Good morning,
I sent a message a couple of weeks ago to Pres leadership via CORE's contact form, but I suspect it disappeared into the ether. Here's hoping this one reaches you all!
The Preservation Standards & Practices Committee would like to update Preservation leadership on our recent activities and solicit feedback.
Last year's committee gathered and compiled data from one of the smallest iterations yet of the Preservation Statistics Survey (27 respondents). We have discussed internally the pros and cons of continuing the survey as well as solicited opinions from reliable survey respondents from the Big Ten libraries. Our conclusions are that: the survey is very time-consuming and difficult to fill out as the preservation work can be dispersed across various units; each institution tracks their own data in unique ways that does not fit well into a universal survey; while the data is interesting, there is so little of it compared to the size of the field and each institution may be so drastically different, that it is of no use for analyzing the field as a whole or advocating for additional preservation support internally. Our recommendation is to sunset the Preservation Statistics Survey as it exists currently; however, we wish to see the previous data kept accessible as it is now. We welcome any discussion that Preservation leadership has on this.
Additionally, from the conversations around the statistics survey, the idea of creating a preservation directory developed. Considering that our committee purview includes practices, we think it would be immensely useful to be able to reach out to those engaged in the practice of preservation with a more formalized list, now matter how complete. It may also support the DEI goals of CORE if we can identify those in the preservation field (even tangentially) who may not be a part of the fold, so to speak. We also mentioned this idea during the preservation statistics discussion with the Big Ten libraries and it was well-supported. In the early stages of this idea, our plan is to reach out to Preservation Outreach for discussion. We'd like to start by surveying a pilot group (such as our past respondents to the statistics survey) for suggestions on what should be included in the directory and long-term goals.
From you all, we'd like any feedback you have on this idea, particularly suggestions on the ideal format and a permanent place to host it. We'd like a searchable interface that is easy to access but that is as far as our discussions have gone on that aspect.
Thank you all,
Miranda
PS&P Chair