Western Cape Archives and Records Service
e-mail: [email protected]
tel: +27 21 483-0400
fax: +27 21 483-0444
Our reference: WCA12/2/4/P
Enquiries: L Lourens
Digitisation Policy for the Western Cape Government
and Municipalities in the Western Cape Province
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
72 Roeland Street,
Cape Town, 8001
Cultural Affairs and Sport :
Private Bag X9025, Cape Town 8000
web: www.westerncape.gov.za
ImiCimbiyeNkcubekonezembiDlalo :
Kultuursake en Sport
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
1
Contents
1
2
3
3.1
3.2
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
4.13
4.14
4.15
4.16
4.17
4.18
4.19
4.20
4.21
4.22
4.23
4.24
4.25
4.26
4.27
Introduction, background, context and scope.................................................... 3
Purpose and objectives of this policy ..................................................................... 4
Legislative Framework .............................................................................................. 5
National legislation and policy ................................................................................ 5
Regional legislation, policy and guidelines ........................................................... 6
Policy principles and statements ............................................................................ 6
Policy 1: Managing digitisation .............................................................................. 6
Policy 2: Maintenance of sound curatorial practice ........................................... 8
Policy 3: Metadata to include rights information ................................................. 9
Policy 4: Establish a clear copyright management policy and contract
mechanisms ............................................................................................................. 10
Policy 5: Negotiation of digital rights with creators, donors or lenders ........... 12
Policy 6: Agreements for digitisation projects (fprein-funded, international
and national funding agencies ……………………………………………………...13
Policy 7: Accelerate the development of an inclusive Information Society
and provide Free Basic Information ..................................................................... 15
Policy 8: Open Access ............................................................................................ 15
Policy 9: Use of official languages ........................................................................ 16
Policy 10: Development and implementation of a Common Repository
Interface (CORI) ...................................................................................................... 17
Policy 11: Financing of digitisation ........................................................................ 17
Policy 12 : Implications for governmental bodies ............................................... 18
Policy 13: Creation of a Provincial Digital Repository......................................... 18
Policy 14: Digital masters maintained in accordance with accepted
standards .................................................................................................................. 19
Policy 15: Protection and preservation of digital heritage ................................ 20
Policy 16: Living heritage digital records .............................................................. 21
Policy 17: Ensure security, authenticity and integrity of digital records and
heritage .................................................................................................................... 21
Policy 18: Privacy policies ....................................................................................... 22
Policy 19: Handling of confidential and secret records in accordance with
MISS............................................................................................................................ 22
Policy 20: Development and implementation of national metadata and
vocabulary standards............................................................................................. 23
Policy 21: Use of standard technologies, formats and media .......................... 23
Policy 22: Creating a Community of Practice................................................... 245
Policy 23: Developing and implementing a skills framework for digitisation .. 25
Policy 24: Developing and measuring institutional capacity............................ 25
Policy 25: Capacity development for electronic records management ....... 26
Policy 26: Promoting Research and Development ............................................ 26
Policy 27: Creating a Digital Heritage Body of Knowledge .............................. 27
ADDENDUM 1 - ATTRIBUTES OF A RECORD ………………………………………………………...28
ADDENDUM 2 - LIST OF TERMS AND DEFINITIONS …………………………………………………30
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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1.
Introduction, background, context and scope
1.1
The advent of digital technology has brought about new challenges that the
Western Cape Archives and Records Service needs to deal with. There are two
broad areas of challenges, they are:


the management of “digitally born” electronic records; and,
the management of the digitisation process of the largely paper-based
historical records to digital formats.
1.2
The evident- and increasing need for governmental bodies to embark on
digitisation projects has necessitated the compilation of a policy document to
control and guide the standards, processes and storage of the resulting digital
images and accompanying data. The Western Cape Archives and Records
Service is mandated with the task of ensuring that reliable records are maintained,
over time, as evidence of official business for the purposes of accountability,
operational continuity, disaster recovery and institutional and social memory.
1.3
Policies and structures are in place to guide the archiving of paper-based records,
to ensure that the records are physically cared for, and that the evidence they
contain remains accessible over time. The relatively recent arrival of digital
technology and its rapid adoption for everyday business and governmental affairs
has resulted in a rapidly-changing technological environment with relatively few
guides and standards for the long term preservation of electronic and digital
records crafted for South African conditions.
1.4
It is essential that governmental bodies give specific consideration to the
preservation of electronic records as part of the management of records. The
Provincial Archives and Records Service of the Western Cape Act, 2005 (Act No. 3
of 2005) does contain some provisions specifically regarding electronic records.1
However, for the main part current legislation has not managed to keep pace
with the rapidly evolving developments in digital technology and their subsequent
adoption by a variety of institutions (including governmental bodies). It is
therefore, incumbent on the Western Cape Archives and Records Service to
introduce guidelines to best manage the rapidly evolving digital landscape that
governmental bodies find themselves operating within, with due regard for South
Africa’s unique and particular circumstances.
1.5
The responsible care and management of digital records is thus vital to the
1
The provisions are: that the Head of the Service must determine the conditions subject
to which public records may be electronically reproduced, section 9(2)(b)(ii). As with
other public records, the legislation provides that electronic records may not be
disposed of without the written authorisation of the Head of the Service (section 9(2)
(a)). The legislative provisions regarding archival custody take the special needs of
electronic records into account, in that while public records that have been appraised
as having archival value are to be transferred to archival custody after 20 years, the
Head of the Service may in consultation with the head of a governmental body identify
records which should remain in its custody or should be transferred to archival custody
at an earlier time (section 6(2)(b)).
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functioning of government, the provision of accountable and transparent
governance and of service delivery.
1.6
Without the responsible care and management of digital records, there will be no
long-term institutional and social memory of the present age in the custody of the
Western Cape Archives and Records Service.
1.7
Public records are the output of the business and administrative processes of a
governmental body. Records serve as essential proof of the business that was
conducted and should remain unaltered over time for as long as they are
needed. As evidence of official business, records have on-going use as a means
of management, accountability, operational continuity, legal evidence and
disaster recovery. They also form the memory of the institution that created them,
and they are part of society’s memory and the broader cultural heritage. In some
cases records also have a bearing on the rights of citizens.
1.8
Records, thus, are a vital aspect of a country’s history, memory and heritage – it is
important that they are managed in such a way as to preserve their integrity and
content for future generations. The management of records within the digital
environment is thus a vital extension of the functions that the Western Cape
Archives and Records Service, as well as associated governmental bodies, have
performed with regard to paper-based records.
1.9
The policies, principles and requirements in this policy document are applicable to
all governmental bodies, that is: any legislative, executive, judicial or
administrative organ of state (including a statutory body) within the Western Cape
Province.
2.
Purpose and objectives of this policy
2.1
The purpose of this document is to provide a uniform policy to governmental
bodies in the Western Cape Province to assist them to comply with legislative
requirements regarding digital records as an integral part of the strategic
management of their records resources.
2.2
The main aims and objectives of this document are:
2.2.1
To provide a guiding framework for governmental bodies within the Western Cape
to compile digital strategy documents that are aligned with international
standards and best practices, as well as with an eye to the unique circumstances
within South Africa and the Western Cape.
2.2.2
To provide guidance on digital rights management issues that must be addressed
in digitisation strategies compiled by governmental bodies. This policy document
takes cognisance of the lack of guidance or legislation pertaining digital rights
issues, This policy document will attempt to chart a course that will ensure that the
Western Cape Archives and Records Service is able to safeguard the records in its
care for future benefit of all South Africans.
2.2.3
To provide guidance on the compilation of accurate and comprehensive
metadata records, as a vital means for managing electronic records and digital
surrogates in the future.
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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2.2.4
To discuss and describe the requirements for the creation of authentic digital
records that are useable and reliable for as long as they are required for
functional, legal and historical purposes. This will include addressing issues such as
digital rights management and metadata.
2.2.5
To give consideration to the role of digital technology in the management of
records, digital technology with regard to the digitisation of original historical
records, for example paper-based documents and photographs, as well as the
storage of digital records.
2.2.6
To promote a preservation-appropriate approach to the digitisation of paperbased collections. In the urge to scan historical paper based records, many
records are damaged and exposed to further harm. It espouses a “scan right”
approach to the digitisation of historical paper based records; and a preservationsensitive approach to the management of digitally born records.
3.
Legislative Framework
3.1
International treaties and conventions

