Skip to content

Skip to menu

Pandora : Australia's Web Archive National Library of Australia and Partners
HOME < Key Documents

PANDORA Business Process Model

The National Library of Australia is developing an electronic archive called PANDORA to provide long term preservation of and access to significant Australian online publications. A dedicated online repository will be established. Electronic objects contained in it will be maintained on an ongoing basis and converted to new formats as standards demand.

1. Introduction

1.1 PANDORA objectives
1.2 Service model and data modeling
1.3 Online electronic publications
1.4 Copyright
1.5 The Electronic Unit
1.6 Components of the Business Process Model
1.7 Relationship to other NLA systems

2. The selection component

2.1 The metadata recording process
2.2 The identification process
2.3 The selection process
2.4 The technical evaluation process

3. The user access component

3.1 Users
3.2 User entry points
3.3 Specific user needs
3.4 Guidelines for user access
3.5 User levels of access
3.6 Copying from the archive

4. The archive management component

4.1 Addition of new publications to the archive
4.2 Enabling access to the archive
4.3 Updating the archive
4.4. Modifying a publication in the archive
4.5 Deleting a publication
4.6 Management of user access screens

4.7 The capturing process

5. Issues of archive management

5.1 PURL resolver service
5.2 Standards for metadata
5.3 Administrative metadata
5.4 Standard storage formats
5.5 Software archive
5.6 File structure for the digital objects within the PANDORA archive

6. Report generation component

7. The filing infrastructure component

8. Functions outside the Business Process Model

GLOSSARY

Attachment A - Sample publication file structures

Australian Humanities Review
Australian Electronic Journal of Nursing Education

Attachment B - Dublin core generators - comparison of effectiveness

Attachment C - Ephemera


1. Introduction

1.1 PANDORA objectives

The PANDORA project has, as its basic objectives, to:

There are wider ramifications of the PANDORA project. Associated developments include:

1.2 The service model and business process modelling

Work on PANDORA has been proceeding at two levels:

In order to proceed with the design of the full archive system, a service model was prepared to illustrate how the archive might operate. This model is given at Attachment A.

A small team worked further to develop a business process model based on the service model. The PANDORA Business Process Model (BPM) was derived by a National Library of Australia (NLA) team consisting of Wendy Smith [PANDORA project manager], Margaret Phillips [Manager, Australian Electronic Unit], Leanne McKinnon [Senior Librarian, Electronic Unit], Deb Woodyard [Preservation Services Branch] and Debbie Campbell [PANDORA I.T. Research Officer] during a series of workshops in the first half of 1997. Input was also gratefully received from Judith Pearce, Margaret Kennedy, Richard Stone and Jasmine Cameron.

Workshops were held to discuss selection processes, ephemera, technical evaluation, filing, management of the archive, permanent naming, copyright/access and fair dealing, archiving and report generation.

PANDORA does not sit in isolation from the rest of the Library's business. There are many developments within the Library which have a close relationship to PANDORA - the Systems Environment Review Group (SERG) report, the Networked Services Project (particularly NSP Stage 2), the MetaWeb project and the proposed PURL Resolver Service. SERG has provided an overarching architectural framework within which the PANDORA infrastructure should reside.

1.3 Online electronic publications

The PANDORA archive will hold a variety of electronic publications, some of which currently emulate print form. The archive also holds types of publications which do not have any print equivalents, such as organisational and personal sites. The currently identified types of publications can be classified as follows:

Over time, electronic types may change to reflect enhanced use of the online environment.

1.4 Copyright

While most Australian online publications are currently available free of charge, some electronic publications lodged in the Library's collection have (or will have) an associated fee, for example, a pay-per-view requirement, a subscription, or a "purchase" price per issue. The Library does not intend to pass these fees on to the user.

Under the Copyright Act of 1968, electronic publications are NOT subject to legal deposit in the National Library of Australia. If changes to the Copyright Act lead to legal deposit for electronic materials, this will have some impact on the operation of the archive, particularly with respect to negotiation with publishers.

In 1995, the National Library made available to all publishers a Voluntary Deposit Deed for tangible publications (publications on discrete physical media such as CD-ROMs and diskettes), in lieu of Legal Deposit provisions. A similar Voluntary Deposit Deed has been drafted by the National Library for publishers of online publications, and is available by request from the Electronic Unit (at webarchive@nla.gov.au).

1.5 The Electronic Unit

The Electronic Unit was set up in April 1996 to assist in the development and implementation of policy and procedures for ensuring long term access Australian online publications. It is responsible for all aspects of the management of these publications, including identification, selection, negotiation with publishers, cataloguing and archiving.

1.6 Components of the Business Process Model

The Business Process Model is divided into 5 components, identified as:

These components comprise the PANDORA archive's business processes.

1.7 Relationship to other NLA systems

The PANDORA archive sits within a broad framework of other Library applications:

Rules

2. The selection component

2.1 The metadata recording process

Metadata may be recorded in the archive management facility at any time throughout the identification, selection, evaluation and archiving processes.

