NASIG Newsletter

22:3 (2007:09) 22nd Conference (2007): Strategy Session: It Takes a Community: Early Lessons and Accomplishments of CLOCKSS

August 31, 2007 at 4:25 pm | In Conference Reports, Strategy Sessions | Leave a Comment

22nd CONFERENCE
STRATEGY SESSION 

It Takes a Community: Early Lessons and Accomplishments of CLOCKSS
Victoria Reich, CLOCKSS Initiative, LOCKSS Program, Stanford University Libraries
Reported by Valerie Bross

Vicki Reich presented a compelling argument for e-resource preservation, and, more specifically, for the use of LOCKSS and CLOCKSS. (http://www.lockss.org)

Developed in 1999-2002, LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe), provides a technology for libraries working as a community to cooperatively ensure access to selected materials for future generations. Currently, 200 LOCKSS boxes are saving publications of 200 publishers. The publications cover a range of e-resources—e-serials, e-books, blogs, e-theses/dissertations, government e-documents, and websites—in a variety of formats (images, video, text, software, pdf, xml).

You, too, can do it—along with six of your friends. The myth of digital preservation is that it takes a highly technical staff, using an extremely expensive and complex setup. Apparently, this is not true of LOCKSS, which can run on low-cost PCs. The key is multiplicity. LOCKSS works on the premise that the more libraries that preserve the same resources, the better the probability of survival.

The first step is to set up the LOCKSS server, a task that Vicki assured the audience is easy to do. The next step is to gain LOCKSS permission from a publisher. Third, one must prepare the LOCKSS box to collect and preserve the desired publication(s).  The LOCKSS software will then periodically poll the publisher site and draw in new content. LOCKSS will also check preserved files against the same content in independently-administered collections, to repair any files that get corrupted.

Begun in 2006, CLOCKSS builds on the success of LOCKSS.  CLOCKSS, or Controlled LOCKSS, is a private LOCKSS network. The CLOCKSS mission is to ensure access to published scholarly content over time. Seven libraries and eleven publishers are currently cooperating on this initiative. A major difference between CLOCKSS and other preservation initiatives is the concept that the content could be freely available to all under certain conditions, called “trigger events.” An example of such a trigger event would be when a title is no longer being published and no publisher has responsibility or is providing access.

During its first year of operation, CLOCKSS has earned considerable recognition, achieving the 2007 ALCTS Outstanding Collaboration Award.