Context
The Keeper of the Records of Scotland is responsible for keeping, preserving and making available Scotland’s national archive collection. This work is delivered for the Keeper by National Records of Scotland (NRS).
NRS has been receiving digital records of enduring value since 1998, and the national archive collection is becoming increasingly digital. These records must be preserved in perpetuity, and made available for access via reasonable facilities by NRS.
This work brings fresh challenges, risks and opportunities. New skills and approaches are required. In response, NRS has developed a digital preservation function.
Digital preservation is the ongoing, managed activity necessary to ensure continued access to information contained in digital records of enduring value.
Digital preservation is part of NRS’s digital archiving functional workflow. Digital archiving is the operation of NRS’s archival functions, processes and services for the digital portion of the national archive.
Digital archiving, including the parts which fall under digital preservation, is represented in the diagram included in the downloadable version of this policy.
NRS maintains, or will develop, other policies which cover all parts of the Digital Archiving workflow. See section 7.
This Policy is centred solely on digital preservation.
Purpose of the Policy
For NRS, the functional goal of digital preservation is to permanently protect and preserve the following characteristics of digital records in our care:
- Authenticity - that the information contained in the records remains trustworthy
- Integrity - that this information remains accurate and complete
- Availability - that this information can be found and rendered
- Confidentiality - that this information is stored and accessed securely
This work adjoins with NRS’s overall purpose: to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations.
NRS has evolved its digital preservation function over time. We have harnessed various approaches and technologies, and in 2017 launched a Web Continuity Service to archive the websites of our depositors for the public record.
For service continuity, NRS’s digital preservation principles, processes and governance must align with good practice and remain consistent. This Policy will oversee this goal.
The Policy lays out NRS’s digital preservation principles in Appendix A. These influence all planning and practice. Section 4 covers the procedures and guidelines that govern digital preservation practice at NRS. Sections 5 to 6 document how NRS will maintain quality of service and function delivery.
This Policy is aimed at the following:
- All NRS staff- to guide decision making, support strategic development, and inform continuous improvement of digital preservation.
- All NRS customers, including depositors and users to the archive - to illustrate NRS’s commitment to digital preservation, understand how we preserve, and where this work corresponds to other parts of our archive service.
Scope
NRS’s Collections Development Policy (CDP) defines a ‘record’ as “anything in which information is recorded in any form including electronic records… which are considered to be worthy of permanent preservation because of their evidential, administrative or historical importance.”
Records selected for permanent preservation to NRS originate from three main groups of depositors: Government, Court and Legal, and Private. See CDP for more details on appraisal and selection.
This Policy applies to records which have been selected for transfer and preservation within the NRS Digital Repository.
The Policy also applies to metadata associated with the above.
Procedures and guidelines for digital preservation
This section is structured against NRS’s key digital preservation processes. The procedures and guidelines in this section are based upon the Digital Preservation Principles listed in Appendix A.
This Policy uses the below words to signify the importance of a statement:
Shall/Must/Required – This word means that the definition is an absolute statement, an obligation to perform the activity. By convention, this policy will use shall.
- Shall Not/Must Not – This phrase means that the definition is an absolute prohibited statement. By convention, this policy will use shall not.
- Should/Recommended – This word means that there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a statement or not perform an activity, but the full implications must be understood. By convention, this policy will use should.
- Should not/Not recommended – This phrase means that there may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances when the particular behaviour is acceptable or useful, but the full implications should be understood. By convention, this policy will use should not.
- May/Optional – This word means that a statement or requirement is truly optional and no assumption can be made regarding the activity happening. By convention, this policy will use may.
Selection and format
Appraisal and selection of records for permanent preservation shall be governed by NRS Record Policies and legislation, primarily the NRS Collections Development Policy.
NRS shall accept records selected for permanent preservation in their original file format where possible. This is to help protect their authenticity.
Currently, NRS shall not impose restrictions on the types of file format which we will accept for permanent preservation. There are, however, a few notable exceptions to this rule: see Appendix B of the NRS Depositor Guidance for the Transfer of Digital Records to NRS (‘Depositor Guidance’).
NRS shall not preserve software or systems. Any archival records contained in databases or systems shall be exported by the depositor prior to transfer.
NRS shall work with depositors to arrange transfer of digital records within a mutually suitable timeframe, cognizant of risks (including format obsolescence, legacy system renewal, organisational closure etc.) to the long-term preservation of these records. This may include records transferred at an earlier stage than standard transfer dates which apply to a depositor. Early transfer shall only be considered if the record(s) has reached the end of its current business use, regular access is no longer required by the depositor, and NRS has capacity to receive transfer, cognizant of service demand.
Transfer
Details on preparation and methods for secure transfer to NRS shall be found in our Depositor Guidance.
NRS reserves a right of refusal for transfer, if records are transferred which do not contain a manifest, or which do not adhere to our Depositor Guidance.
Ingest
NRS shall develop a Pre-Ingest workflow that will enable quarantine, transfer validation and characterisation. Reporting produced during this process shall inform decisions on preservation planning.
NRS shall ensure checksum information is preserved with all accessions at ingest.
NRS may add or enhance the metadata of an accession at ingest to ensure that information within records is findable, understandable and can be demonstrated to be authentic.
Bitstream, content and metadata preservation
NRS shall retain and preserve the original bitstream of all accessioned records, received at point of transfer.
NRS shall carry out periodic integrity checks of all copies of records, and when records are moved or altered.
Access to the Digital Repository shall be governed by an NRS Access Control Policy, administered by the Head of the Digital Records Unit. Repository access shall be auditable, to prevent unsolicited changes to the collection e.g. human error.