2.2 The identification process

The Electronic Unit regularly scans the Internet to identify publications in scope for preservation by the Library. Suggestions also come from other members of staff. Other triggers - such as the request for an allocation of an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) or a Cataloguing In Publication (CIP) from a publisher - also bring publications to the attention of the Electronic Unit.

When a publication is identified, the first task is to check the publication's details. In order to determine suitability for archiving, the following questions are asked:

The process of checking the details will result in:

OR

The results of checking the details will be recorded in PANDORA's management facility, to ensure that the status of any publication is known at any time. Information will also be made available to other staff and agencies.

2.3 The selection process

Electronic Unit staff assess each publication against the SCOAP guidelines.

There are three possible outcomes:

The appropriate decision is recorded in the management facility. Where a publication is rejected, the reasons for its rejection are noted.

2.4 The technical evaluation process

If the publication is selected for preservation, the following actions occur:

2.4.1 Allocation of unique identifiers

Where a unique identifier already exists for a publication, for example, an ISBN or an ISSN, it will be noted in the publication's catalogue record and in the archive management facility. In addition, each version, edition, or issue of a publication will be assigned a Persistent Universal Resource Locator (PURL) and an identifier internal to the archive. The former will permit some permanency of the location of the publication and the latter will allow archive managers to quickly retrieve a digital object from the archive. Its use may be extended in the future to distinguish PANDORA publications from those held by other archives in the distributed national model.

New identifiers, such as the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and handles, can also be noted when they are provided with an publication's metadata.

2.4.2 Recording descriptive metadata

Descriptive metadata are noted for the publication. These include:

For more detail, please refer to the Logical Data Model.

2.4.3 Contact with publisher

Negotiation with the publisher is conducted to seek permission for archiving, to ascertain publishing intentions (for example, whether content is deleted) and to set initial access levels to the publication. At this point, if the publisher does not respond, then the publication is filed for future follow-up action.

To date, no outright refusals have been encountered, but if this should occur, the information would be noted.

Any communications between the publisher and the National Library are filed in the Library's registry file system.

2.4.4 Cataloguing

Electronic Unit staff create a record on the NBU for the publication and include the descriptive metadata. Cataloguing is based on the AACR2, Library of Congress and ABN Standards Committee guidelines. The cataloguing rules permit the PURL to be placed in the 856 tag and in the TED field. It is not classed as a holding and placed in the 984 tag, as there is no concept of a holding for electronic records (although PANDORA changes this). Intention to archive is placed in the 583 (NTA) tag. PANDORA-specific metadata will not be recorded in the cataloguing record.

For serials, the Web Server team in the Systems Projects Branch is notified of the addition of the publication to the Library's collection, in order to include it in the Australian Journals Online site on the NLA's Information Server (http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/ausejour.html).

2.4.5 Technical evaluation

After a publication has been identified and selected for preservation within the National Library, a technical evaluation is carried out.

Prior to contact with the publisher , the following metadata are recorded about the publication. This metadata may be augmented during the publisher negotiation process:

If the publication is a serial, some additional access information may also need to be captured. For example:

3. The user access component

This component comprises functions relating to users gaining access to the PANDORA archive.

3.1 Users

The likely users of PANDORA have been identified as:

  • Information Services
  • Technical Services, including the Electronic Unit
  • researchers
  • Systems Projects
  • Document Supply Service
  • Preservation Services.

3.2 User entry points

The PANDORA service model indicates that the only necessary entry point for user access to the PANDORA archive is via the WebPAC (the Online Public Access Catalogue's Web-based interface). However, it has also been suggested that access should also be provided through other Web browser services including the NLA's information server. To accommodate both strategies, the infrastructure will be very carefully considered. It is expected that a range of access points will eventually be provided by the Networked Services Project infrastructure.

The user will be presented with a standardised title entry page for each publication which will have, where possible, features in common with the Library's WebPAC or other standard Library screens.

3.3 Specific User Needs

The requirements or special needs of these users above and beyond what the OPAC offers as a search tool will also need to be met. For example:

3.4 Guidelines for user access

Access to the PANDORA archive will be free of charge to the end user. However, there will be occasions when it is necessary to restrict access to some materials in the archive, either to all users or to some specific groups of users. There are three main categories of material that will be liable to have restrictions imposed on access:

In addition, the following requirements will be met:

Negotiations will be conducted with publishers to achieve standard conditions of access. Because the primary purpose of the PANDORA archive is to ensure long term access to publications, it is not a major concern if a publisher wishes to impose short term restrictions while the title is available on the publisher's site.

Should a publisher require restricted access to a publication, or a version or issue of it, a standard three year period of restriction will be applied. If necessary, a longer standard period of five or ten years could be negotiated. (If individual publishers cannot agree to the Library's conditions, their material may be excluded from the PANDORA archive. This will depend in part on the nature of the publisher's conditions and the importance of the title.)

Where the Library negotiates voluntary deposit of a publication, we would expect to be able to provide immediate access to internal users, and would negotiate a three year (preferably) or five or ten year restriction on external users while the item is still available on the publisher's site.

Once a publication has been archived, it would not be withdrawn from the archive in the event of the publisher withdrawing permission, except for extenuating legal circumstances.