3.2
International standards and protocols



3.3
Berne Convention
ISO standards on metadata:
o ISO 19115:2003
o ISO 23950: Information retrieval (Z39.50)
o ISO 21127:2006
OAI-PMH protocol (Acronym for the Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for
Metadata Harvesting)
US DoD 5015.2 Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records
Management Software Applications
National legislation and policy












Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
National Archives and Records Service of South Africa Act, 1996 (Act No. 43
of 1996) as amended.
National policy on the digitisation of heritage resources: final draft policy
(for public review) August 2010.
The Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999).
Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act No. 56 of 2003).
The Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000).
The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000 (Act No. 3 of 2000).
The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2002 (Act No. 25 of
2002).
Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013).
Public Service Act, 1994 (as amended by, inter alia, the Public Service
Amendment Act, 2007 (PN 103 of 2007).
Cultural Institutions Act, 1998 (Act No. 119 of 1998).
Cultural Promotion Act, 1983 (Act No. 35 van 1983).
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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










3.4
Regional legislation, policy and guidelines








3.5
National Arts Council Act, 1997 (Act No. 56 of 1997).
National Heritage Council Act, 1999 (Act No. 11 of 1999).
National Heritage Resources Act, 1999 (Act No. 25 of 1999).
South African Geographical Names Council Act, 1998 (Act No. 118 of 1998).
World Heritage Convention Act, 1999 (Act No. 49 of 1999).
Revised White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage, 2013.
National Policy on South African Living Heritage, 2009.
National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. Records
Management Policy Manual, 2007.
Managing Electronic Records in Governmental Bodies: Metadata
requirements, 2006.
National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. Managing
Electronic Records in Governmental Bodies: Policy, principles and
requirements, 2006.
National Archives and Records Service of South Africa. Electronic records
and the law: What governmental bodies need to know. Advisory pamphlet
No. 2, April 2012.
Constitution of the Western Cape, 1997
Provincial Archives and Records Service of the Western Cape Act, 2005
(Act No. 3 of 2005) and Regulations (PN. 122/2006).
Western Cape Cultural Commissions and Cultural Councils Act, 1998 (Act
No. 14 of 1998).
Western Cape Heritage Resource Management Regulations, 2002 (PN 336
of 25 Oct 2002).
Western Cape Heritage Resource Management Regulations, 2003 (PN 298
of 29 Aug 2003).
Museums Ordinance, 1975 (Ordinance No. 8 of 1975).
Draft Western Cape Museum Policy, 2012.
Draft Policy for the Naming and Re-naming of Geographical Features, 2007.
National and regional standards and protocols
SANS 15081. Electronic imaging: information stored electronically,
recommendations for trustworthiness and reliability. South African Bureau of
Standards, Pretoria.
 SANS 23081. Information and documentation: records management
processes, metadata for records. Part 1, principles. South African Bureau of
Standards, Pretoria.
 SANS 17799. Information technology: security techniques, code of practice
for information security management. South African Bureau of Standards,
Pretoria.

4.
Policy principles and statements
4.1
POLICY 1: Managing digitisation in governmental bodies
4.1.1
All governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province must put mechanisms in
place for creating and managing their own digitisation programmes.
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4.1.2
All governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province are required to develop a
digitisation strategy under this provincial policy that will reflect the unique
characteristics of the institution, its collection(s), legislative mandate and the
nature of its collections. The digitisation strategy must remain mindful of the
institution’s particular circumstances regarding funding, management processes,
technological support, etc.
4.1.3
The institutional digitisation strategy must include the following minimum
information:
o
A description of the collections within the institution and their
significance and digitisation status.
o
The nature of the threats to the collections.
o
The frequency of usage and handling of the collections.
o
The guiding principles for selection of collections for digitisation and the
principles for selection of items within collections.
o
The rights associated with each collection.
o
The metadata to be used and applied for describing the digital
resources.
o
The management of the digital resource in terms of location and
backup and the disaster management plans.
o
Access methods to the digital resources.
o
The digital preservation strategy, including the preferred media and
formats, and how migration is used to ensure long term preservation.
o
The digitisation approach concerning usage of external agencies (or,
vendors), or internal expertise.
o
The skills needed to digitise and maintain the digital resources and how
these skills are to be developed through capacity development
programs.
o
The equipment used - if it is to be purchased, rented or outsourced to
other specialists.
o
The specific digitisation programs underway, including stakeholders
and beneficiaries, and the specific projects that have been structures
under these programmes.
o
The specific policies on collection management that impact on
digitisation.
o
Institutional policies relating to digitisation, including: local and foreign
funding, rights identification and management, handling during
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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digitisation, storage after digitisation, access to the digital resources,
digital preservation an prioritisation rules for digitisation.
o
Digitisation programs and projects will be designed, structured and
documented in accordance with the institution’s digitisation strategy.
o
Digitisation must be addressed within the institutional strategic planning
of the governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province and will be
reflected within the quarterly and annual reporting mechanisms.
o
Governmental bodies that hold any part of a dispersed collection of
provincial, national and international significance have to negotiate
with other custodians who hold other parts of the same dispersed
collection in order to maintain consistency in their digitisation strategy
regarding this collection. Such custodians have to work with other
custodians toward creation of virtual collections to facilitate access to
these collections.
4.2
POLICY 2: Maintenance of sound curatorial practice for analogue and paperbased records
4.2.1
Digitisation is not a replacement for sound curatorial management and
conservation practice, but is universally acknowledged to be a value adding
activity that enhances preservation of, and access to heritage collections.
Further, digitisation complements and extends existing collection management
functions.
4.2.2
Digital copies are not replacements for original heritage resources, but are
considered to be surrogate images. Surrogate digital copies form part of the
management and preservation of the original heritage resources within the
institution.
o
The digitisation of an original archival record/public record must,
therefore, provide a surrogate copy of the record.
o
This surrogate record, in digital form, may have a number of additional
uses, including: identification of the item in case of theft or loss; the
provision of commercial and other opportunities in the use of the
image of the record.
4.2.3
Digitisation must take place for the purposes of preserving information, particularly
where collections are under physical threat.
4.2.4
Digitisation is a vital preservation tool for the institution that must help to reduce
the frequent physical handling of objects; particularly, where access or handling
of a record increases the risk of loss or damage to the record.
4.2.5
Digitisation must take place in order to provide a wider and easier access to
information; in part this enhanced access will take place via the internet and
various forms of electronic communication.
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4.2.6
The surrogate digital copy created in the course of digitisation projects must be
created as a digital master. This digital master must include all necessary
metadata in terms of this policy.
4.3
POLICY 3: Metadata to include rights information
4.3.1
Ownership and rights information must be maintained in the metadata associated
with a digital record.

