LOCKSS--Lots Of Copies to Keep Stuff Safe

LOCKSS—Lots Of Copies to Keep Stuff Safe

http://www.lockss.org/lockss/Home

"...let us save what remains: not by vaults and locks which fence them from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such a multiplication of copies, as shall place them beyond the reach of accident." Thomas Jefferson to Ebenezer Hazard, February 18, 1791.

LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies to Keep Stuff Safe) was developed by Stanford University Library Program and is a free open-source software program that cost-effectively preserves digital documents for libraries all over the world. Hundreds of libraries and publishers have joined the LOCKSS community, most recently the libraries of New York University.

This system replicates the traditional method of libraries to preserve physical documents by spreading numerous copies over different libraries internationally and then sharing those documents between libraries when a copy gets corrupted or destroyed. Because the copies are preserved in a decentralized method, they are more likely to survive as long as the system exists.

The way that LOCKSS works is a library uses the LOCKSS software to turn a PC into a digital preservation appliance, what they call a LOCKSS Box). This Box performs four functions: 1) it collects new content from target e-journals using a web crawler, 2) it constantly compares content that it has collected with the same content collected by other LOCKSS Boxes and repairs any differences, 3) it acts as a web proxy or cache and provides browsers in the library community with access to the preserved content, and 4) it provides a web-based administrative interface that allows the library staff to find new journals for preservation, monitor the journals being preserved, and control access to the preserved journals.

There are two videos on YouTube.com that explain the LOCKSS system, directed by a friend of mine at the University of Michigan School of Information. I've included the links here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POJf38RzihA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKr1Adc8tnA

This system is truly innovative and effectively addresses the unstable nature of digital documents. With libraries involved in five different continents, including the University of Texas, the LOCKSS system is one of the best digital archival methods available because of its affordability, ease of use, and effective preservation.