To enable the archive management facility to manage automatic release from restriction, an access profile will be determined for each publication's issue, edition or version, based on the publisher's requests and the NLA's preferred conditions.

3.5 User levels of access

  unrestricted publications (1) partial commercial restriction (2) full commercial restriction (3) full

restriction

(4)

    - no NLA subscription NLA subscription - no NLA subscription NLA subscription  
internal user access to all issues access to all issues access to all issues no access for 3 (or 5 or 10) years access to all issues no access
external user access to all issues no access for 3 (or 5 or 10) years no access for 3 (or 5 or 10) years no access for 3 (or 5 or 10) years no access for 3 (or 5 or 10) years no access

Notes:

1. Unrestricted publications are most likely to be those freely available on the Internet. Some fee-based titles may also fall into this category.

2. Publications under partial commercial restriction are likely to be those available on the Internet on payment of a fee to the publisher. The Library will encourage publishers to deposit titles and to permit free access to both internal and external users. It is anticipated, however, that the majority will permit free access to internal users only.

Where an online title is likely to be in strong demand for the provision of information services, the Library may also subscribe to or purchase the right to access the publisher's site.

3. Full commercial restriction on a title is likely to occur when, for a specified period of time, a publisher requires that no access is given to current issues/versions in the archive, in order to protect vested commercial interests. If access to a title is considered important for the provision of information services, the Library may subscribe to or purchase the right to access the publisher's site.

4. Fully restricted access for legal reasons could apply in a situation, for instance, where a publication is the subject of a court case or is banned.

3.6 Copying from the archive

Other types of access, such as a "reproduction" capability within PANDORA for printing, downloading, faxing and saving to diskette, are considered to be beyond the scope of PANDORA's role. This will be provided by default to external users within their browser software and will be provided to internal Main Reading Room users by a combination of the browser software and the mechanisms used for the physical format electronic materials.

4. The archive management component

The major activities of archive management fall under the following headings:

4.1 Addition of new publications to the archive

The initial tasks required of the archive manager are to:.

4.2 Enabling access to the archive

Tasks allowing the publications in the PANDORA archive to be made accessible to the reader include:

4.3 Updating the archive

The updating tasks form an ongoing workload for the Electronic Unit staff. These tasks may include:

4.4. Modifying a publication in the archive

The modifying tasks form an ongoing workload for the Electronic Unit staff and are necessary to assure the quality and completeness of the content and framework of each captured digital object (where each publication is comprised of many discrete digital objects).

These may include:

4.5 Deleting a publication

Deletion is defined as removing whole publications from the archive. This may be necessary for several reasons, including:

Associated tasks include:

4.6 Management of user access screens

A title entry page is created by Electronic Unit staff for each publication accessed via the WebPAC (the Web-based interface to the Online Public Access Catalogue), and is the first screen the reader will see after selecting a publication. However, where a publication is accessed from another Library system, the reader will be taken straight to the publication. The reader will be made aware that they are in the PANDORA archive by the presence of a banner.

A sample title entry page is included below. Subsidiary screens, such as displays of error messages, will follow the standard screen design of the title entry page.

4.6.1 PANDORA archive title entry page

For each publication, the following information is to be displayed where appropriate:


PANDORA ARCHIVE

Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources in Australia

 

This title is archived by the National Library of Australia as part of a project to ensure long term
access to Australia's documentary heritage online

========================================================================

Title:

Australian Humanities Review

Gathering Schedule: This title is archived at three monthly intervals. The publisher's site may
provide more current information.

Holdings in the PANDORA archive:

Home Page last updated on Jul 1 07:55

Current Issue last updated on Jul 1 07:55

1997, Issue 1, March last updated on Jun 26 22:43

1996, Issue 4, December last updated on Jun 26 22:43

1996, Issue 3, September last updated on Jun 26 22:37

1996, Issue 2, July last updated on Jun 26 22:36

1996, Issue 1, April last updated on Jun 26 22:37

Copyright Warning:

Copyright in all manifestations of this publication, both within the PANDORA archive and on the
publisher's site, is held by the author and/or publisher of the publication. For information about
copyright ownership in each case, please refer to the publisher's copyright statement, usually found
within the publication, or contact the author or publisher.

Permission to copy or quote extracts from a publication must be sought from the copyright owner
when it is proposed to copy or quote a portion of the publication exceeding that permitted by the
author's or publisher's copyright statement. If the permitted use is not specified, you are asked to
note the fair use provisions set out in sections 40-43 of the Copyright Act 1968.

Where the publisher's or author's copyright statement grants more limited rights than those permitted
by the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright Act, the fair dealing provisions will prevail.

Publisher's copyright statement

Introductory information:

Internet publications can change frequently and the appearance and functionality of the version that
has been gathered in this archive may not be exactly the same as is currently available on the
publisher's site. While every attempt has been made to capture the publication as it is on the
publisher's site, a number of factors, including software limitations, may mean that this has not been
possible.

The site's internally linked documents only have been archived and links to other documents and sites
may not be active.


