The MetaArchive Cooperative: Collaboratives and Trust Relationships

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The MetaArchive Cooperative Collaboratives and
Trust Relationships

• Katherine Skinner
• Educopia Institute and MetaArchive Cooperative

NDIIPP Partners Meeting Arlington, Virginia July
20-22, 2010
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MetaArchive Cooperative

• A distributed digital preservation cooperative
  for digital archives, based on LOCKSS
• Founded in 2003 supported by combination of
  sponsored funding (NDIIPP, NHPRC), consulting
  fees, and membership fees
• Provides digital preservation infrastructure and
  training and models to enable other groups to
  establish similar networks

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MetaArchive Cooperative

• Founded on the premise that cultural memory
  organizations should maintain their historical
  role as cultural stewards
• Preservation of digital assets as corollary to
  preserving physical ones
• Need in house expertise and knowledge
• Value of curators and librarians and archivists
• Chose technical and organizational infrastructure
  that capitalizes on cultural memory
  organizations proven methodologies
• Distributed preservation
• Partnership to keep costing affordable

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Cooperative preservation

• MetaArchive is a cooperative, not a vendor
• A cooperative (or co-op) is an organization that
  consists of a group of individuals who have
  joined together to perform a function more
  efficiently than each individual could do alone.
  The purpose of a cooperative is not to make
  profits, but to improve each member's situation
  and the situation of the surrounding society.
• collaborative association of cultural memory
  organizations with a nonprofit administration
• All hardware and software assets are owned by
  members
• Membership fees go to a central pool of support
  for members co-op activities

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Rapidly Growing Membership
MetaArchive 17 members 11 states/districts 3
countries
14 US Members Lib. of Congress
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MetaArchive Members/Affiliates

• Auburn University
• Boston College
• Clemson University
• Emory University
• Florida State Univ.
• Folger Shakespeare Lib.
• Georgia Tech
• Indiana State Univ.
• Library of Congress
• Penn State University

• Pontifícia Universidade Católica (Rio)
• Rice University
• Univ. of Hull
• Univ. of Louisville
• Univ. of North Texas
• Univ. of South Carolina
• Virginia Tech
• NDLTD
• SDSC

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Trust and TRAC

• Completed self-audit in 2010 (see
  http//metaarchive.org/resources)
• MetaArchive successfully conforms in all 3
  categories and 84 criteria
• trustworthy digital repositoryensures that
  processes and policies and workflows meet the
  standard for long-term preservation
• Helped us identify places where we could improve
  our policies and documentation

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Risk and collaboration

• Balance of flexibility and fragility
• Needs strong organizational center
• Limit dependence on any one member
• Sustainability does not come naturally!
• Collaborative can be a great asset for long-term
  preservation
• Geographic diversity/distribution
• Expertise diffusion
• Maintain cost-effective, in-house options

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Trust and collaboration

• Reducing short- and long-term costs
• Investing in a commonly-owned solution, not
  purchasing a service
• Sharing technological development and
  organizational tasks
• Decentralizing activities
• Safety in digital preservation may well reside in
  shared knowledge and shared commitment
• Decreasing dependence
• There is room for various types of solutions
• Increased capacity for acting as a community of
  cultural stewards

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Contact Info

• Dr. Katherine Skinner
• 404 783 2534
• katherine.skinner_at_metaarchive.org