Accurate and comprehensive metadata must accompany a digital record or
surrogate image.

Every digital master created as part of a digitisation program or project must
be accompanied by, and be associated with a metadata record.

The compilation of metadata records must be in agreement with
internationally accepted standards for archival record metadata.

Metadata information must be able to migrate with each record, during
future migration of electronic records and information.

The information to be included in the metadata must include the following
categories:
Descriptive Metadata
Administrative Metadata
Structural Metadata
Technical Metadata
Rights Metadata

Metadata describing the item (Cataloguing
description to enable search). Metadata describing
the nature of the original record’s format, dimensions,
material and physical composition, and condition.
Metadata about rights management such as
information
about
ownership
and
internal
administrative requirements such as file plan, source
code and indexing information.
Metadata describing relationships to other files, i.e.
cross referencing. Thus, describing the image’s digital
file’s relationships to other files, that is, the cross
referencing of files.
Metadata describing features of the digital file (the
nature of the digital image file), i.e. resolution,
dimensions, bit mapping, compression, colour
contrast, greyscale, file format, etc.
Metadata on the ownership of the original record,
describing the nature of copyright, intellectual
property, and other associated rights (User rights,
access rights, etc.) as they apply to the record, as
well as to the collection as a whole.
Every digital master created as part of a digitisation program or project must
include rights metadata. This metadata must include information on the
owner of the original archival record, as well as the rights owner of the digital
record. This must include the moral rights of the original creator.
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
Rights metadata must include a description of the right for each of the
possible types of use, including licensing for commercial purposes.

Rights metadata should indicate who is authorised to give permission for
access and reproduction.

Access to digital master records must respect the rights as identified within the
rights metadata, and, this access should be automated within the access
systems of the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR).

Standards of digital image scanning are to be stipulated in the digitisation
strategy and agreements. Foreign funded projects must adhere to the current
internationally accepted archival standard of image scanning for
preservation purposes for any projects. Metadata standards are to be
stipulated in the contract.

Metadata standards must also comply with the current internationally
accepted archival standard for the description of records. Information that
must be included in the metadata include:
o
Acknowledgement of the governmental body’s assertion of ownership
over the original.
o
Orphaned works must be acknowledged as such. Any relevant
information regarding the search for owners or heirs; as well as, an
indication of how any legal rights are affected by the item’s orphan
status must be included.
o
The governmental body’s file numbering system, relevant to the
document in the particular image or file must be included.
o
Copyright and associated rights information. Including: payment for
access and use of image(s) for commercial broadcast or publication
purposes; depending on the institution’s access and usage policy.
o
Comprehensive and correct description of the original record format.
o
Comprehensive and correct description of the software and processes
used to generate the digital image, and any changes created in order
to promote legibility and/or view ability.
4.4
POLICY 4: Establish a clear copyright management policy and contract
mechanisms
4.4.1
All governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province will establish, and
maintain, a clear policy with respect to copyright matters pertaining to the
records held in their custody; it will also do so regarding a contract format that
allows for the licensing of images of archival records for use or distribution.

The policy pertaining to matters of copyright will distinguish between the rights
of copyright holders, the rights of owners and the rights of custodians. It will
also provide mechanisms for the regulation of these rights. The provisions of
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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current copyright legislation will be applied to the context of digital records
and content.

Asking for the transfer of copyright, or a license granting the right to represent
and sub-license the work, should be considered as a fair request considering
that institutions well be taking the responsibility for the ongoing preservation of
the work, its digitisation and dissemination.

If authors or owners want to retain their copyright and elect to grant the right
to represent the works to the institution through a licensing agreement; then, a
Creative Commons licensing agreement will be considered as an option in
terms of any agreements or contracts.

If institutions intend supplying digital publications to editorial publishing and
broadcast markets, they will clearly state this in the contract.

Unless institutions intend to digitise for preservation purposes, the institution
must obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to investing time
and resources in the digitisation process. This process includes orphan works
where the name and address of the maker or rights holder is not known.
Obtaining such permission may involve research that should be well
documented.

Digitisation for the pure purpose of preservation can be undertaken without
necessarily obtaining prior permission from the rights owners, as long as such
digitised materials are not provided for access until this permission is obtained
or reasonable efforts have been made to identify the rights owner and to
obtain such permission. This may be done to fulfil institutional mandates and in
which a change of medium from analogue to digital does not impact on the
nature of these mandates.

South African copyright law, currently, does not distinguish whether a digital
copy or an original work can be considered as an original work in itself.
Therefore, institutions must ensure that they have clear contracts with
contracted staff and digitisation providers that state that they are being
commissioned to do the digitisation work and in no way are able to claim
copyright under any circumstances. Established service providers to the
heritage sector are likely to already have this as part of their standard
contracts.

Funding organisations may introduce terms and conditions that require the
transfer of rights in the digital funder. It is essential that the ownership of digital
objects should be held in trust for the people of South Africa and remain in the
hand of South Africa’s heritage public sector.

Accordingly, sufficient access and usage rights for funders can be granted.
However, the granting of these rights must in no way compromise ownership
by heritage institutions or governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province,
by the granting of exclusive licenses to funding organisations.

Preferably, non-exclusive license to use the digital masters should be granted.
Rights to sublicense the digital master may be granted, under certain
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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circumstances and judged on the merits of the license application for
sublicensing rights. Sublicensing agreements with funders should ideally require
the payment of a fifty percent (50 %) royalties from sublicensing activity to the
institution. Any licensing contracts or agreements put into place must clearly
state that the presiding law is South African Law.

Governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province must use the law of
contract to ensure certain requirements are adhered to, including:
acknowledgement of the institution, use of the correct reference coding;
payment for access and use of image(s) for commercial broadcast or
publication purposes; depending on the institution’s access and usage policy.