Functionality required:

  1. PURLs must be displayed for all archived material, in order to suppress the associated URL, and to conform to the permanent naming conventions espoused by the National Library. Suppressing the URL display will allow the level of access of a document to be checked, in order to allow conformance to deposit provisions. Cataloguing on the NBU and the OPAC must permit the addition of more than one (P)URL.
  2. the order of display of the NLA's archive PURL, the publisher's (P)URL, and any mirror site on the title entry page is yet to be determined. However, it is assumed that the publisher's URL appears first in the catalogue record, to encourage readers to visit that site.
  3. a mirror site is set up by a publisher, for example "Yoni" has its main site in the United States, and an Australian site. One site may be more up-to-date than another. It is also possible that when the PANDORA archive grows larger, the Library may wish to set up mirror sites.
  4. the publisher's contact details, and any charging incurred by the Library for access to any item, will not be made known to the user.
  5. for details about the gathering schedule, see part 4.7 for extra detail.
  6. information will be provided for the user as a brief introduction to the purposes and scope of the archive, and general navigational hints.
  7. messages may be sent to the system administrator if there are any difficulties regarding access to documents, for example, if the displayed document title page does not appear to match the title initially selected. This scenario is possible if an incorrect (P)URL has been stored as part of the document's metadata.
  8. holdings may be provided on the title entry screen or on additional screens, depending on the amount of information available for the publication. Over time, it may be necessary to summarise lists of issues chronologically.
  9. the Table of Contents details are provided by the Electronic Unit and may appear as Volume 1 Issue 10 etc. They are to appear in reverse chronological order, i.e., most recent last (at the end of the Table of Contents). If feasible, it is intended that this information will be automatically updated.
  10. the title entry page will need to indicate (if true) that not all of the holdings are present when the Library decides to archive only a sample. A corresponding general statement of intent could be provided in the NBU/OPAC record. The selection process will also need to indicate whether the document has been captured for informative and/or look & feel purposes.
  11. Articles in comprehensively indexed electronic titles (such as those held by the Australian Public Affairs Information Service (APAIS)) will be accessible at the title entry page level, not at article level. However, some article level access will be made available for APAIS articles indexed in journals not archived by PANDORA. An APAIS Miscellaneous Article title entry page will be created in a manner similar to that used for ephemera collections (see Attachment D for more information).

New functionality may be considered at a later date, for example:

4.7 The capturing process

4.7.1 The gathering schedule

The gathering schedule, or time interval between each successive capture, must be managed in its own right.

The gathering schedule shows the date of capture for each electronic document and should give details of frequency, for example daily, weekly, monthly and the date of last gathering.

The gathering schedule does not necessarily match the date of issue of any electronic publication or its objects. PANDORA will capture publications at intervals appropriate to each publication. For example, a journal issued monthly may be captured quarterly or annually. PANDORA must also provide the capability to capture a publication on a one-off occasion such as the demise of that publication or when the publisher advises the Electronic Unit that it is about to undergo a change in its presentation.

It is anticipated that the reader will access the publisher's site for the latest issue of any journal and for any issues not yet captured by PANDORA. To encourage this, the publisher's URL will be displayed above PANDORA's in the catalogue record and on the title entry page in the archive.

Publishers will be encouraged to advise the Library of the availability of new versions, changes to publishing intentions (including demise) and other circumstances, such as changes in schedule. When this occurs, it will be necessary to conduct a manual override of the automated gathering schedule.

For some publications, a one-off capture will be necessary. Examples include Commonwealth Government election results, and selected ephemera. Some online newspapers will be captured on a 9-monthly basis, in order to ensure a wider variety of material.

4.7.2 Harvesting

Currently, the PANDORA archive relies on HARVEST to capture publications on a regular basis.

Publications are harvested in all of the formats provided by the publisher, and will be harvested in full each time. In order to overcome "misrepresentations" of digital objects, it was decided to re-capture all of the site's embedded links and not edit them to impose meaning. All snapshots of a publication will be made available to the reader via the title entry page.

The Electronic Unit performs a check on the captured results, to ascertain whether the harvested digital object is present and correct. If it passes quality control tests, then a link to this new archived object is inserted into the archive via the title entry page.

5 Issues of archive management

Some general considerations for the management of the archive - some with wider implications for the Australian library community - are discussed below.

5.1 PURL resolver service

Many PANDORA functions will use the service transparently to the user and the manager. This is described in more detail in the documentation for the service, for example on the OCLC Internet site

When a publisher's site disappears, the PURL resolver service can redirect the (P)URL to PANDORA's archived copy of the digital object or the NBU/OPAC catalogue record may be updated. Disabled links, caused by disappearing URLs and other events, will be brought to the attention of Electronic Unit staff by periodically running a software "spider" against both the PANDORA archive and the PURL resolver database.

5.2 Standards for metadata

Information describing the electronic publications, (which will allow easy access to them and management of them in the PANDORA archive) needs to be captured as smoothly as possible. One means of attaining this is by using a standard set of metadata.

Where feasible, this information will be managed under the Dublin Core standard for metadata. Using this standard gives the potential for automated capture of the information. Attachment C gives some preliminary results comparing the automated Dublin Core generators of OCLC and UKOLN.

The Dublin Core holds the following metadata. Attributes marked 'mandatory' should always be supplied by the publisher.