NRS shall adopt diversity within its digital preservation storage. This is represented in the diagram included in the downloadable version of this policy.
NRS shall retain full documentation of preservation planning and any subsequent actions e.g. migration, emulation. This shall include the associated objects, agents and events.
Discovery and Access
NRS shall provide access to digital records upon request, subject to appropriate access conditions. A small number of records are made available online. For more details see our Depositor Guidance.
Access to digital records is an area of improvement for NRS, and we expect to see further developments in this area.
Standards and future development
NRS shall align to or be guided by digital preservation standards, including:
- Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model (ISO 14721)
- Preservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies (PREMIS)
NRS is a UK Accredited Archive Service. We shall use accreditation assessment to shape, guide and prioritise further development in digital preservation.
The NRS digital preservation function shall align with NRS standards for cybersecurity, information governance, digital accessibility, and digital delivery, as appropriate.
Future development to NRS’s digital preservation technical infrastructure shall be delivered in partnership with colleagues from across NRS.
This Policy shall both align with NRS corporate and archiving strategies, and guide the delivery of work to meet associated strategic objectives.
Governance and management
Oversight of NRS’s digital preservation function (including adherence to this Policy) is provided by the Deputy Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
Day-to-day delivery of digital preservation is the responsibility of the Digital Preservation Service, part of Digital Records Unit.
NRS maintains Standard Operational Procedures and workflow documentation on digital preservation.
Related documents and contact
NRS Collections Care and Preservation Policy (copy available upon request)
NRS Collections Development Policy
NRS Collections Information Policy
NRS Depositor Guidance for the Transfer of Archival Born Digital Records
NRS Selection Policy for Social Media Archiving
NRS Selection Policy for Web Continuity Service
For enquiries relating to the Digital Preservation Policy please contact: digital_records@nrscotland.gov.uk
Glossary
- Accession: Collection of records, to be brought under physical and intellectual control of an archive.
- Bitstream preservation: Processes to ensure the storage and integrity of digital records to be preserved.
- Born digital: Records that were created digitally and remain in digital form.
- Characterisation: The identification of a digital record’s technical and significant properties.
- Checksum: Computer generated sequence of letters and numbers that can be used to check data for errors. Sometimes referred to as a ‘digital fingerprint’.
- Content preservation: Processes to preserve the meaning, usability and functionality of the digital records over time.
- Digital archiving: The operation of NRS’s archival functions, processes and services for the digital portion of the national archive.
- Digital records: Records which exist in digital form.
These records may have been ‘born digital’ – originally created digitally – or be a digitised version of an analogue original.
- Digital preservation: A series of managed processes and procedures which allow digital files to be kept and made available over time.
- File format: A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It tells the computer how to display, print, and process, and save the information.
- Ingest: The process of putting records into a digital record.
- Metadata: Descriptive, technical and contextual information about a digital file or series of files.
- NRS Digital Preservation Service: NRS’s service dedicated to its key digital preservation processes.
- NRS Web Continuity Service: NRS’s service dedicated to the archiving of its depositors’ websites.
- Offline: Data which is stored offline possibly on external media
e.g. hard drive
- Online: Data which is stored and accessed online e.g. Cloud, SAN etc.
- Pre-ingest: The staging and review of digital records in order to pro-actively identify digital archival and preservation issues.
- Preservation metadata: Essential contextual, administrative, descriptive, and technical information preserved as part of any accessioned record. This metadata is generated at ingest, and added to by NRS over time.
- Record: 'Record’ means anything in which information is recorded in any form including electronic records, records in microform and other types of specialised media, as well as paper and parchment records, which are considered to be worthy of permanent preservation because of their evidential, administrative or historical importance.
- Record lifecycle: The basic ‘lifecycle’ of a record, whether digital or paper, is creation, current business use, semi-current (mainly reference use in ongoing business), review and disposal. Selection for permanent preservation in an archive, is one disposal option.
- Transfer validation: Process for confirming the completeness, accuracy and formation of a transferred accession.
Appendix A: Digital Preservation Principles
NRS's Digital preservation work is guided by seven principles:
1. Proactive
NRS shall adopt a ‘prevention rather than cure’ approach. We shall advocate good practice and principles to depositors as early in the record lifecycle as possible, so that technical risks to long term preservation can be early understood and avoided. This will influence the creation and management of records to ensure they are as preservable as they can be upon transfer.
2. Risk focused
NRS shall keep up to date on the continually changing landscape of preserving digital records. Our processes shall be driven by proportionate management of the risks associated with data loss.
3. Transparent
NRS shall deliver clear, evidence-driven processes, ensuring that preservation activities are recorded to demonstrate why processes were necessary and how they were delivered.
4. Community inspired and led
NRS shall collaborate with our digital preservation peers to obtain inspiration and lessons learned. We shall look to digital preservation standards and align to consistent workflows and terminology as far as possible. We shall use community benchmarking tools to identify our own areas for further development. We shall take every opportunity to openly share our work externally, to receive critical feedback and help grow community knowledge.
5. Sector leading
In line with NRS’s position as archive leader in Scotland, we shall aim to lead the sector on digital preservation practice, and share our knowledge and skills across all networks.
6. Environmentally conscious
Where possible, NRS shall seek to align our digital preservation practice with our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment.
7. Secure
Any NRS digital preservation process, solution, product or service shall be designed and maintained with the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data as a first principle.
These principles align with NRS’s broader approaches to collections care, articulated in our Collections Care Policy.
