Brian LavoieResearch ScientistOCLClavoie@oclc.org

The Economics ofSustaining Digital Information

The Economics ofSustaining Digital Information

NDIIPPPartners Meeting

Washington, DC

July 22, 2010

Sustainable resourcesSustainable resources

“Sustainability”“Sustainability”

Technical

Social Economic

Secure digital collections as part of enduring scholarly & cultural record …

… Sustainable digital preservation

Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access

Blue Ribbon Task Force on Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access

•Task Force:

• Support: NSF, Mellon, Library of Congress, JISC, CLIR, NARA

• Membership: cross-domain, cross-discipline

• http://brtf.sdsc.edu/

•Frame digital preservation as sustainable economic activity

• Understand problem space

• Interim Report (December 2008)

• Provide recommendations & guidelines

• Final Report (February 2010)

BRTF

Task Force Final Report (February Task Force Final Report (February 2010)2010)Task Force Final Report (February Task Force Final Report (February 2010)2010)

http://brtf.sdsc.edu/biblio/BRTF_Final_Report.pdf

Sustainable Economics for a Digital Planet

Key messageKey messageKey messageKey message

“… sustainable economics for digital preservation is not just about finding more funds. It is about building an economic activity firmly rooted in a compelling value proposition, clear incentives to act, and well-defined preservation roles and responsibilities.”

Digital preservation contextsDigital preservation contextsDigital preservation contextsDigital preservation contexts

Commercially-Owned CulturalContent

Collectively-Produced

Web Content

Research Data

Scholarly Discourse

Sustainability principles & actionsSustainability principles & actions

•Dynamics: Preservation is a series of decisions

• Anticipate and make contingency plans for economic risks

• Secure mechanisms to transfer preservation responsibilities

•Benefits: Manage “demand-side” of preservation

• Aggregate dispersed demand across space & time

• Use option strategies where future value is highly uncertain

•Selection: Scarce resources = prioritization

• Prioritize on basis of projected future use

• Revisit decisions: “de-selection” as important as selection

Sustainability principles & actions (continued)Sustainability principles & actions (continued)

• Incentives: Strengthen, align, create

• Impose and enforce preservation mandates where appropriate

• Create private incentives to preserve in the public interest

• Diffuse “right to preserve” to encourage third-party archiving

•Organization: Coordinate preservation interests

• Governance: responsibilities, outcomes, strategies, accountability

• Formalize/document governance in policy, SLAs, MOUs

•Resources: Gather sufficient resources & use efficiently

• Ensure resource flows are flexible in face of disruptions

• Leverage economies of scale & scope to reduce costs

Priorities for near-term actionPriorities for near-term action

Organizational

• Create “preservation-capable” organizations and relationships

Technical

• Invest in building digital preservation capacity

Public policy

• Create policy environment that facilitates & encourages digital preservation

Education and public outreach

• Encourage “culture of preservation”

More information …More information …

Task Force reports & resources: http://brtf.sdsc.edu/

Questions/comments: lavoie@oclc.org