Attribute Description Necessity
PURL locator Mandatory
title   Mandatory
creator author or editor of the publication Optional
subject keywords Optional
description abstract Optional
publisher   Optional
date   Optional
type   Optional
format of contents* for example, for text, whether HTML, SGML, PDF, or other; for images, whether JPEG (jpg extension), GIF, TIFF (tif extension), PDF, etc Mandatory
identifier for example, ISBN, ISSN, URL Optional
source   Optional
language   Optional
relation   Optional
issue(s) if a serial Optional
copyright statement   Optional
publisher contact details   Optional
frequency of issue   Optional

*Online at http://purl.oclc.org
Several options for automated capture are currently under review by the PANDORA team.
the decisions regarding standards for this attribute form one of the cornerstones of successful operation for PANDORA

5.3 Administrative metadata

Administrative and preservation metadata may need to be captured at any time during the maintenance of a digital object. This metadata is in addition to any required under Dublin Core attributes.

5.4 Standard storage formats

Digital object formats support full text, images, text as image, audio and video. There is not one particular standard format which presides over the others at the moment. However, the two major contenders for text based information are the standard storage formats of PDF and SGML - like formats. Publishers are likely to reflect the breadth of choice available by selecting formats which meet their strategic needs and budgets. In addition, they may use several formats within the one publication, for example, a home page in HTML and full text in PDF.

In order to fully support this variety, where several formats seem to peacefully co-exist, and to continue to keep a true representation of electronic materials available to readers, publications are captured in more than one format where they are provided. If a publisher releases a document in HTML only, a PDF version will not be created to provide alternative access for current users. However, the Library does have a responsibility to experiment with conversion to alternative formats.

Where a publisher creates a publication in a format which is deemed to be non-standard, options for the Library are to:

The issue of whether to convert every object to one or more standard formats for the archive was discussed as follows:

FOR CONVERSION AGAINST CONVERSION KEEPING MORE THAN ONE FORMAT
the content of any given object is the only significant reason for its capture it is also highly desirable to retain the 'look and feel' of objects, in order to convey a true overview of the state of electronic publishing throughout history FOR

provides true future-proofing against the loss of any one format ( where an object is currently published in more than one format, they are all captured)

AGAINST

the cost of storage, although currently inexpensive, may become costly depending on what platforms the archive is forced to migrate to over time*

it will be cheaper to maintain and manage all objects in the same format objects may become boring - there is a possible loss of creativity and functionality readers are not required to use one browser only - a range of browsers will already be available in the archive managers of the archive will need to monitor the future of more than one standard
it is a form of future-proofing provided the right single format is chosen maintenance and management of the conversion process will be costly * where a publisher offers a single non-standard format, then the Library will convert it to one of the archive's standard formats
migration costs will be reduced a conversion path which is valid over time will need to be identified, created and modified, in order to protect objects from technological obsolescence where a publisher offers several formats, the Library should retain the most commonly used or standard formats, in order to preserve the integrity of the object's structures (and hence the integrity of embedded links), and migrate these formats as changes in standard require it

The introduction of a new object standard will not always require conversion of publications, as some standards will be backwardly compatible. The decision regarding conversion will be arrived at on a publication-by-publication basis, but will loosely conform to the following groupings:

5.5 Software archive

In order to maintain the full functionality of the archived publications, a database of software will need to be established and updated as needed.

An example is the several versions of the Adobe Acrobat software. Any modified or additional software will need to be captured, approved, made virus-free, and validated before placing in a software repository. It can be obtained automatically by the downloading software. Ideally, the digital object will automatically invoke the repository version when the reader requests it.

5.6 File structure for the digital objects within the PANDORA archive

The structure of digital objects varies from publisher to publisher. Each publisher creates a unique set of file naming conventions to bring together the disparate parts of a publication. For an example, see Attachment B.

The PANDORA archive must achieve three goals with its file structure:

The file structure for electronic monographs, journals, and home pages are often modest variations of the following models. Both of the models are based on the assumption that the highest level entry point (or top level URL) is represented by a title.

The home page is used in the archive to describe the first entry point to the publication. For example,

for a journal:

Within this file structure, there are variations within publications. For example, a home page and the journal's table of contents or index may be the same digital object. The archived issues may be re-edited by the publisher so that the content is arranged differently over time.

For a monograph:

Monographs may evolve in this environment, for example, a publisher issues a "book" and then adds its reviews or a comments column. In this situation, some digital objects will need to be captured and added to the archive.

While it would be worth capturing this as a significant change, it would not be worth activating Harvest to capture minor single word changes within the text, or an enhanced image, and bringing both editions to the attention of the reader. The administrative overheads of monitoring such small changes are deemed too expensive to sustain.

For an evolving serial, some publishers may restructure their publications by adding or deleting features, columns, reviews etc. Issues may be archived and re-arranged, for example, by resorting and grouping articles in sorted order by author. These activities may change the file structure significantly. The Library will cope with this by requesting new versions at each gathering.

