Storage and Migration Strategies
Repository implements/responds to strategies for archival object (i.e., AIP) storage and migration.
At least two aspects of the strategy must be acted upon: that which pertains to how AIPs are currently stored (including physical requirements, media requirements, location of copies, formats and metadata) and that which may require AIP migration of any form. For example, AIP migrations that result in transformations of content need to be tracked to allow subsequent users to understand the repository's processing implications.
If a repository has not yet needed to carry out any sort of preservation strategy on AIP(s), it must demonstrate that its policy has not required it yet.
Evidence: Institutional technology and standards watch; demonstration of objects on which a preservation strategy has been performed; demonstration of appropriate preservation metadata for digital objects.
Perhaps the biggest AIP migration so far at ICPSR has been the move from magnetic tape as the storage media to "spinning disk." Here's part of the story.
In 2005 ICPSR leased and managed three off-site storage locations. Two of the locations were small, and contained older magnetic tape formats, such as IBM 3480 cartridge. One of the locations was quite large ("the warehouse"), and that location had an assortment of tapes (IBM cartridge, 9-track, and more modern DLT) and paper. The paper was a mix of old copies of content ICPSR used to distribute via post (e.g., codebooks from the 1980s and earlier) and backup material related to the born-digital content (e.g., letters from researchers about their datasets).
A member of my team (Asmat Noori, who manages IT operations) lead an effort with four goals:
- Move digital content from tape to disk
- Discard old distribution paper content (the old codebooks)
- Transfer archival paper to Iron Mountain for safe-keeping
- Close the three off-site locations
Before storage migration:
Asmat's team consists of a handful of full-time ICPSR staff, a few student temps, and part of a software developer who would build tracking systems, matching boxes of content to Iron Mountain locations, and matching old media to new.