Overview
Harvard Library’s Digital Preservation department provides services and infrastructure that maintain the safety, integrity, and usability of Harvard’s digital collections. Central to the unit is the Digital Repository Service (DRS), which provides secure, monitored storage and preservation services for more than 53 million files in many different digital formats. The DRS is a robust and mature repository that has been in production since 2000 and is used by over 50 Harvard libraries, archives, and museums. The DRS technology is maintained by Harvard’s Library and Technology Services (LTS) department.
...
Unit/Repository | Depositor | Date Interviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Imaging Services | Maggie Hale, Todd Bachmann, Hilary Kline, Ming Zhao | 11/3-4/2015 |
| Law School Library | Steve Chapman, Paul Deschner, Jessica Farrell | 11/17/2015, 1/8/2016 |
| Baker Library | Christine Riggle, Ben Johnson | 11/23/2015 |
| Fine Arts Library | Vanessa Venti | 12/4/2015 |
| Graduate School of Design | Alix Reiskind, Ines Zalduendo | 12/8/2015 |
| Harvard Art Museum | Katie Kujala | 12/9/2015 |
| Villa I Tatti | Lukas Klic | 12/10/2015 |
| Judaica | Violet Radnofsky | 1/12/2016 |
| Media Preservation Services | Bruce Gordon, Dave Ackerman | 2/25/2016 |
| Office for Scholarly Communication/DASH | Ben Steinberg | 1/27/2016 |
| Schlesinger Library | Joanne Donovan, Amy Benson | 1/13/2016 |
| Botany Library | Chris Robson, Lisa DeCesare, Keiko Nishimoto | 2/5/2016 |
| Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center | Chris Tomlinson | 2/24/2016 |
| Harvard Archives | Robin McElheny, Jennifer Pelose, Kate Bowers, Amanda Sherman | 3/16/2016 |
Recommendations
Click here to read a summary of initial recommendations made at the close of the Phase One interviews.
Survey
Between Tuesday, June 14, 2016 and Monday, June 20, 2016, an online survey was distributed to project participants to gauge level of interest and priorities among the previously determined recommendations. Click here to read the summary of the survey results.
...
The results of Phase One interviews, surveys, and meetings with DRS users exposed the need for a revamped deposit tool. Further discussion with participants helped clarify priorities for developers, and a list of functional requirements has been created for DRS developers to begin working. This document is a current incarnation that is likely to endure further edits and drafts.
...
Another apparent need exposed by the interviews and surveys is the provision of a deposit-only service, one which does not first rely on the use of Imaging Services for reformatting. For users with born-digital material or materials reformatted in-house or by a third-party vendor, which the user does not have the resources to themselves deposit, a deposit-only service is being explored as a potential alternative. Use cases and functional requirements for such a service will soon be documented hereYou can read a needs report for this service here, which includes some functional requirements and use cases.
Community Forum
Many DRS users expressed the desire to more easily share discussions, templates, and ideas. To this end, an appropriate space for a forum of some sort to better facilitate open sharing between users is being explored.
...