6. Report generation component

Three sets of users will require reports from the PANDORA management facility:

Several reports are currently produced in the prototype environment:

Report content frequency receipt
review list selected publications,

rejected publications,

monitored publications

on demand, held on the ILMS and produced by ILMS staff member Electronic Unit
status of publications a summary of the status of actions and publisher negotiations for each publication shared on G drive, produced by various staff Electronic Unit
technical evaluation sheet (form) a report on each publication as required, produced by EU manager Electronic Unit
comparison report (form) compares the captured digital object with the object at its original site as required, produced by EU staff Electronic Unit
online title list (on PANDORA search page) a list of the publications held in the archive, shown online as required Electronic Unit
technical report shows the space usage of each URL, the number of URLs and files as required, produced by IT or EU staff Electronic Unit
statistics as above, plus new & modified catalogue records, plus hours spent scanning publications; all

collected as created

once per month, produced by EU staff Technical Services management report, plus the Annual Report
publications list a list of publications held in the archive produced regularly by the EU staff State Libraries

All of these reports or forms must be incorporated into and improved by the PANDORA management facility. Additional reports will also be required, including:

  • time taken by the capture process
  • number of URLs/files captured and space utilised
  • lost URLs
  • number and list of valid and invalid URLs for each publication
  • system back-up failure
  • total space usage by archive
  • traditional database software reports
  • transaction log activity, including counts of the number of times each publication has been accessed (may be analysed further by location of browser). The transaction log could also track the number of users rejected by PANDORA through access restrictions
  • PURL resolver lists.

It was agreed that wherever possible, as none of the reports need to be published, most of the information can be made available online. This includes the statistics made available to State Libraries. A few report templates can be created and maintained online for interested parties, so that they do not require access to the PANDORA management facility.

As well as "end-result" reports, there are several PANDORA management activities which will require the digital objects at two sites to be compared simultaneously. These activities occur at various points in the maintenance process. Although not an all-inclusive list, the following activities indicate the kind of functionality required:

7. The filing infrastructure component

There is on-going communication between the Library and the publisher which needs to be captured as a true record of PANDORA digital object creation. This is essential for future action and evidentiary purposes. While not all correspondence need be captured (trivial information may be excluded), it will be necessary to determine what is meant by meaningful correspondence. In this context, it is therefore appropriate to capture details of digital objects rejected for archiving in PANDORA, so that this decision may be re-examined, if necessary, in the future.

As most of the communication is conducted via e-mail, it was thought appropriate to capture it in electronic form. However, as it contains a formal corporate record of communication, it does not need to form a part of the PANDORA archive per se, provided a linking mechanism exists between it and the publication to which it refers.

Communication may take place between the Library and publishers on at least the following occasions:

Additional communications with the appropriate agencies can also be captured during the archiving stage, to determine what archives the publisher intends to maintain.

Other communications, such as suggestions by in-house staff for archivable publications can also be captured and linked to the appropriate PANDORA digital object.

A trial took place with TRIM Enterprise, which can store electronic communications in a registry-style file structure. Several possibilities were considered within TRIM's electronic file structure:

Issues addressed included:

While filing is often the last activity considered when keeping track of a publication, there is merit in making the creation of a TRIM file for a publication the first activity in the process of identifying digital objects for preservation, to reflect the fact that publisher contact is the first step in acknowledging the significance of any particular digital object.

8 Functions outside the Business Process Model

GLOSSARY of terms as used in the Business Process Model

Term Definition
archiving the process of downloading online publications, storing them and managing access to them within the PANDORA archive. See also Preservation.
electronic publication an electronic publication is a manifestation of a digital object. The publication can be a single digital object or it may consist of a hierarchical structure of digital objects. Lower level objects (such as graphics and sounds) may be stored with the object (which then remains a single electronic file, for example, a MS Word document) or as separate objects (for example, a Web page, which stores graphics separately).
evolving serial a publication that sometimes refers to itself as a 'zine', a 'magazine' or a 'journal', but has no discrete issues. Text is added, often on an irregular basis. Sometimes earlier segments disappear.
fair dealing copying rights which individual users may apply to any publication. For electronic publications, the ability to read and browse without paying individual transaction fees.*
Legal Deposit the requirement binding on all publishers and enforceable by law to deposit with one or more designated institutions a copy or copies of their printed publications.**
ISBN International Standard Book Number, which uniquely identifies a monograph.
ISSN International Standard Serial Number, which uniquely identifies a serial.
preservation the process of initiating strategies and undertaking activities to ensure that archived publications will remain viable and accessible in the long term. See also Archiving.
PURL a Persistent Universal Resource Locator is an URL. It points to a service which accepts the PURL as input and takes the searcher to another location (URL).
URL A Universal Resource Locator points to specific locations of digital objects. Subject to change without notice.