Access must only be given to those who agree to the terms under which
institutions grant access. However, the granting of these rights must in no way
compromise ownership by heritage institutions or governmental bodies in the
Western Cape Province, by the granting of exclusive licenses to funding
organisations.

As the basis for contracts for usage with rights, users may not include transfer
of rights to the user. No automatic transfer of copyright or associated rights will
be allowed with regard to South African records. No such agreements
demanding the automatic transfer of copyright may be entered into by a
South African cultural or heritage institution.

Unless institutions intend to digitise for preservation purposes, the institution
must obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to investing time
and resources in the digitisation process. This process includes orphan works
where the name and address of the maker or rights holder is not known.
Obtaining such permission may involve research that should be well
documented.

The Western Cape Archives and Records Service will cooperate with any
national copyright clearing house or reproduction rights organisation
established for digital masters, under the auspices of the Department of Arts
and Culture.
4.5
POLICY 5: Negotiation of digital rights with creators, donors or lenders
4.5.1
Digital rights must be negotiated with the creator, donor or lender at the time of
accession.
4.5.2

Digital rights must be negotiated at the time of accession of the records.

Digital rights must be negotiated with authors and owners at the time of
digitisation and loading into the digital repository.

Agreements must be concluded with each individual author and/or owner to
ensure that all digital rights are explicit. This must include digitisation service
providers commissioned to undertake digitisation projects.
See also Policy 6 for agreements regarding ownership.
DIGITISATION POLICY FOR THE WESTERN CAPE GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPALITIES IN THE WESTERN CAPE, DECEMBER 2013
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4.6
POLICY 6: Agreements for digitisation projects (foreign-funded, international or
national funding agencies)
4.6.1
All governmental bodies which make use of international funding for digitisation
projects must develop agreements governing terms and ownership of the digital
copies concerning the records in their care.

Any request for the digitisation of South Africa’s heritage of any form, from a
foreign agency or funder, must be treated as an international arrangement
and must be conducted in terms of bilateral agreements or other
government-to-government structures in cases when such bilateral
agreements exist.

When no bilateral agreement exists between South Africa and another
country these requests should be treated as a government-to-government
initiative when this is appropriate in terms of the significance of the collection
and other parameters. A set of guidelines on such appropriateness should be
produced and made accessible and which are linked to existing declaration
of significance of objects and collections as are identified within the National
Heritage Resource Agency and its regulations.

All foreign funded projects must be regulated by a contract that specifies the
roles and responsibilities of all parties involved.

All contracts involving foreign funding must include a set of minimum elements
applicable to such agreements and will guide the process for the
acceptance of agreements of this nature.

Contracted vendor companies, contracted to supply scanning and
associated services must also be governed by a contract that will specify,
amongst other things: the nature of the equipment to be used, the
responsibilities of technicians with regard to handling fragile historical
materials, the reporting structure with regard to disputes and disagreements,
etc. A clear line of reporting and communication to the institution, entrusted
with the care of the historical records utilised must be established to deal with
any concerns regarding the project, as they may arise. Contracted vendors
may not form an unaccountable third entity within any given institution.

Digitisation agreements and contracts with foreign funding agencies must
include the following minimum provisions:
o
The custodial organisation or institution’s details.
o
List of collections to be digitised, details of the selection criteria identifying
why these are selected and why others are excluded. An indication as to
how this complies with the institution’s digitisation strategy must also be
included.
o
Total number of items in the collections, and the nature of the originals.
o
Procedures for handling of originals, and the mitigations in place against
loss or damage during digitisation.
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o
The media and format of the completed digital products.
o
The metadata to be used for description and the extent to which this
complies with this digitisation policy (with specific reference to provenance
and rights metadata).
o
Nature of preparations to be performed on the originals prior to digitisation,
for example, cutting of paper originals to support scanning.
o
The rights owners of the collections and the authorisations obtained to
allow digitisation.
o
The manner in which the digital masters will be created and maintained.
o
The location where the digital masters will be stored, and in particular the
high-resolution photographs and scans.
o
The intended beneficiaries and the kinds of access that they are to be
provided with.
o
The access available by the general public for fair and private use.
o
The charges that will be levied for access to the digital resources.
o
The restrictions that will be placed on access to the digital resources.
o
The digital preservation strategy for these collections.
o
The backup strategy for these digital collections.
o
The Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) that will hold the digital masters.
o
The specific rights that the funding organisation and its associate
organisations will retain concerning the digitised materials.

It is a concern that digital rights to South African heritage may, either, be lost
or that access curtailed, as a result of foreign funded projects. Therefore,
digital rights ownership must be clearly stated within contracts pertaining to
foreign funded digitisation projects. In each instance the governmental
bodies in the Western Cape must retain the ownership of the digital rights.

The rights of any funding agency to access digital records must be limited to
non-commercial “fair dealing” usage. Any additional rights can only be
conferred under special license.

Access to archival records for the purposes of digitisation must only be given
to those who agree to abide by the terms under which governmental bodies
grant access.
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
Governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province must use the law of
contract to ensure certain requirements are adhered to, including:
acknowledgement of the institution and use of the correct reference coding.

The digital masters produced by funded digitisation projects must be lodged
with the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) in a manner analogous to the legal
deposit libraries. The specific formats and media used are required to comply
with this policy.

Requests for the exporting of digital rights must be treated in the same way as
the export of the tangible or analogue objects and be administered by the
appropriate body. The National Archives and Records Service of South Africa,
the National Library, and South African Heritage Resources Agency must
introduce procedures that control this and that protect the digital heritage
from uncontrolled export. The necessary changes to legislation must be
introduced to enable this level of control.
4.7
POLICY 7: Accelerate the development of an inclusive Information Society and
provide Free Basic Information
4.7.1
All citizens must have easy access to the required Information and
Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and be granted free access to
digitised records.

For any policy on digitisation of heritage to achieve the objective of universal
access, it is essential that a suitable ICT infrastructure is facilitated or provided
by the government that enables all citizens and other interested parties to
access digital heritage.
4.8
POLICY 8: Open Access
4.8.1
Access to digital records must be open and free where records are not used for
commercial gain or governed by access restrictions.

This policy recognises the intellectual rights within all digital heritage and that
such rights are protected by national and provincial legislation and
international treaties, including those digital resources in the public domain.

Access to the digital heritage and the subsequent use of the digital resources
constitutes a relationship between the rights owner and rights user. Any
restrictions regarding access are applied with the intention to prevent the
misuse of the intellectual property of the rights owner; however, it is
recognised that any restrictions may contribute to the denial of fair and
reasonable access to the digital heritage.

As long as there are no restrictions governing the information held in a given
record, open and free access to digital records must be provided to any
person requiring access for research or personal use.

Open access to archival records is, however, mediated by a number of
considerations, these include:
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o
South African legislation that impacts on the provision of access to certain
types of records, for example certain records of the Department of Home
Affairs.
o
The principle of “fair dealing” as defined by copyright legislation, as well as
various other legislation and principles associated with copyright and
associated digital rights.
o
The respect for an individual’s privacy in respect of personal information
that the careless dissemination of, may cause distress or harm.

