National Library Announces Digital Partnership

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, 7 August 2006

National Library of New Zealand Announces World-Leading Partnership to Ensure Long-Term Access and Preservation of Digital Heritage Collections

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa and Endeavor Information Systems have announced a partnership to design a world-leading digital archive capable of ensuring preservation and future access to the nation's digital heritage collections.

The announcement comes on the eve of legal deposit expanding to electronic documents. From 12 August 2006, the National Library will preserve this nation's digital publishing – from multi media CD Roms to DVD's, music sound recordings to websites – in digital heritage collections just as it has collected and preserved New Zealand's printed documentary heritage since 1903.

"As a strategic partner, Endeavor will assist the National Library to achieve its digital vision of all New Zealanders connected with information important to all aspects of their lives," said Penny Carnaby, national librarian and chief executive of the National Library of New Zealand.

Leading up to this partnership, the National Library has run a successful programme of digital preservation initiatives and established the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) Programme to design and implement a digital archive that would meet the Library's current and future needs.

Endeavor's experience providing both software and services to national libraries, coupled with its established digital capabilities made the company an attractive technology partner for this comprehensive project.

"The National Library has built up a huge body of expertise in the digital preservation domain in the past five years and wants to contribute to and influence the product direction. By partnering with Endeavor, the Library will continue to develop that current and valuable body of knowledge," says Carnaby.

"The National Library of New Zealand and Endeavor share the vision of a dynamic solution for guaranteed permanent access and preservation, one that is also applicable to other national libraries, universities, museums and other research organizations requiring an enterprise solution for ingesting, storing and accessing digital information," said Roland Dietz, president and CEO at Endeavor Information Systems.

Partnering with Endeavor and the National Library will be Sun Microsystems with whom both organizations have ongoing relationships. In November 2005, Sun announced the Library as a Sun Centre of Excellence for Digital Futures in Libraries, an agreement recognizing the work of the Library and it's staff at the forefront of global digital preservation endeavours. The National Library was the first non-tertiary institution in the world to achieve this status.

The partnership is further strengthened by the involvement of Endeavor's parent company, Elsevier, a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services.

The NDHA programme is a key initiative of New Zealand's Digital Strategy, launched by Hon David Cuncliffe, Minister of Information Technology in May 2005. Another initiative, the National Content Strategy is also under the stewardship of the National Library.

"The NDHA Programme will contribute to the Digital Strategy by preserving New Zealand's digital memory and is a significant building block in New Zealand's National Content Strategy as it is expected to contribute an estimated 26 terabytes of content by 2007," said Carnaby.

Summing up the significance of the announcement Carnaby says, "As with other libraries and national institutions, we are confronting the challenge of digital preservation now to ensure there is no gap in the nation's history in the future."

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About National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa

The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa has a vision of New Zealanders connected with information important to all aspects of their lives. The National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library provides access to the nation's documentary heritage, preserves this heritage so that future generations of New Zealanders can explore and enjoy it, provides resources to schools that support all teaching and learning in New Zealand, and fosters relationships with communities, including Māori, in New Zealand and throughout the world.

The passing of the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) Act 2003, in May of that year, requires the Library to collect, preserve and make accessible digital collections, along with the traditional paper collections, in ways that ensure current and future access to New Zealand's documentary heritage. The Act also extended legal deposit to include digital material.
For more information visit www.natlib.govt.nz

About National Digital Heritage Heritage (NDHA) Programme

The National Library established the National Digital Heritage Archive (NDHA) Programme in 2004 to manage the development of software that will process the ingest, storage, preservation and access of published digital material obtained through legal deposit and donated unpublished digital material. The Library, by taking responsibility for providing appropriate solutions for the preservation of New Zealand's digital cultural heritage, adds to the global endeavour to preserve national cultural heritage for future generations to explore and enjoy. www.natlib.govt.nz

About Endeavor Information Systems

Endeavor Information Systems produces advanced library management systems for research and public librarians seeking to integrate ever-increasing electronic resources within their collections. Since 1994, Endeavor has pioneered library management systems by offering enhanced functionality coupled with intuitive interfaces that increase usability and efficiency. Its heritage of technological innovation and service to libraries as well as its significant financial strength as a wholly owned subsidiary of Elsevier combine to make Endeavor Information Systems an industry leader. Visit Endeavor at www.endinfosys.com for more information.

About Elsevier

Elsevier are a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier's 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), MD Consult (http://www.mdconsult.com/), Scopus (http://www.info.scopus.com/), bibliographic databases and online reference works.

Elsevier (http://www.elsevier.com/) is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (http://www.reedelsevier.com/), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A singular vision -- "The Network Is The Computer"(TM) -- guides Sun in the development of technologies that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found in more than 100 countries and on the Web at www.sun.com

Background to the National Library of New Zealand and
Endeavor Information Systems Partnership

What is the NDHA Programme?

NDHA stands for National Digital Heritage Archive. In partnership with Endeavour Information Systems Inc (Endeavor) and Sun Microsystems (Sun), the NDHA Programme is developing a solution to New Zealand's need for a national, locally based archive to store its digital heritage collections.

What is Kronos?

The NDHA Programme was initiated in July 2004 and has been publicised internally and externally as the NDHA by the National Library since then. As an internal project within Endeavor, the company has dubbed the project Kronos. Endeavor is currently exploring naming options for the commercial version of its digital access and archiving solution.

What exactly is the NDHA/Kronos?

The National Library requires a system that secures the integrity and authenticity and therefore trustworthiness of digital material deposited with the National Library while integrating with other software applications the National Library uses to deliver digital library services. The NDHA will be based on a commercial software system that is standards-based and supports a cost effective and adaptable end-to-end solution combining with new business processes and other organisation changes. The proposed solution will be replicable in other organisations that wish to preserve and mine information, scalable over time, and serve as an international model for the implementation of digital repositories and preservation management.

Why is this a National Library project?

The passing of the National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) Act 2003, in May of that year, requires the National Library to collect, preserve and make accessible digital collections, along with the traditional paper collections, in ways that ensure current and future access to New Zealand's documentary heritage. The Act also extended legal deposit to include digital material. This highlighted the need for the National Library to put in place a reliable archive for the preservation of digital content to ensure its ongoing access. The National Library considers it is best suited to lead this endeavour and to share the digital preservation knowledge gained in collaboration and consultation with the rest of the public sector.

What experience in digital initiatives does the National Library bring to the partnership?

Since 2000, the National Library has successfully initiated a programme of digital preservation initiatives, including development of a preservation metadata schema and data dictionary, development of software for the automated extraction of preservation metadata from key file formats, and involvement in international activities such as PREMIS: Preservation Metadata Implementation Strategies. The Library has also implemented an Object Management System to test some elements of the digital preservation process and is in the process of developing, along with the British Library, a web curator tool for the harvesting of web sites under the auspices of the International Internet Preservation Consortium.

How is the NDHA programme funded?

The National Library required an injection of additional operational and capital funding to develop a digital archive. The National Library presented a business case to government for approval to spend up to NZ$24 million over the four-year period July 2004 to June 2008. Approval of this business case was granted in May 2004. This resulted in the establishment of the NDHA Programme in July 2004.

How has the project been tendered?

In February 2005, a public request for interest was issued for a software partner to the NDHA Programme. From nine responses received, two respondents progressed to the request for proposal (RFP) phase. The other respondent withdrew just prior to the issuing of the RFP and subsequently a letter of intent was signed between Endeavor and the National Library.

In November and December 2005, a specification of requirements (SOR) was issued to Endeavor in two parts. The SOR was informed by a functional requirements specification that further defined the requirements set out at a high level in the business requirements specification (completed in May 05). Subsequent to Endeavor's response to the SOR, it was agreed to proceed on a two-contract partnership.

The first contract will be for the design of what until this point has been named and publicised by NLNZ as the NDHA and what Endeavor are currently referring to as Kronos. The second contract will be for the build and development of the design. The announcement is expected in early 2007.

What will the NDHA mean to National Library users?

The digital repository and preservation technologies the partnership develops will be capable of meeting the National Library's expanding long-term digital access and archiving needs. The National Library will have the capability to collect and preserve in perpetuity New Zealand's digital heritage in line with agreed collection policies, preservation standards and interoperability standards. The National Library will also have the capability to make its digital heritage collections accessible in perpetuity in accordance with relevant legislation and other agreements while respecting the rights of the producers.

How does this tie in with other government initiatives?

In June 2004, the Government released a draft National Digital Strategy . The final strategy, described as a 'blueprint for action', was released in May 2005. The strategy is an overarching national vision for New Zealand to be 'a world leader at using information and technology to realise economic, social and cultural goals'.

The National Library played a part in drafting the strategy, which recognises three key principles: Connection, Content and Confidence. The Next Generation National Library of New Zealand Strategy 2004 – 2008 links the National Library's Statement of Intent and the National Digital Strategy. In this the National Library recognises a fourth principle – Continuity – that relates directly to the NDHA programme. Enhanced access to digital heritage collections and the National Library's digitised collections will contribute to the government's goals of easy access to New Zealand's national knowledge resources and strengthening of national identity.

How is the NDHA Programme being monitored?

The Treasury and State Services Commission monitor the NDHA Programme. Audit New Zealand is contracted for quality assurance. The National Library is committed to following due process to ensure that the best partnerships are chosen for the NDHA programme, it is successful and delivered in a timely and cost effective manner. The National Library will be involved in the development of international digital archiving standards, and the NDHA will be built in accordance with these standards.

How are NLNZ and Endeavor ensuring the long-term viability of the NDHA/Kronos?

Endeavor and the National Library initiated the formation of the Peer Review Group (PRG) -- consisting of recognised thought leaders and innovators from the international library and academic communities, all with institutional expertise in the areas of digital preservation and permanent access – to serve as an independent resource for Kronos and the NDHA Programme.

In addition to validating the scope and design of the initiative, as well as its compliance with industry standards, the Peer Review Group is charged with ensuring that Kronos is developed in concert with general access and archiving trends, so that it may be broadly applied at other research organisations in the future. Ultimately, the PRG's mandate is to guide the NLNZ/Endeavor and the resulting creation of a commercially viable solution.

Members of the Peer Review Group represent such institutions as Cornell University Library, the Getty Research Institute, Helsinki University Library, the Singapore National Library, the University of Glasgow, and Yale University.

ENDS

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