 

*National Strategy for Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications: A National Library of Australia Position Paper @ http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/paep.html

**National Strategy for Provision of Access to Australian Electronic Publications: A National Library of Australia Position Paper @ http://www.nla.gov.au/policy/paep.html

Attachment A - Sample publication file structures

Australian Humanities Review

Title entry http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/ no extension
     
Title page Cassandra Pybus /books/WR/cass.html
  Editorial Committee /edboard.html
  European mirror http://www.lamp.ac.uk/ahr/
  Current Issue, December 1996 /current.html
  The Demidenko Affair Update /emuse/demidenko/demiupdate.html
  Marilyn Lake reviews 'states .... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/lake.html
  Ann Curthoys reviews 'Worlding.... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/curthoys.html
  (c) 1996 All Rights Reserved /copyright.html
  Site design http://otheredge.com.au/index.htm
  Current /current.html
  Emuse /emuse/home.html
  Good oil /goodo/home.html
  Archive /archive.html
  Search /search.html
  Browse /browse.html
  Help /help.html
  Feedback email
     
Contents - Update register /add.html
Issue 12/96 Bob Connell .... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/connell.html
  David Tacey.... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/tacey.html
  Marilyn Lake reviews 'states .... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/lake.html
  Ann Curthoys reviews 'Worlding.... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/curthoys.html
  Annamarie Jagose.... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/jagose.html
  Marcus Breen.... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/breen.html
  John Frow.... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/frow.html
  Terry Threadgold..... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/threadgold.html
  Pierre Ryckmans..... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/ryckmans.html
     
Contents - Send your response email
Emuse Updates register /add.html
  Helen Darville aka Helen... - Update /emuse/demidenko/demiupdate.html
  Bob Connell Politics .... /archive/Issue-Dec-1996/connell.html
  Jim Hammerton /emuse/Masculinity/hammerton.html
  Inga Clendinnen's ... Fellow Sufferers /archive/Issue-Sept-1996/clendinnen.html
  Lori Askeland (USA) /emuse/History/askeland.html
  Cassandra Pybus /emuse/History/pybus.html
  Richard Rorty (USA) /emuse/History/rorty.html
  Dennis Altman's... On Global /archive/Issue-July-1996/altman.html
  David Halperin (Australia/USA) /emuse/Globalqueering/halperin.html
  Gary Dowsett (Australia) /emuse/Globalqueering/dowsett.html
  Michael Tan (Philippines) /emuse/Globalqueering/tan.html
  Donald Morton (USA /emuse/Globalqueering/morton.html
  Christopher Lane (USA) /emuse/Globalqueering/lane.html
  Fran Martin (Australia) /emuse/Globalqueering/martin.html
  Chris Berry (Australia) /emuse/Globalqueering/berry.html
  A response from Dennis Altman /emuse/Globalqueering/altresp.html
  Henry Reynolds After Mabo What /archive/Issue-April-1996/Reynolds.html
  Marilyn Lake /emuse/Mabo/Lake.html
  Garth Nettheim /emuse/Mabo/Nettheim.html
  Tom Griffiths /emuse/Mabo/Griffiths.html
  Humphrey McQueen's ..Professions /archive/Issue-Sept-1996/mcqueen.html
  Victoria Reynolds /emuse/Academy/reynolds.html
  John Levett /emuse/Academy/levett.html
     
Contents - Good oil Ninth Irish-Australia Conference * /goodo/irish.html
     
Contents - Updates register /add.html
Archive Copyright info /copyright.html
  Issue 1 April 1996 ** /archive/Issue-April-1996/home.html
  Issue 2 July 1996** /archive/Issue-July-1996/home.html
  Issue 3 September 1996** /archive/Issue-Sept-1996/home.html
  Demidenko discussion** /archive/demidenko/home.html

* Another 6 conference references in similar format on site, + 2 offsite. The rest of the Good oil is all offsite - 21 additional offsite links

** these follow the same format as the current issue with each article having a separate URL in the format /archive/issuedate/author.html

NB The archived articles have the authors of feedback articles quoted in the first paragraph - i.e. the content of articles themselves has been updated with value added information since the time of their original publication.

This seems to imply that the whole title site can be overwritten at each capture - as long as no archived material is deleted!

Some of the issues/article are white text on a black background, later ones are black on a white background.

Australian Electronic Journal of Nursing Education

Title entry http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/health/nurshealth/aejne /aejnehp.htm
     
Title page Journal Philosophy /aejnep-m.htm
  Information for Contributors /aejnec-m.htm
  Personnel /staff.htm
  Volume 1 - No. 1 /vol1-1/vol1-1.htm
  Volume 2 - No. 1 /vol2-1/vol2-1.htm
  Volume 2 - No. 2 - Under construction /vol2-2/v2-2con.htm
  Peter Cleasby, School of Nursing and Health Administration, pcleasby@csu.edu.au  
     
Contents Volume 1. Number 1 /vol1-1/vol1-1.htm
  Editorial /vol1-1/aedit.htm
  Early australian nursing... Part 1: Scholars, Kathryn Roberts /vol1-1/ajn1.htm
  Early australian nursing... Part 2: Scholarship , Kathryn Roberts /vol1-1/ajan2.htm
  Early australian nursing ...: Part 3: Relationships between..., Kathryn Roberts /vol1-1/ajan3.htm
  Learning together: Using Simulation... Moya Conrick, Anne Dunne & Jan Skinner /vol1-1/ajan4.htm
  AEJNE Home Page (title entry)|| Next Story (editorial)  
     
