• 14 Jan 2009 08:29

  CSU Digital Repository Preservation & Format Support Policy

  To assist content creators in creating, converting and depositing documents that meet the level of quality necessary for full information capture and the highest degree of preservability over time, the CSU Digital Repository (hereafter "CSUDR")  is developing a set of specification and format best-practice guidelines for common content types. NOTE: It is important to refer to the Registered Formats and Support Levels Table when deciding on what format to use. For example, the table clearly shows that a PDF-A document is given the highest level of preservation support versus a Word document.

  URL: http://manta.library.colostate.edu/repository/preservation.html • Modified: 2009-01-09

  Permalink  |  View Entire Page

• 10 Nov 2008 20:51

  CSU Digital Repository Format Support Policy

  Format Support

  To 2 assist content creators in creating, converting and depositing documents that meet the level of quality necessary for full information capture and the highest degree of preservability over time, the CSU Digital Repository (hereafter "CSUDR")  is developing a set of specification and format best-practice guidelines for common content types. NOTE: It is important to refer to the Registered Formats and Support Levels Table when deciding on what format to use. For example, the table clearly shows that a PDF-A document is given the highest level of preservation support versus a Word document.

  The CSUDR team is committed to providing long-term access to the digital works the repository contains by adhering to digital preservation best practices. However, the level of preservation support provided for a contribution is determined by the file format in which it is submitted. Software, hardware, and file format obsolescence is a complex issue with outcomes that are difficult to predict. This includes the future ability to of the Libraries to convert obsolete file formats to accessible file formats without any loss to an original document’s look and feel. The CSUDR will initially provide three levels of preservation support for specific file formats at the outset, as follows:

  Greatest Preservation Support (Level 1)

  The CSUDR will provide its highest level of preservation support, making its best effort to maintain the content, structure and functionality in the future. Level 1 service level is currently provided only for formats that are both publicly documented and widely used. This provides a high degree of confidence in our preservation commitment because it is more likely that tools will exist or be developed to undertake preservation actions, and that those actions will result in an understood and controlled transformation or migration.

  Note: The content may be normalized (transformed to another stable format) to provide additional assurance that the information content is preserved or to facilitate discovery and viewing.

  Limited Preservation Support (Level 2)

  The CSUDR will make limited efforts to maintain the usability of the file. The format will be monitored and may be transformed when significant risk to access is imminent but it is likely to be difficult to predict or control the consequences of any transformation or migration on content, structure or functionality.

  Note: The file may be transformed to a more preservable format to ensure that the information content is not lost, even if some structure and functionality are sacrificed.

  Minimal Preservation Support (Level 3)

  The CSUDR provides basic preservation of the file (bitstream) and associated metadata as-is with no active effort made to monitor the format and associated risks or to normalize, transform or migrate the file to a more preservable format. Files may be opened and/or read by future applications, but there is no guarantee that the content, structure, or functionality will be preserved.

  Note: Any format not yet reviewed and evaluated by the CSUDR team will receive level 3 service on deposit. A higher level may be assigned after format review takes place.

  Three Levels of Preservation Support

  	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
  Persistent identifier that will always point to the object and/or its metadata	•	•	•
  Provenance records and other preservation metadata to support accessibility and management over time	•	•	•
  Secure storage and backup	•	•	•
  Periodic refreshment to new storage media	•	•	•
  Fixity checks using proven checksum methods	•	•	•
  Storage in a trusted preservable format (making a normalized version, if necessary)	•	for some formats
  Strategic monitoring of format	•	•
  Migration to succeeding format upon obsolescence	•

  The three levels of preservation commitment are made at the individual file level. Complex content items comprised of multiple files in various formats will need additional evaluation to determine whether the operational relationships between the files can be maintained. If the original relationships are documented externally in metadata, that information will be preserved in any case. In addition, executables and some files that rely on a specific hardware/software environment will require additional evaluation because not only the format but the access environment must be considered in making a preservation determination.

  Registered Formats and Support Levels

  The following list of formats and support levels will be reviewed and updated based on our growing experience with digital preservation and the emergence of new formats and standards. If you have a format that isn't listed below, please contact us (Digital Repositories Services) Library_DRS@library.colostate.edu .

