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In an interview, Trustees of Reservations, Archives and Research Center (ARC) digital archivist Sarah Hayes talked about Preservica Cloud Edition. Hayes said ARC uses Preservica CE for two main functions. First, it is an OAIS (open archival information system)-compliant digital preservation system that has allowed them to begin providing the same care for their digital materials as they do for our physical collections. We also use Preservica's public-facing component, Universal Access, to host our online collections catalog (thetrustees.org/collections). Preservica's expansive preservation capacity makes it possible for ARC to responsibly collect and protect the many types of digital assets at the Trustees. Furthermore, Universal Access has solved a major obstacle for them: how to provide access to their collections and increase the opportunities for discovery.
CASE STUDY
How do you use Preservica CE? The Archives and Research Center (ARC) uses Preservica CE for two main functions. First, it is an OAIS (open archival information system)-compliant digital preservation system that has allowed us to begin providing the same care for our digital materials as we do for our physical collections. We also use Preservica's public-facing component, Universal Access, to host our online collections catalog (thetrustees.org/collections).
How does Preservica CE serve _ your archive's needs? Preservica's expansive preservation capacity makes it possible for ARC to responsibly collect and protect the many types of digital assets at the Trustees. Furthermore, Universal Access has solved a major obstacle for us: how to provide access to our collections and increase the opportunities for discovery. Using the WordPress framework, we have launched an online collections catalog and, with responsive design, the catalog can be used on a range of devices.
What are the main benefits? Like many small nonprofits, the Trustees currently does not have a large in-house IT team, and we're not in a position to host our own site. Preservica CE is fully hosted and the support service has been an invaluable resource. With Preservica doing the heavy lifting for hosting, support, and maintenance, our team is able to focus on expanding and processing new collections, creating catalog records in PastPerfect, and adding more content to the online catalog. Through Preservica, we are able to protect, manage, and share our collections with one system.
What would you like to see improved or added to the service? Universal Access does not offer as many customization options as we would like, and there are ways in which the design is not as userfriendly as it could be. However, part of why we selected Preservica was its dedication to evolving along with its customers and industry standards. Based on feedback from the user community, the company has begun designing an improved release of Universal Access. *
Copyright American Library Association Mar/Apr 2017