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| Keywords: |
Archiving/Preservation (STI Management) Public Access (U.S. Policy) |
| Author: | Margaret Byrnes, Head, Preservation and Collection Management Section, National Library of Medicine |
| Abstract: | As part of the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) mandate to collect and preserve the record of biomedicine, NLM formed a Working Group on Permanence (WPG) of electronic information. The WPG has developed a model based on NLM's electronic publications to address a user's need to know whether a resource he/she creates, uses, or cites will remain available, unchanged, and in the same location for future access. In this process the WPG developed recommendations for: levels of permanence suitable for different categories of NLM information; "methods of recording and communicating permanence levels; and procedures for ensuring that permancence levels are implemented." According to the author, three main concepts behind this system are: identifier validity (IV) - the extent to which a resource's identifier will remain the same over time and retrieve the same resource; resource availability (RA) - the degree to which users can be assured that a given resource will be there the next time it is needed; and content invariance (CI) - the degree to which the content of an electronic resource could change. Under the rating of identifier validity there are two possibilities: transient and guaranteed. Under the resource availability rating the possibilities are: no guarantee or permanently available. Under the rating for content invariance the possibilities are: dynamic (content can change anytime through revisions or be completely replaced); stable (minor additions or corrections to be expected); or unchanging (content will remain the same over time). In addition to these categories, the terms growing or closed are used for newsletters or databases to indicate that material is still being added or that the resource is no longer growing. A simplified rating system was developed to assist NLM staff to replace the initial system. The ratings for permanent resources are permanent - unchanging content; permanent - stable content; permanent - dynamic content; and permanent - not guaranteed. All of NLM's major resources on the Web were examined and were categorized by resource category and given a default rating when possible. For the creators of information, a drop-down menu based on the resource category was developed. Guidelines were also developed to assist staff in using the rating system. MARC records will be created for resources that are rated permanent and will be placed in the online catalog. The WGP recommended that permanence coordinators be assigned for each major program area to ensure that the rating system is implemented consistently. The systems development phse of the project is scheduled to begin in January, 2001. |
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| Date Published: | 2000 |
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| Resource Type: | Conference Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Format: | HTML |
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