I am pleased to announced that The Ohio State University Libraries has launched it’s most recent digital preservation repository, the Gray Digital Preservation Repository or Gray Repo!

The Gray Repo is a service that provides a path to preservation for born digital (or received as digital) content that has been accessioned, and is only intended to be minimally processed and/or is temporally restricted. As such, and in accordance with the University Libraries Distinctive Collections’ accessioning policies and procedures, it is the default digital preservation repository. Further, it provides a preservation environment for some legacy digitized preservation files. It is a “dim digital preservation archive” that provides no public access, and limited curatorial access to the University Libraries’ digital objects stored within. This is in contrast to a “light archive” which provides public access, or a “dark archive” which only allows custodial access. The Gray Repo allows for curatorial deposit and retrieval, but no direct patron access. It is much more akin to a physical archival storage facility, much like our Book Depository, where items are stored on shelves in a environmentally regulated and well managed manner, and appropriately described in conformance with accepted standards, while the public and unvetted personnel are not allowed to wander the stacks.

This has been about 2.5 years in the making from the original scheming of the project, to design, testing, re-design, testing, redesign, testing, etc. etc. etc. It has truly been a team effort with University Libraries’ personnel from our Application Development and Operations, Digital Initiatives, Infrastructure Support, Information Security, Distinctive Collections, Archival Technical Services, Metadata Initiatives, Publications and Repository Services and Copyright Services advising or assisting Digital Preservation in constructing the environment. I would also extend our gratitude to our colleagues in the digital preservation community who have provided advice and guidance along the way, especially those in the Big Ten Academic Alliance, NDSA (National Digital Stewardship Alliance), iPRES and Society of American Archivists communities.

Workflow documentation will be forthcoming, albeit redacted from a cybersecurity point-of-view. You can learn more about our project at go.osu.edu/Gray-Repo-Wiki.

World Digital Preservation Day (#WDPD2023) is celebrated on the first Thursday in November every year. It is a time to spotlight successes in our digital preservation programs and communities, as well as draw attention to those things that are most at risk, such as the DPC’s The Global ‘Bit List’ of Endangered Digital Species. The theme for 2023 is Digital Preservation: A Concerted Effort. This is This is especially true at The Ohio State University’s University Libraries, where this year we saw digital preservation become more than a set of strategies and ethos led by one person; it became department. While over the past six years, as the digital preservation librarian, I have led or co-led efforts to conduct a digital preservation environmental scan, develop a web archiving program, move from policy to ethos, documenting and visualizing workflow and investigating project prioritization, nothing was yet programmatic. With the addition of a digital preservation specialist, Kevin Latta, this year, we have started to turn that corner from theory/policy/strategy to implementation of a program.

A foundational component of this program is the development of the Gray Digital Preservation Repository. The Gray Repo is service that provides a path to preservation for born digital content that has been accessioned by the University Libraries. Unlike our Digital Collections platform that serves as a “light archive” where patrons/researchers/users can interact with the digital objects (for the most part), the Gray Repo is a “dim archive” that allows for curatorial deposit and retrieval, but no direct patron access, essentially a virtual version of our Book Depository, where our special collections analog materials are managed and stored.  In addition to being the default depository for born digital accessions, there will be a handful of other use cases for digital preservation, such as preservation files for digitized legacy Knowledge Bank content and temporally restricted content.

After many fits and starts with testing tools for pre-ingest analysis and ingest, we are currently in the final stages of documenting workflow, and conducting curatorial workflow testing. Our colleagues in the University Archives are our key testers. The development of the Gray Repo has been a concerted effort with contributions from our fellow University Libraries’ IT units: Digital Initiatives,  Infrastructure, and Application Development and Operations; as well as input from our colleagues in Special Collections and Archives, Archival Technical Services, Metadata Initiatives, Publishing and Repository Services and Copyright units. Further, we received guidance and input from our colleagues in the Big Ten Academic Alliance and the NDSA.

With the imminent launch of the Gray Repo, the Digital Preservation Department will pivot to begin conducting bench-marking activities utilizing such tools as NDSA’s Levels of Digital Preservation and DPC’s Rapid Assessment Model (RAM). This won’t be just the “department of two” working in a vacuum, but a concerted effort that will engage many of our same colleagues identified above.

Happy World Digital Preservation Day! graphic supplied by the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) – appears to be created by JLM