  
  

  Text, Page Description, and Microsoft Office File Formats
  Format	File Extension	Mime Type	Support Level	Qualifying Factors/Notes
  PDF/A*	.pdf	application/pdf	Level 1	Files not created per the “Best Practices” receive Level 2 support, and may be migrated to PDF/A
  Plain Text UTF-8 (Unicode)	.txt	text/plain; charset=UTF-8	Level 1
  Plain Text ANSI X3.4/ECMA-6/US ASCII (7-bit)	.txt	text/plain; charset=US-ASCII	Level 1
  Postscript	.ps	Application/ps	Level 2
  Rich Text	.rtf	Text/richtext	Level 1
  XML	.xml	text/xml	Level 2	Deposit of appropriate DTD/schema with XML file is strongly encouraged and may impact preservation. Minimally, XML should be well-formed; explicit namespaces strongly preferred. Assumes no DTD/schema but that XML file is well formed.
  HTML	.html, .htm	text/html	Level 3	Requires HTML 4.0 or 4.01 validated markup and CSS files(s), if referenced, must be deposited with document.

  *PDF/A is preferred over PDF whenever possible, as it is becoming recognized as the archival standard. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/a for more information.

  
  

  Format	File Extension	Mime Type	Support Level	Qualifying Factors/Notes
  LaTeX	.latex	application/x-latex	Level 2	We encourage that content should be converted to PDF/A by the depositor.
  TeX	.tex	application/x-tex	Level 2	We encourage that content should be converted to PDF/A by the depositor.
  Microsoft Word	.doc .docx	application/msword	Level 2	We recommend that content be converted to PDF/A by the depositor. Requires that macros be disabled.
  Microsoft PowerPoint	.ppt .pptx	application/vnd.ms-powerpoint	Level 2	We recommend that content be converted to PDF/A by the depositor. Requires that macros, animations and other effects be disabled.
  Microsoft Excel	.xls .xlsx	application/vnd.ms-excel	Level 2	We recommend that content be converted to PDF/A by the depositor. Requires that macros be disabled.

  
  

  Image File Formats
  Format	File Extension	Mime Type	Support Level	Qualifying Factors/Notes
  TIFF	.tiff	image/tiff	Level 1	This format is often slow to load unless compressed into a lossless format such as JPEG 2000
  JPEG 2000	.jp2	image/jp2	Level 1	Preferred over JPEG
  JPEG	.jpg	image/jpeg	Level 1	JPEG 2000 preferred.
  PNG	.png	image/png	Level 2
  BMP	.bmp	image/x-ms-bmp	Level 3
  GIF	.gif	image/gif	Level 3

  Audio File Formats
  Format	File Extension	Mime Type	Support Level	Qualifying Factors/Notes
  Wave	.wav	audio/x-wav or audio/wav	Level 2
  MPEG audio	.mp3	audio/mpeg, audio/mp3	Level 2
  AAC_M4A	m4a, .mp4	audio/m4a, audio/mp4	Level 3
  AIFF	.aif, .aiff	audio/aiff, +	Level 3	.wav or .mp3 preferred
  Audio/Basic	.au, .snd	audio/basic	Level 3	.wav or .mp3 preferred
  Windows Media Audio	.wma	audio/x-ms-wma	Level 3	.wav or .mp3 preferred

  Video File Formats
  Format	File Extension	Mime Type	Support Level	Qualifying Factors/Notes
  MPEG-4	.mp4	video/mp4	Level 2	Many variants possible; preservation level not yet established
  AVI	.avi	video/avi, video/msvideo, video/x-msvideo +	Level 3	.mp4 preferred
  Quicktime	.mov	video/quicktime, video/x-quicktime	Level 3	.mp4 preferred
  MPEG-1 MPEG-2	.mp1 .mp2	video/mpeg video/mpeg2	Level 3	Many variants possible; preservation level not yet established .mp4 preferred
  Windows Media Video	.wmv	video/x-ms-wmv	Level 3	.mp4 preferred

  What to do if your format is not listed:
  Please contact Digital Repositories Services Library_DRS@library.colostate.edu if you have questions about a particular format.

   

  URL: http://manta.library.colostate.edu/repository/preservation.html • Modified: 2008-11-10

  Permalink  |  View Entire Page

• 08 Oct 2008 10:03

  NIH Submission Guide

  Permalink  |  View Entire Page

Search the Site

Custom Search