The ability to provide free and open access may be enhanced through the
provision of images at a lower resolution format, rendering the image
inappropriate for commercial reproduction.

Free and open access must be provided through the web where possible with
no requirement for proprietary software for viewing or playback.

All access to records in digital form must recognise the moral rights of the
creators.

Cooperative projects and agreements are encouraged between repositories,
the state and state-supported bodies promoting the shared use of digital
records for public benefit.

Access to information held within the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) of the
Western Cape Archives and Records Service will be managed by the
institution, including content which is private and content that is provided
under specific license conditions and which may require payment of royalties
for usage.

License agreements between the repositories and users of digital records must
be used as a means of managing usage.

Blanket agreements within repositories must be developed to support ranges
of common uses and to avoid the problems of creating individual license
agreements for each specific retrieval and usage.
4.9
POLICY 9: Use of official languages
4.9.1
English is to be used for metadata in order to provide for national and
international interoperability. It is encouraged that where appropriate, other
languages be used in addition to English to provide for wider access.

It is encouraged that web and search interfaces be provided to suit the
language-specific requirements of user groups.

Metadata must in the first instance be in English, in order to provide for
interoperability and compatibility between collections.

Metadata in additional South African languages is encouraged to provide
wider access to searching and retrieval.
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4.10

The use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to enhance a
searchable version of the digitised record is encouraged. The OCT version of
the record will be in the language of origin, unless translated to enable
improved access.

The use of audio narration and screen magnification to widen accessibility to
users with disabilities is encouraged.
POLICY 10: Development and implementation of a Common Repository Interface
(CORI)
4.10.1 Due to the wide variety of systems, software and database technologies that are
in use, as well as those that may yet be developed, it is essential to have a
common method for access to digital content residing in the various digital
repositories, both within South Africa and internationally.
4.11

A Common Repository Interface needs to be developed as a standard
protocol to access any information across any repository.

All digital repositories are required to implement the common repository
interface and provide CORI as the primary form of access.

The CORI protocol must enable multiple simultaneous connections to multiple
repositories on a technology independent basis; must make optimal use of
metadata based semantic information discovery and retrieval through
national vocabularies, authority files and metadata schema of well managed
content; must accommodate the seamless sharing of information within and
between communities; and must provide retrieval that automatically complies
with digital rights management requirements and which provides automated
citation information for back referencing to the authentic source.

The CORI protocol should provide a user experience of a single national digital
memory structure, rather than the experience of accessing multiple separate
repositories and collections, spanning all of the digital repositories and also
providing access to virtual collections, as opposed to physical collections. The
benefit of CORI is expected to provide opportunities to restructure the
historical record in innovative ways by creating new stories that integrate the
collections of libraries, archives, museums, heritage sites and the living
heritage.
POLICY 11: Financing of digitisation
4.11.1 Government financial support to move heritage management into the digital age
and provide for the digitisation of heritage resources has been a serious
challenge, and adequate resources have to be made available to ensure
success.
4.11.2 The digitisation of records and the move towards e-filing and record keeping
brings with it a host of additional challenges with regard to the management of
digital information for archival purposes. All of the changes associated with the
archival storage of digital information have a profound implication for the
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functioning of any given governmental body, particularly in the use of funds. For
the most part, few governmental bodies have the capacity to self-finance
digitisation projects, despite the increasing demand from the public for records in
digital form. Adequate resources have yet to be made universally available to
governmental bodies in order to ensure successful digitisation projects.
4.12

All spheres of the Western Cape Government and municipalities in the
Western Cape Province are required to urgently plan for the digitisation of
their heritage resources.

All provincial memory institutions must use existing budgets for digitisation
purposes since digitisation is inherently a part of their mandate to protect and
preserve heritage and this mandate remains unchanged in the shift from
physical collections to the digital heritage.
POLICY 12: Implications for governmental bodies
4.12.1 All spheres of the Western Cape Government and municipalities in the Western
Cape Province are required to urgently plan for the digitisation of their heritage
resources.
4.13

The Department of Arts and Culture is the lead department in terms of
heritage legislation and digitisation, both on its own and through its statutory
bodies including the National Archives and Records Service of South Africa,
National Library, National Heritage Council and South African Heritage
Resource Agency.

All governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province must prepare a
register of their own digital heritage collections, including archives,
manuscripts, publications, objects, and should develop digitisation strategies
and project plans for approval.

These digitisation strategies must be submitted to the Western Cape Archives
and Records Service for approval before the digitisation process
commenced. The governmental bodies who already embarked on
digitisation projects must also submit their strategies to the Western Cape
Archives and Records Service for approval.

The ultimate goal will be that all governmental bodies and public entities will
implement approved digitisation strategies that will be registered. This will
facilitate the maintenance of these digital records and the transfer of the
digital masters to the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) after conclusion of
projects or in phases as agreed upon between the relevant institutions.
POLICY 13: Creation of a Provincial Digital Repository
4.13.1 It is recommended that a centralised repository be created rather than a
multitude of small-scale repositories that will be difficult to monitor for compliance
with this policy.

A Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) will be established, which will be
managed by the Western Cape Archives and Records Service. This digital
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repository must contain the digital content of all digitised holdings as well as
born-digital content that they have accessioned from the Western Cape
Government and the municipalities in the Western Cape Province.

The digital repository will be seen as an extension of the services that the
Western Cape Archives and Records Service currently provides. The digital
repository will merely change the nature of the storage and access to records.
It will not change the functional mandates of the Western Cape Archives and
Records Service.

This Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) will be the nominated legal depository
for digital masters.
 This Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must comply with a basic set of
standards and good practices based upon an accepted reference model
such as the OASIS Reference Model 66 and this policy.
 This Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must be sufficiently capacitated to
house the digital masters of digitisation activities within the provincial memory
institutions.
 Other institutions in the Western Cape Province that have collections and
repositories that are not seen as governmental bodies are encouraged to
comply with the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) requirements and to be
included into the Provincial List of Digital Repositories held by the Provincial
Digital Repository (PDR).
 This structure is motivated by the need to ensure consistency in the
preservation of the provincial memory in digital form while providing sufficient
autonomy in the management of these repositories, as is a declared necessity
for university and private-sector archives.
 The Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must maintain a register of its digital
heritage holdings, and this register is itself regarded as digital heritage.
4.14
POLICY 14: Digital masters maintained in accordance with accepted standards
4.14.1 The digital medium is universally acknowledged to be a relatively more fragile and
easily corrupted medium, compared to traditional archival materials. It is thus vital
that measures are taken to ensure the security, authenticity and integrity of digital
records. The technical standards that will be used to create archival digital
records will be of the utmost importance in this regard. All governmental bodies
within the Western Cape Province must ensure that digital records adhere to
standards of security, authenticity and integrity.
4.14.2 Digital masters must be managed in terms of the highest international and
national standards.
 The digital master is the digital reproduction of the best quality and the highest
resolution to be maintained as the single main record. Digital masters may also
include lower resolution forms of the digital content or partial selections of the
digital content that may be used for open access purposes.
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 Digital masters must be lodged with or transferred to the Provincial Digital
Repository (PDR). Any digital record existing outside of the Provincial Digital
Repository (PDR) is not considered to be an authentic digital master.
 All metadata relating to the master copy is retained in the digital master and
must be maintained as an integral part of the digital master, this includes:
o
Digital masters, as the master copy of digital records, must each carry a
digital signature to ensure authenticity and to ensure that they cannot be
modified without invalidating the integrity of the digital master. This
signature should enable linkage back to the original creator, in the case of
government records this will be a governmental body.
o
Descriptive metadata that outlines the content, and which is used to
categorise and contextualise the digital object.
o
Provenance metadata, identifying the source and identifying this as the
authentic version of the content.
o
Version metadata, including the history of any changes and preparations
that have been performed on the digital record.
o
Creation metadata, including basic parameters associated with the
content such as the equipment and settings used for digitisation, as well as
identification of the original creator.
o
Preservation metadata, designed to identify the nature of the content and
the threats to the sustainability of the content.
o
Rights metadata, including copyright and moral rights information
concerning who is allowed to access, in what form, and under which
conditions of license, and which specific types of digital content is
included, and what are they allowed to do with this content, such as
modification of the content.
o
Each digital master is required to have a unique address or name that
provides reference back to the original record within the Provincial Digital
Repository (PDR). This may take the form of a URI, URL or URN or any other
internationally agreed unique naming convention. This unique address is to
be used when citing references back to the digital master.
 All digital records, other than digital masters, are not considered as authentic
records; this includes exact copies of the digital master from the Provincial
Digital Repository (PDR).
4.15
POLICY 15: Protection and preservation of digital heritage
4.15.1 Mitigating the risk of loss of the digital heritage requires that clear action be taken
to ensure that a disaster management plan and backups are in place and that
centralised backup services are provided.
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 Each repository, holding digital heritage records, must develop and maintain
a disaster management plan.
 The disaster management plan must address how information lost or damage
through a disaster may be identified, retrieved and made available as soon as
possible following the disaster. Disaster planning must be aimed at ensuring
the integrity, authenticity and efficacy of digital records.
 An integral part of the disaster management plan, is a register of digital
heritage maintained in the repository. This register must be maintained
separately from the backup sites and be accessible immediately when
required.
 A safe and secure backup site for all digital records must be established with
sufficient capacity to house the contents of all other provincial digital
repositories. The backup site must be maintained under the most secure
conditions, both physical and technological.
 The Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must have mutual backup agreements
with at least one other Repository.
 The backup processes between the digital repositories should be automated
and should be able to continue without human action. Monitoring systems
should be in place to provide an alert in the event of failure.
4.16
POLICY 16: Living heritage digital records
4.16.1 The living heritage, although unique, will be included in the Provincial Digital
Repository (PDR).
 The Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must integrate and comply with the
same metadata standards with regard to the living heritage.
 The Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must be in compliance with the
documentation and recording requirements identified in the Living Heritage
Policy.
4.17
POLICY 17: Ensure security, authenticity and integrity of digital records and
heritage
4.17.1 All governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province must ensure that digital
records adhere to standards of security, authenticity and integrity.

All governmental bodies must take acceptable care of the digital heritage
under their care with regard to information security considerations in terms of
national and international standards. The security measures must include
control over accessibility of the digital records, as well as prevention of
unauthorised change or deletion.

All digital masters must include provenance metadata which provides for the
authenticity, provenance and integrity of the digital record. Additionally, this
metadata must be maintained as an integral part of the digital master.
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4.18

The provenance metadata must include the description of any specific
preparations or treatments performed on the digital records as well as on the
original or analogue record prior to digitisation.

Digital masters, as the master copy of digital records, must each carry a digital
signature to ensure authenticity and to ensure that they cannot be modified
without invalidating the integrity of the digital master. This signature should
enable linkage back to the original creator, in the case of government
records this will be a governmental body.

Digital masters must be lodged with the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) and
the digital master located within the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) is the
only truly authentic version. The term “digital master” should only apply to
those records maintained in the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR).

All digital records other than digital masters are not considered as authentic
including exact copies of the digital master from the Provincial Digital
Repository (PDR).

Each digital master is required to have a unique address or name that
provides reference back to the record within the Provincial Digital Repository
(PDR). This may take the form of a URI, URL or URN or any other internationally
agreed unique naming convention. This unique address is to be used when
citing references back to the digital master.
POLICY 18: Privacy policies
4.18.1 Archival records/public records contain information that is of a personal nature,
and whose unconsidered dissemination could cause personal and public harm.
Privacy is a constitutional right and must be integrated into the core of the digital
repository design and functioning of digitisation processes and programmes.

Until legislation is promulgated to cover this contingency, the ethical
treatment of personal information in digital record form must be managed
under existing institutional policies.

Governmental bodies must compile a privacy policy to provide guidance as
to how private information held in their care is to be appropriately handled
and safeguarded.
 Personal information that is in digital form must, ideally and where reasonably
possible, be identified within the metadata for the digital masters as
information concerning the nature of the subject matter.
 The digitisation strategy of the Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) must include
the manner in which personal information is to be handled and protected
during the capturing, describing, loading, storing and accessing processes.
4.19
POLICY 19: Handling of confidential and secret records in accordance with MISS
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4.19.1 Digital records falling under the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS) as
published by the National Intelligence Agency must be managed in accordance
with this standard.
 Each governmental body is required to handle digital records that fall under
the Protection of Personal Information Act , Protection of Information Bill or
MISS on secure servers that are not accessible through standard access
methods.
 Records falling under these legislation must be managed in a manner so as it
is not possible to separate digital content from metadata.
 Metadata associated with sensitive digital data must clearly indicate any
moratorium periods that are applicable in order to support automated or
semi-automated release of such embargoed information.
 Sensitive information must be accessible only to those with the required level
of access authority. This may require additional forms of information security to
be implemented, including the usage of one-time passwords, biometric
authentication or device-based security.
4.20
POLICY 20: Development and implementation of national metadata and
vocabulary standards
4.20.1 There is a need for national metadata and vocabulary to ensure semantic
interoperability between digital collections, since purely technical interoperability
is insufficient.
 In order to allow for effective searching across institutions and holdings, the
metadata associated with digital records must conform to an agreed national
set of metadata elements including schemas, thesauri, ontologies,
terminologies, vocabularies and authority files.
 All governmental bodies in the Western Cape must adhere to the minimum
national standards and metatdata.
 Private custodians in the Western Cape are encouraged to adhere to these
minimum national standards.
 Policy 22 explains the construction and maintenance of vocabularies,
authority files and other such elements.
4.20.2 These metadata and vocabulary standards must be built on strong semantic
principles, to facilitate improved access to large repositories and to provide for a
more natural interface to complex repositories. This must be done in a way that
provides for long-term evolution and improvement of the semantic structure.
4.21
POLICY 21: Use of standard technologies, formats and media
4.21.1 The use of standard technologies, standard forms and media types, and plan for
changes in formats, technologies and formats (standardisation) is strongly
encouraged. Standardised formats allow for interoperability between
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23
governmental bodies, aiding service delivery and lowering the cost of creating
and preserving digital information.
4.21.2 However, it must be noted that the formats and media types currently in use are
not likely to remain as fixed standards, for the long term. Governmental bodies
and repositories must plan for migration into newer formats and media.
4.21.3 Technology and succession plans for migration to newer formats and media must
be in place and budgeted for by repositories.
4.21.4 Only archivally appropriate scanning machines that limit the harm and damage
to fragile historical materials may be permitted to be used for digitisation projects.
4.21.5 High speed automated scanning processes are considered to be damaging to
archival records, due to the fragile nature of many archival records as well as the
variable nature of historical paper formats. High speed automated scanning
processes are explicitly not allowed for scanning purposes for historical archival
records.
4.21.6 The exact nature and type of scanning machinery and equipment to be used in
the digitisation project must be stipulated in the contract. In most instances this will
mean, that an overhead camera with support cradle for bound books and loose
documents, will have to be used.
4.21.7 Scanning machines for maps must be able to accommodate the size of the map,
without causing harm to the item.
4.21.8 The use of high-volume automated scanners, or any scanning device that exerts
pressure (for example, drum roll scanners) on a record, is not allowed.
4.21.9 Repositories must preserve older technologies and equipment to access all digital
records in that format.
4.21.10The Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) at the Western Cape Archives and Records
Service must use standard technologies, standard forms and media types, and
plan for changes in formats, technologies and formats.

