, serving as Chair from 2015-2017. He has a particular interest in scholarly publishing and communications, and the library role in support of the research process. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2014.