| Abstract: | Over the past several years, Rutgers University Libraries (RUL) has been investigating frameworks, or platforms, to provide the infrastructure for a digital library repository (DLR) and for digital preservation. These efforts have been informed by prototyping and interacting with our partners throughout the state of New Jersey. The objectives have been twofold: 1) To provide seamless, perpetual access to digital collections -- RUL resources and the resources of others, and 2) To create a flexible framework of “core” capabilities providing the enabling infrastructure, interoperability, and sustainability. For the DLR, we wanted an open extensible framework that would allow growth with the ever- evolving needs of the University and other users throughout the state, and allow us to keep pace with technological advancements. For digital preservation, we wanted an infrastructure that would enable the preservation of digital surrogates for many different types of objects such as books, journal articles, maps, and photographs.
This presentation will describe how Rutgers University Libraries is using FEDORA for digital archiving and preservation of many different types of information formats including electronic journals, numeric data, and rare manuscripts. The discussion will address some of the difficult archival issues such as “what is the meaning of a digital original?” and how we might trace back through generations of migrated objects. Special technologies such as digital signatures and persistent identifiers will be discussed. Key services that are relevant for digital preservation will also be noted such as alerting services.
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