Technical Tools and Services
The network of collecting and preserving partners has identified tools and services that are needed to preserve digital content. One of the most important services is storage for large volumes of files. Others include tools to work with metadata, tools to examine and verify file formats. Several partners within the network are testing and demonstrating these tools and services.
San Diego Supercomputer Center
In May 2005, the Library of Congress began a one-year pilot project with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) to assess the ability of a trusted partner to store digital data from the Library.
The two main objectives of this project were for SDSC to:
Reliably host Library of Congress digital content and guarantee data integrity and access. Enable the Library of Congress to remotely access, manage, process and analyze that content.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
The Los Alamos National Laboratory Research Library is building mechanisms that will help address challenges related to collecting, storing and accessing digital materials.
Of particular interest are "complex objects," such as a document with multiple separate pieces. Tools are under development for assigning metadata (data about data), transferring content between repositories and storing content within repositories. Los Alamos is using an international standard, MPEG-21, as the underpinning of this work.