Contents Volume 2 - No. 1 /vol2-1/vol2-1.htm
  Editorial /vol2-1/edit21.htm
  Refereed Papers  
  Clinical Decision Making: Issues in Teaching, Moya Conrick /vol2-1/mc21.htm
  Nurse-Academics and the Instructional Planning Process, Kathryn L. Roberts /vol2-1/kayr2-1.htm
  Free Communication  
  Meeting the Learning ..., Mrs Lisa McKenna /vol2-1/lmck21.htm
  Book Reviews  
  Health in Australia: Sociological ... Reviewed by Kerry Mahony & Dennis McIntyre /vol2-1/bkrev1.htm
  On Moral Medicine - Theological Perspectives ..., Reviewed by Bruce C Wearne /vol2-1/v2-1br2.htm
  AEJNE Home Page || Next Story  
     
Contents Volume 2 - No. 2 - Under construction /vol2-2/v2-2con.htm
  Contents (Under Construction)  
  Refereed Papers  
  Using a computerised clinical ... Julianne Cheek, David Gillham and Patricia Mills /vol2-2/v2-2jc.htm
  The Clinical Portfolio, Lynette J. Stockhausen /vol2-2/v2-2ljs.htm
  AEJNE Home Page || Next Story (first article in issue)  

Attachment B - Dublin core generators - comparison of effectiveness

The six electronic publications selected for the prototype PANDORA archive were subjected to the online Dublin Core generators set up by UKOLN at http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dcdot.pl and OCLC at http://orc.rsch.oclc.org:9016/cgi-bin/dcget.pl. A table summarising the results follows.

The following titles were analysed:

Australian Humanities Review http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/
Circit http://teloz.latrobe.edu.au/circit/conf0995.html
Coastal Bibliography Series http://www.erin.gov.au/portfolio/ahc/hera/coast.html
Flight of ducks http://www.cinemedia.net/FOD/FOD0001.html
Write Stuff http://www.utas.edu.au/docs/ahugo/tws/
Mindgate http://www.melbourne.net/mindgate/

Results

The following points indicate how the results of the two alternative processes compare:

Conclusion

At this stage the results from UKOLN are equal or better to those of OCLC for most DC attributes for the purposes of the PANDORA project. This conclusion is based on a very small sample, and on the understanding that development of both systems is ongoing.

Given the superior results obtained from Flight of Ducks, education of publishers is a key element in obtaining good results.

Attachment C - Ephemera

Ephemera has been considered as a separate category to other online electronic publications, because of its different characteristics.

Current procedures

As for print ephemera, electronic ephemera is selected in two ways

There are two approaches to preserving and describing electronic ephemera - by category and individually. The category approach is applied to electronic documents selected as part of special projects to collect items relating to particular topics. Topics may be determined by the Electronic Unit or by the Manager, Australian Collection Development, and often include targetted collecting of print ephemera as well. Electronic publications selected for these projects are preserved and described at the category level, i.e. euthanasia, gun control.

The individual approach applies to ephemeral sites selected on their own merit, rather than because they are part of a special project. These sites are preserved and described individually, unless it is likely that a number of other ephemeral sites on the same subject will be archived over time.

All electronic ephemera will be archived electronically. However, until the stability of the archive can be assured, documents of a transient nature are instead to be printed out and added to the print ephemera collection.

A lower level of publisher negotiation is undertaken for ephemeral items. The policy is to inform the publisher that we wish to archive the item and to proceed unless we hear otherwise from the publisher.

Ephemera workshop

The Business Process Modeling team held a special workshop on ephemera to ascertain how it could be managed under the PANDORA model. The problem to be solved centred around the fact that access to items in the PANDORA archive is provided via the catalogue record in the OPAC, but individual catalogue records are not provided for ephemeral items.

As a result of the workshop, it was decided to upgrade the treatment of electronic ephemera. The workshop provisionally concluded that, unlike print ephemera, a full NBU record should be created for each item of electronic ephemera (We later modified this decision). This approach is consistent with the growing importance of ephemera as a research tool, and the responsibility of the Library to make its collection nationally available. The opportunity could also be taken to enhance the visibility of the print collection, by referring users to it from the electronic collection.

The workshop also concluded that the practice of printing out some electronic ephemera and filing it with print ephemera should be discontinued. Once PANDORA is fully operational, all electronic ephemera should be preserved electronically.

Cataloguing trial

To test the principle that full NBU records should be created for individual items, a cataloguing trial was conducted. Five items were catalogued at each of the following levels:

Cataloguing at the document level did not always achieve an adequate result as small single ephemeral documents often do not have meaningful authors and their titles often appear out of context. One example was a one page news item about euthanasia in Australia on the site for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of London. The main entry for the document was 'World summary' which is not a helpful access point.

Cataloguing at the site level proved to be useful for sites with substantial and significant content. Although identified as part of an ephemera project, many of these sites would, in fact, qualify to be selected for preservation in their own right when assessed against the SCOAP guidelines, and would be eligible for a full catalogue record in any case. Because of their significance, it is likely that we would also want to gather them on a regular basis and they therefore would not, technically (as defined by the SCOAP guidelines) be part of the ephemera collection. There may be some items in this category that we would want to gather once only.

Cataloguing at the subject level mirrors the treatment currently given to print ephemera and proved the most successful approach for small single documents.