Appendix 1: Glossary

  • Access: The processes for the retrieval of data and information from storage media, through the use of catalogs, indexes, and/or other tools.
  • Acquire: To take physical and legal custody of data and information.
  • Analog: Data and information in a format that must be digitized to make it digitally accessible.
  • Born-Digital: Data and information created in a digital format and maintained digitally.
  • Collection: A group of materials assembled by a person and/or organization, with some unifying characteristic(s).
  • Curation: The activity of managing data and information throughout its lifecycle, ensuring that data are properly appraised, selected, and securely stored, while appropriately maintaining logical and physical integrity and authenticity. Further, the data is made and remains accessible and viable in subsequent technology environments.
  • Datasets: A collection of data. The data formats include but are not limited to flat file tabular data, relational databases, text corpora, qualitative data in field notes, scholarly editions, and thematic research collections.
  • Digital Asset: A digital object (e.g. text, image, audio-visual file) owned or managed by an institution (or person) that has the rights to use it.
  • Digital Object: An entity in which one or more content files and their corresponding metadata are united, physically and/or logically, through the use of a digital wrapper.
  • Digital Preservation: Digital preservation is a comprehensive set of managed activities that are necessary to provided continued access to digital objects, beyond the limits of media failure or technological change.  At minimum it should include bit-level preservation. (Bit-level preservation is a minimum digital preservation standard; the goal is to maintain the integrity of the original bit-stream of a digital object. It is accomplished by maintaining backup copies (onsite and/or offsite), the periodic refreshing of those copies to new storage media, and conducting virus and fixity checking).
  • Digitized Materials: Analog materials that have been transformed into digital form, especially for storage, access and use in a computer environment.
  • File format: An attribute of a file which describes its encoding.  File formats are typically identified by a three- or four-letter extension at the end of a file name (i.e. .DOC, .MOV, .PDF, .XLS).
  • Institutional Records: Data or information in a fixed form, regardless of medium, that is created or received in the course of institutional activity and maintained as evidence of that activity for future reference.
  • Lifecycle: A series of stages through which something, in this case digital information, passes during its lifetime. The lifecycle for digital information includes creation, use and reuse, migration or emulation, and storage.
  • Metadata: A term that refers to structured data about data. "Preservation metadata" is the term for a broader set of metadata that documents the lifecycle of digital content from creation through processing, storage, preservation, and use over time.
  • Migration: A means of overcoming technological obsolescence by transferring digital resources from one hardware/software generation to the next. The purpose of migration is to preserve the intellectual content of digital objects and to retain the ability for clients to retrieve, display, and otherwise use them in the face of constantly changing technology. Migration differs from the refreshing of storage media in that it is not always possible to make an exact digital copy or replicate original features and appearance and still maintain the compatibility of the resource with the new generation of technology.
  • Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model: A high-level model that describes the components and processes necessary for a digital archives, including six distinct functional areas: ingest, archival storage, data management, administration, preservation planning, and access. (Richard Pearce-Moses, A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, Society of American Archivists 2005) Full reference model and specifications: Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS), Recommended Practice, CCSDS 650.0-M-2, Magenta Book, Space Communications and Navigation Office, NASA, June 2012
  • OhioLINK: The Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) is a consortium of 89 Ohio college and university libraries, plus the State Library of Ohio, that work together to provide Ohio students, faculty and researchers with the information they need for teaching and research.
  • Provenance:  Information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection. (Richard Pearce-Moses, A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, Society of American Archivists 2005)
  • Reformatting: The process of creating a copy with a format or structure different from the original, for preservation and/or access; this may be accomplished via, transcription, xerography, microfilming and/or digitization.
  • Stewardship: The responsible overseeing and protection of something considered worth caring for and preserving (Dictionary.com).

Updated: 06/05/2023 09:44AM