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Creating an International Model for Digital Repositories and Preservation
The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa’s vision is to connect New Zealanders with information important to all aspects of their lives. To achieve this vision, the National Library of New Zealand, Endeavor Information Systems and Sun Microsystems, Inc. are teaming up to design a world-class digital archive capable of ensuring preservation and future access to the nation's digital heritage collections.
Recently the National Library of New Zealand’s Director of Digital Innovation Services Graham Coe offered the following insights on the partnership.
(Left to right) Endeavor's CEO Roland Dietz; NLNZ's
Director of Digital Innovation Services Graham Coe
and Innovation Centre Manager and NDHA
Programme Architect Steve Knight; and Sun's
Business Development Manager, Education &
Research Australasia David Bunker
On the part of the National Library of New Zealand, what has led to this exciting partnership?
With the passing of the National Library of New Zealand Act 2003, our institution was charged with collecting, preserving and making accessible digital as well as conventional collections, and so ensuring permanent access to New Zealand’s documentary heritage. To meet this mandate, in 2004 the Library established the National Digital Heritage Archive Programme, focused on developing and implementing a solution that will process ingest, storage, preservation and access of deposited published digital material and donated unpublished digital material.
The NDHA Programme encompasses the National Library of New Zealand’s partnership with Endeavor Information Systems and Sun Microsystems to develop a digital preservation solution. In November 2005, Sun announced that the Library, in recognition of its work in the digital preservation domain, had been selected as a Sun “Center of Excellence for Digital Futures in Libraries.” The Library was the first nontertiary institution in the world to receive this recognition.
Please, can you give more specifics on the NDHA Programme?
The National Library requires a system securing the integrity and authenticity of digital material deposited with the Library while integrating with other software used to deliver digital library services. Hence the NDHA is overseeing development of a commercial software system that is standards-based and supports a cost-effective and adaptable end-to-end solution. The Library’s deployment of the software will serve as an international model for implementation of a digital preservation solution, and Endeavor’s commercialized version of the software will be available for other organizations to use.
What experience does the library have in digital initiatives?
Since 2000, the Library has created and led digital preservation initiatives including development of a preservation metadata schema and data dictionary, as well as development of software for automated extraction of preservation metadata from key file formats. The Library has also collaborated with the British Library and the International Internet Preservation Consortium on development of a Web Curator Tool for harvesting websites.
How is the NDHA Programme funded?
The New Zealand government has authorized the National Library to spend up to NZ$24 million from 2004 to 2008, with this money dedicated to establishing and developing the NDHA.
How has the NDHA Programme been tendered?
In February 2005, a public request for interest was issued for a software partner. From nine responses received, two respondents progressed to the request for proposal phase. The other respondent withdrew before the RFP was issued, and subsequently a letter of intent was signed between Endeavor and the National Library. Later in 2005, a specification of requirements was issued to Endeavor, and subsequently a two-contract partnership was agreed on. The first contract, signed in August 2006, focuses on the design of the software. The second contract will focus on building and developing the solution, and is expected to be awarded in 2007.
What is Sun’s role in the NDHA Programme?
Sun will provide architecture expertise, hardware and, where relevant, software. Sun is developing a reference architecture, or a comprehensive overview, of the necessary infrastructure for running and maintaining digital preservation solutions. This reference architecture will be available in two distinct versions: one customized exclusively for the National Library, and the second as a more generic infrastructure that can be adapted to any major institution doing digital preservation.
How is the international community involved in the program?
Endeavor and the National Library have established a Peer Review Group, including representatives from the British Library, Cornell University Library, Getty Research Institute, Helsinki University Library, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of China, Singapore National Library, University of Glasgow and Yale University. These academic and research leaders, with institutional expertise in digital preservation and permanent access, are serving as independent advisors — charged with helping determine the scope and design of the initiative, and its compliance with industry standards.
What will the NDHA mean to National Library users?
The digital preservation management solution resulting from this partnership will allow the National Library to meet its expanding, long-term digital access and archiving needs, and collect and preserve in perpetuity New Zealand's digital heritage. Through the NDHA, the Library will also gain the capability to make its digital heritage collections permanently accessible. Ultimately the program will benefit users in significant and enduring ways. 
www.natlib.govt.nz
[Editor's note: At press time, Francisco Partners had agreed to acquire Endeavor from Elsevier.]
