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Title: ERPANET Case Study: Project Gutenberg

Author: ERPANET

Release Date: January 4, 2005 [eBook #14585]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERPANET CASE STUDY: PROJECT GUTENBERG***

Copyright (C) ERPANET 2004

ERPANET Case Study: Project Gutenberg

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 4
Chapter 1: The ERPANET Project 5
Chapter 2: Scope of the Case Studies 6
Chapter 3: Method of Working 8
Chapter 4: Project Gutenberg 9
Chapter 5: Details and circumstances of the Interviews 10
Chapter 6: Analysis 11
Perception and Awareness of Digital Preservation 11
Preservation Activity 12
Compliance Monitoring 14
Digital Preservation Costs 14
Future Outlook 14
Chapter 7: Conclusions 16

Executive Summary Project Gutenberg is the first and largest collection of eBooks made freely available to the public. The project philosophy is that the greatest value of computers is not their computing power, but rather their potential for the searchable storage and retrieval of library materials. The premise for the project is that any object - whether text, picture, sound or 3D image - that can be entered into a computer can be replicated indefinitely. The eBooks generated by Project Gutenberg are stored on two main servers and can then be downloaded to local servers around the world. This case study differs form many other ERPANET studies in that the project is volunteer-driven. As such, there are no financial or business incentives to preserve the eBooks. The real incentive lies in the belief that literary works in the public domain should be freely accessible to as many people as possible for as long as possible. By digitising everything in 'plain vanilla ASCII' as well as many other formats, the eBooks are readable by over 99% of computer operating systems. By avoiding proprietary formats whenever possible, Project Gutenberg also helps to guarantee the long-term survival of the bit streams of the eBooks. The combination of open formats and the proliferation of copies downloaded around the world should ensure that the Project Gutenberg eBooks currently in existence are still accessible far into the future.

Chapter 1: The ERPANET Project The European Commission and Swiss Confederation funded ERPANET Project (1) (Electronic Resource Preservation and Access Network) works to enhance the preservation of cultural and scientific digital objects through raising awareness, providing access to experience, sharing policies and strategies, and improving practices. To achieve these goals ERPANET is building an active community of members and actors, bringing together memory organisations (museums, libraries and archives), ICT and software industry, research institutions, government organisations, entertainment and creative industries, and commercial sectors. ERPANET constructs authoritative information resources on state-of-the-art developments in digital preservation, promotes training, and provides advice and tools.

ERPANET consists of four partners and is directed by a management committee, namely Seamus Ross (HATII, University of Glasgow; principal director), Niklaus Bütikofer (Schweizerisches Bundesarchiv), Hans Hofman (Nationaal Archief/National Archives of the Netherlands), and Maria Guercio (ISTBAL, University of Urbino). At each of these nodes a content editor supports their work, and Peter McKinney serves as a co-ordinator to the project. An Advisory Committee with experts from various organisations, institutions, and companies from all over Europe gives advice and support to ERPANET.

Chapter 2: Scope of the Case Studies While theoretical discussions on best practice call for urgent action to ensure the survival of digital information, it is organisations and institutions that are leading the drive to establish effective digital preservation strategies (2). In order to understand the processes these organisations are undertaking, ERPANET is conducting a series of case studies in the area of digital preservation. In total, sixty case studies, each of varying size, will investigate awareness, strategies, and technologies used in an array of organisations. It is anticipated that upwards of 500 organisations, institutions and public bodies will eventually contribute to this research. The resulting corpus should make a substantial contribution to our knowledge of practice in digital preservation, and form the foundation for theory building and the development of methodological tools. The value of these case studies will come not only from the breadth of sectors included, but also through the depth at which they will explore the issues.

ERPANET is deliberately and systematically approaching disparate sectors from industry and business to facilitate discussion in areas that have traditionally been unconnected. With these case studies ERPANET will broaden the scope and understanding of digital preservation through research and discussion. The case studies will be published to improve the approaches and solutions being developed and to reduce the redundancy of effort. The interviews are identifying current practice not only in-depth within specific sectors, but also cross-sectorally: what can the publishing sector learn from the aeronautical sector? Eventually we aim to use this comparative data to produce intra-sectoral overviews. This cross-sectoral fertilisation is a main focus of ERPANET as laid out in its Digital Preservation Charter (3). It is of primary importance that disparate groups are given a mechanism through which to come together as best practices for digital preservation are established in each sector.

Aims The principal aims of the study are to: * build a picture of methods and match against context to produce best practices; * accumulate and make accessible information about practices; * identify issues for further research; * enable cross-sectoral practice comparisons; * enable the development of assessment tools; * create material for training seminars and workshops; and, * develop contacts.

Potential sectors have been selected to represent a wide scope of information production and digital preservation activity. Each sector may present a unique perspective on digital preservation. Organisational and sectoral requirements, awareness of digital preservation, resources available, and the nature of the digital object created place unique and specific demands on organisations. Each of the case studies is being balanced to ensure a range of institutional types, sizes, and locations.

The main areas of investigation included: