CEF eArchiving: Specifications Review Workshop, Ljubljana, 5 February 2019

The E-ARK4ALL project, coordinated by the Danish National Archives, is, alongside the European Commission’s DG DIGIT, developing the new eArchiving Building Block supported by the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) Digital programme. The mission of CEF is to fund trans-European infrastructures, building a Digital Single Market in Europe. Promoting eArchiving as the driver for long-term information assurance, means that digital preservation, records management, and digital archives in general are now recognised as critical pillars for the Digital Single Market.

To follow up on our work in the eArchiving CEF Building Block, the members of the EARK4ALL project are organising the workshop on the enhanced and stabilised eArchiving specifications first developed by the E-ARK project.

The core of the eArchiving Building Block is the E-ARK specifications and especially the Common Specification for Information Packages (CSIP). The CSIP is the basic core specification which provides the necessary minimum for all types of users across Europe to securely package their data for transfer to an eArchive as well to other users. The specification can be extended to fit each user’s needs. In the eArchiving Building Block the E-ARK CSIP specification is further detailed in the specifications for Submission Information Package (SIP), Archival Information Package (AIP) and Dissemination Information Package (DIP). These extensions are implemented in the sample software for the eArchiving Building Block. There are also CSIP extensions that can be used by all types of users across Europe. For the content itself there are Content Information Type Specifications (CITS) which give users the specification for how to structure the content.  Currently there are specifications ready for: relational databases described with the Software Independent Archiving for Relational Databases (SIARD) standard; Geodata; and Electronic Records Management Systems (ERMS). The number of CITS will be extended in the future. This means that the package is defined by the CSIP and the content placed in the package is defined by a CITS.

All the specifications are currently undergoing a revision and right now they are on an open to all review so they can fulfil the needs of users across Europe.

This workshop shall provide participants with the content and the knowledge of interest to all key stakeholders associated with digital born records. The workshop aims to bring useful information about data management for groups such as software providers who are offering their solutions to data producers and/or archives; for those who provide services related to digital data (storage, digitisation, formats conversion); public and private sector data producers; archivists; members of research and academic community whose research focus lays in data management etc.

The Workshop will take place at the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, Maistrova ulica 10, Ljubljana, on Tuesday 5th of February in Ljubljana, Slovenia, starting at 09:00.

Register now!