The formats and media types currently in use are not likely to remain as fixed
standards in the long-term future and repositories must accept and plan for
migration into newer formats and media.

Technology and succession plans for migration to newer formats and media
must be in place and budgeted for by repositories.

Only approved digital formats and media must be used.

Digital material in alternate formats must be migrated to the approved
standard.

Digital and electronic collections and reproductions in obsolete formats and
media must be identified for eventual migration of the content in future
when technologies will be available.
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
4.22
New technologies and media types must be reviewed regularly.
POLICY 22: Creating a Community of Practice
4.22.1 The digitisation sector is fragmented with most institutions operating in silos. A
community of practice will help to unify the sector and provide a common
purpose.

4.23
A community of practice, in the form of a professional body, must be
established to integrate the digitisation sector by building up national
capacity through coordination of skills development, and consequently to
reduce the dependence upon foreign agencies. This is to be an
independent professional body which may over time be constituted as a
statutory body. The Department of Arts and Culture will facilitate the
establishment of this professional body through workshops and conferences
and to provide guidance, support and linkage with key governmental
stakeholders. For the purposes of this policy this proposed professional body
that embodies the community of practice might referred to as the Institute
for Digital Heritage (IDH).
POLICY 23: Developing and implementing a skills framework for digitisation
4.23.1 There is a need for a skills framework that covers the digitisation discipline, which
supports monitoring of skills demand and supply, and which forms the basis for skills
development programmes.
4.24

A skills framework must be established that will provide a range of skills that
can be developed and used for the development and management of the
digital heritage.

Existing skills structured in digitisation and related disciplines must be
consulted to ensure coherence in the skills framework. Particular attention
must be given to skills that are not transferrable from other disciplines and
which are unique to digitisation as a discipline.

Continuous assessment of skills should be undertaken to ensure a balanced
supply of local skills and to reduce the need for importing international skills
to participate in local projects.

Local training companies should be encouraged to offer skills in accordance
with the skills framework.
POLICY 24: Developing and measuring institutional capacity
4.24.1 Many institutions are competent to undertake digitisation projects without external
assistance. It is essential that institutional capacity be developed to ensure that
digitisation becomes a core activity.

Each governmental body should develop institutional capacity to enable
digitisation to become a core competence. For practical purposes this may
be developed as shared services among regional collection of custodians to
benefit from economies of scale.
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4.25
4.26

An institutional scorecard must be developed to enable measurement of the
capability and maturity of custodians in terms of this scorecard.

Regular assessments should be conducted for each governmental body in
terms of this scorecard and provincial awards may be implemented to
recognise specific achievements and institutional excellence. This should be
performed either as self-assessments or through the shared services centres.
POLICY 25: Capacity development for electronic records management

The Records Management Section of the Western Cape Archives and
Records Service in cooperation with other stakeholdersmust take the lead in
developing the necessary capacity for the introduction of electronic
management systems throughout the governmental bodies in the Western
Cape.

This leading role must take the form of supporting and approval of
digital/electronic systems at provincial and local government levels for the
long-term preservation of the digital masters at the Provincial Digital
Repository (PDR).

Coupled with this should be the developing of ICT literacy programmes
among all stakeholders as a pre-requisite for the introduction of electronic
records management systems.

The Western Cape Archives and Records Service must develop internal
capacity and competence prior to embarking on capacity development for
the other governmental bodies in the Western Cape Province.
POLICY 26: Promoting Research and Development

A research agenda must be developed that has a focus on understanding
the long-term implications of digitisation and the development of long-term
solutions.

This agenda must include current and emerging open standards and their
applicability to the local conditions; the practical applicability of
recommended practices and the continual improvement of these practices;
the preservation of the various types of heritage with an emphasis on the
living heritage; capture and recording technologies with particular focus on
collections under threat, and recovery of content from obsolete
technologies; the management of rights information and associated
metadata considerations; and, the development and management of
national vocabularies as a step towards a semantic information environment
for the digital heritage.

To support the research and development as well as to gain provincial level
perspective on the status of digitisation, a provincial audit of collections must
be conducted within statutory memory institutions for the purpose of building
up a register of collections under threat, and to support prioritisation of
collections for digitisation. This audit should produce a database that can be
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sustained and managed as a critical resource in planning and management
of the digital heritage.

4.27
Scholarly publication of research into digitisation should be encouraged.
POLICY 27: Digital/electronic Best Practices and Standards
4.27.1 The lack of local national guidelines on digitisation is hampering the quality of
projects and the digital heritage.

The PDR must develop and maintain digital/electronic best practices and
standards based on international archivally accepted standards, including
metatdata, semantics, vocabulary, authority files, etc.

All situations both technical and non-technical must be covered.

Formal processes must be established to enhance and update these best
practices and standards.
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ADDENDUM 1
ATTRIBUTES OF A RECORD
1.
Authenticity


2.
Accessibility


3.


