In this column series, new Director General Wilma van Wezenbeek is getting to know the KB. Behind the scenes, she meets colleagues who do important work that not everyone is aware of. And work that is often done on an impressive scale. Today, it is all about the challenges of digital collecting.
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Inside of the KB_Datalab
Sometimes the numbers are staggering. Take 2 billion, for example. That is the number of digital files the KB stores, with thousands more being added every day.
This week, I met Jeffrey van der Hoeven, the KB’s head of the Digital Preservation department. He and his team ensure the continued accessibility of the 2 billion files in which our digital works are stored. These files can include digitised books, newspapers or magazines, but also born digital material: collection items such as websites or e-books that are digital by origin.
I meet Jeffrey in the KB_Datalab, a physical area in the KB where researchers can work with data files on a secure computer. The wall is decorated with old data carriers such as floppy disks, CD-ROMs and tape cartridges. Their presence immediately underscores what makes Jeffrey's work so tricky; how do you maintain the accessibility of digital publications stored in files when the way they are stored keeps changing?
"That is our biggest challenge", Jeffrey says. "Of course, this involves technology but people are even more important. For example, we have many 'exotic' files in-house that were created with old computer programs from the 1990s. Or files of the first Dutch websites to appear online. How do you open these now? Knowledge about these files is indispensable. My colleagues are people who see technological change coming. That’s why it’s mainly my job to ensure that the organisation has the required in-house knowledge and skills in this area. And to make sure that we can properly apply them. Without these people, our digital collection would not be accessible and we would risk a digital black hole in our collective memory."
"As part of this, we try to learn a lot from others", Jeffrey continues. "For example, from other institutions at home and abroad that also maintain digital collections. Which makes sense considering that a digital collection does not respect national borders. Neither does cybercrime for that matter. So storage must be secure in addition to being sustainably accessible."
e-Depot
We store those 2 billion files in our digital repository, the e-Depot. The KB has a data centre available for this purpose and strict security measures apply there. You are not allowed to just walk in and there are various other requirements in place, such as maintaining the proper oxygen levels. Jeffrey and IT specialist Peter Boel show me around the area. It’s rather amazing. You feel like you have literally stepped into a digital memory, into a white, sterile room full of buzzing server cabinets. The KB is currently building a new digital repository and the many files with descriptions are being transferred to new systems.
Around 150 people now work with our digital collection in the KB. It is also very practical work. Jeffrey takes me to the so-called processing line where colleagues read data carriers in bulk as CD-ROMs, so that we can then save them as new files. The KB has around 25,000 of them in its collection. These CD-ROMs contain things such as audiobooks or practice materials for textbooks. "By the way, the software we use for this was developed in the KB", says Jeffrey. "Reading floppy disks is the next step.”
Do we discard the original data carriers? "That's possible", says Jeffrey, "but it involves unique material so we will keep it in-house for a while just to be sure. It’s not like you can go back to the publisher for a new CD-ROM."
Unfortunately, not all digital publications are available yet. At least, not from home. But you can already view a lot of material in the KB's reading rooms. Once no more rights are attached to the material, people can also view the works at home using KB services such as Delpher.nl and DBNL.org (Digital Library for Dutch Literature), for example.
Two billion files is a lot of reading pleasure.
