DuraCloud™ and Flexible Digital Preservation at the Texas Digital Librar

The Texas Digital Library is now offering preservation service via DuraCloud™, an open source technology developed by DuraSpace. In 2014, the membership of the TDL formed a Working Group to explore the software and define best practices, given the diverse approaches to the issue of preservation. In January 2015 we first announced the service and made the service available in Spring of 2015.

In this presentation, the Texas Digital Library will describe how our implementation of the DuraCloud™ software provides multiple upload options for preservationists through a selection of interfaces and tools intended to serve a variety of audiences, from librarians at their desktop to server administrators working at the command line. We will describe how DuraCloud™@TDL fits in to varying environments as a primary or third party preservation solution, and we will also define the array of options for durable, reliable storage infrastructure for preservationists in the care of the unique collections of their institutions.

Looking forward, TDL will discuss the issues regarding preservation management and challenges we are addressing with users such as format management and metadata management within DuraCloud™@TDL. TDL will present planned next steps for additional services such as integration of DuraCloud™@TDL with DSpace, using DuraCloud™ as a platform for utilization of the Digital Preservation Network, and the potential for using DuraCloud™ to serve content to the public.

We will be joined by representatives of DuraSpace who will present information about the ongoing development of DuraCloud™as well as future plans for DuraCloud features/functionality and integrations. In addition, TDL and DuraSpace will discuss how TDL community activities tie to the broader trends of DuraCloud customer use and the joint efforts between the two organizations to create resources and best practices around preserving content in a cloud environment. Lastly, ways in which TDL and others can assist development as part of the DuraCloud user-base and the overall DuraSpace community will be highlighted.