Saskatchewan Archives Board
SUBMISSION TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY EXPERT PANEL ON THE
STATUS AND FUTURE OF CANADA’S LIBRAIRIES AND ARCHIVES
November 29, 2013
Regina, Saskatchewan
Comments in Response to Trusted Digital Repository (TDR)
Questions from Panel
As mentioned in the Saskatchewan Archives’ presentation to the Society,
the major challenge related to born-digital material for the Saskatchewan
Archives centres on securing the necessary funding to build a sustainable
framework for a Trusted Digital Repository.
On a national front, the National, Provincial and Territorial Archivists
Conference (NPTAC) at a recent meeting on October 22, 2013 agreed to
collaborate towards the development of procurement standards for TDRs in
Canadian provincial/territorial archives through the re-starting of the
National Digital Preservation Working Group (NDPWG). The Group, in
past discussions has focused on capacity and desired approaches,
whereas now the focus would shift to establishing a national approach to
standards for procurement. The NDPWG will continue to be co-chaired by
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the Archives of Ontario, with
representatives from NPTAC archives. LAC also reiterated at the October
meeting its commitment to evolve its TDR program and its desire to
establish an advisory panel with national and international stakeholders
towards development of a strategy for national TDR collaboration.
Saskatchewan Archives shares the view of its provincial/territorial
colleagues that LAC involvement through the NDPWG is the most effective
means towards the development of Canada-wide standards. It also
supports the active involvement of the Canadian Council of Archives in its
efforts to broaden the discussion of TDR development towards the
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establishment of a Canadian network in which large and small archival
repositories have access to a TDR service.
However, the Saskatchewan Archives views an approach that seeks a joint
library and archives TDR solution, such as the committee established
through the Pan-Canadian Documentary Heritage Network (PCDHN)
initiative, as problematic. Archives, with their mandate to retain their
collections permanently and in an environment that perpetually facilitates
the management of their authenticity, require a TDR architecture that is
significantly different from that needed by libraries. A nationally-centred
library and archives based TDR would risk the loss of connectivity and
context to the country’s wide-spread collection of communities. How would
provincial archives fit within this national network? Where would our
regional expertise be felt? Past experience with TDR development within
the PCDHN has involved discussions that seemed to be by invitation-only
and largely library-centric, thereby limiting the voice of archives and
regional repositories such as the Saskatchewan Archives. Full participation
from all record repositories, both large and small, regardless of their level of
technical sophistication needs to be encouraged in order for any such
initiative to be successful.
On the provincial front, while the Government of Saskatchewan is actively
beginning to examine the records management of its electronic records
currently being created within ministries, agencies and Crown corporations,
it has yet to address a solution for the preservation of the official records of
government in digital form. The Saskatchewan Archives believes that for
the successful management, retention and disposition of digital records
within the Saskatchewan government there will need to be an integration of
both an Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS)
and a Trusted Digital Repository. The successful implementation of these
two tools will provide the necessary architecture to allow the provincial
government to effectively manage its records from creation to final
disposition.

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The Saskatchewan Archives’ suggestions regarding a Pan-Canadian TDR
for archives are as follows:
1) Provide a suite of policies, procedures and best practices for digital
preservation.
2) Provide a central pool of funding for archives to tap into, in alignment to
their TDR growth. For example, to a repository beginning the process,
provide $100,000 for it to conduct project conceptualization, technical
requirements and appropriate analysis and modeling.
Following
completion (and verification) of this phase, allow the repository to apply for
additional funds for software and storage, etc.

Regina, Saskatchewan
December 3, 2013.

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