What is a record’s links to other records or sequences?
Does its serve to authenticate other records, and how?
Functionality




7.
Content can be understood on two levels: 1. denotative or informational, that
is, what the record says or shows; and 2. connotative, that is, what the record
means, what can be inferred, implied, or proved from the record’s content.
Context

6.
What is the record’s level of citability?
Is this a version, edition, “state” (for example, of an engraving), or other stage
of production, or use, that is expected to match reliably a published or
unpublished citation to it as an object?
Content

5.
Is the record human-readable or technology-dependant?
Is the record in analogue or digital form? And, how does this affect the
accessibility (that is, readability or ability to be copied)?
Citability

4.
What is the record’s level of authenticity, and on what is this based? For
example, dates of creation and the types, quantity and dates of changes to
it? In addition, what copies or migrations are there?
Is its authenticity based on other attributes of their interrelationships listed
below?
What is the usability of the record?
Does it have multiple uses? For example: a record may have had an original
use (e.g., in documenting the sale of slaves circa 1780); a subsequent use
(e.g., by academics in studying the history of slavery, or descendants of slaves
in tracing their family history); and a future use, which may not be entirely clear
or obvious.
Is the use for which the record was created exhausted, with only residual
research or documentary uses being left?
Are there new uses engendered specifically by being in an archive; for
example, as an “archival treasure”?
Market value

Does it have a current or future market value? On what basis?
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8.
Medium

9.
Metadata


10.



What is the object as a discrete whole?
What are its dimensions, parts?
Does its three-dimensional nature, as well as: any container, frame, binding,
base or attachments add crucial information to its definition as an object or
record?
Does it have an “extent”, that is: a sequence of interdependent states, such as
the negative and positive versions of a photograph?
Presentation

12.
What is the record’s metadata?
Is the record’s metadata considered to be an integral part of the record, even
if the record is in a traditional format, rather than in a digital format?
Object form

11.
What is the medium or media of manufacture; and, the expected life-span or
physical stability under “ordinary” conditions?
What is the record’s presentation or appearance, for example: its format,
layout, pagination, “original look”, style, serial sequencing?
Provenance

What asserts the origin and chain of custody in the record? For example, book
plates, signatures, imprints, letterheads, notes, marginalia, metadata,
metadata.
Principles derived from the attributes of records
1.
All attributes and their inter-relationships represent information about the record
and engender historical meaning.
2.
Every preservation activity, including copying, will affect some or all of these
attributes and may even eliminate, supplement or replace them; and therefore,
will affect meaning.
3.
All preservation actions should seek to preserve the maximum number and quality
of attributes and their inter-relationships for which the archival record was
acquired.
4.
The impact on a record of all preservation actions or changes, including copying
must be evident to users, and any effect on meaning must be conveyed to users.
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ADDENDUM 2
LIST OF TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of this policy, the following definitions apply:
Access
In this policy the term “access” is primarily used to
indicate access through electronic means to digital
heritage resources. The UNESCO Charter states that the
purpose of preserving the digital heritage is to ensure
that it remains accessible to the public and thus access
should be free of unreasonable restrictions.
Analogue
In this policy the term “analogue” refers to archival
records, heritage objects and resources, not in digital
form, e.g. paper, stone (sculpture), tape recordings (nondigital), video recordings (non-digital), microfiche and
models.
Appraisal
The process of determining the eventual disposal of
records and the decision regarding the preservation
requirements of each document or series of documents.
Archival value
Are those values, administrative, fiscal, legal, evidential
and/or informational, which justify the indefinite of
permanent retention of records.
Archives
Records in the custody of an archives repository.
Archives repository
A building in which records with archival value are
permanently preserved. This can be supplemented by
an electronic repository.
Authentication
A process in which a user is required to prove that they
are who they say they are before being granted access
to information resources and services. This is the basis for
most modern security implementations.
Author
The person who is responsible for the creation of the
material embodiment of a work. The creative activity in
regard to the work must involve the application of
independent intellectual effort or skill. The author of a
literary, musical or artistic work is identified as the person
who first made or created a work; the author of a
photograph is the person identified as the person
responsible for the composition of the photograph; the
author of a cinematography film is the person
responsible for making the arrangements for the making
of the film; the author of a computer program is the
person who exercised control over the making of the
computer program.
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Authorship
See the entry for author.
Basic/Applied research
Directed at solving a specific practical problem; utilising
analytical tools, information and knowledge already
available.
Benchmarking
An approach to research in which similar institutions or
organisations are compared against one another in
terms of their inputs, processes and outputs.
Born digital
Information content which is produced in digital form
and which in many cases is never converted into
physical form such as paper. Examples include
digitisation of the intangible heritage and most modern
electronic records management systems.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality and privacy are often thought of as the
same and the terms are often used interchangeably.
Confidentiality is a separate legal concept where
information is given to a person under an obligation to
keep the information confidential (e.g. a trade secret or
information confided to someone). Confidential
information is usually not available or readily accessible
to the public.
Conservation
A set of activities that is intended to stabilise the physical
or chemical condition of a record to prolong the life of a
record and relevant metadata or to improve access to it
through interceptive treatment.
All measures and actions aimed at safeguarding cultural
heritage to ensure its accessibility to present and future
generations.
Conservation
embraces
preventive
conservation, remedial conservation and restoration. All
measures and actions should respect the significance
and the physical properties of the cultural heritage item.
Conservation treatment and repair
A series of interventions intended to improve or maintain
a record’s physical and/or chemical stability,
appearance or accessibility. These are usually physical
actions that are performed on a record once damage
has occurred, or in anticipation of damage or
obsolescence.

For human-readable records: conservation treatment
entails physical or chemical intervention and may be
performed as a preventative measure or once
damage has occurred. Human-readable records
include historical formats and media such as
parchment, vellum, paper, drawings, maps, plans.
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
For technology-dependent records conservation
treatment may entail physical or chemical
intervention; it can also entail, or be combined with
the manufacture of an archival master, migration or
other form of copying. Technology-dependent
records include: some forms of photography, film,
microform, sound, video electronic or digital media
and software
Conservator
The person responsible for choosing the most
appropriate materials and methods, to the objectives of
each specific treatment and consistent with currently
accepted practice to halt the deterioration, of a record.
A conservator is a professional, who has the training and
the experience to act on cultural heritage with the aim
to preserve it for future generations, always according to
the guidelines of internationally accepted best practices
and ethics.
Copy, facsimile or surrogate
A duplicate of an original record in, either, whole or in
part. Copies are used as surrogates to preserve original
records, while providing access to the information
contained in the record. Use of copies as surrogates
removes the stress associated with handling of fragile
original records, and has been a recognised
preservation strategy for libraries, museums and archives
worldwide for over a century.
Copying
All methods of manufacturing a reproduction of a
record in order to create a second record in the same,
or new, medium/media. The subsequent copy will have
its own attributes; including history of creation, metadata
and requirements for control, preservation and access.
Copyright
A legal term describing rights given to creators for their
literary and artistic works. It confers protection to a
tangible creation, that is, to music composition, plays,
screen writings, books, paintings, sculpture, ceramics,
etc. Copyright protection is also awarded on an
individual basis, to individual creators or heirs.
Government texts are considered to be automatically in
the public domain and are excluded from copyright.
The provisions for awarding copyright to tangible objects
and on an individual basis, makes it difficult to extend
copyright to indigenous knowledge, which is often in oral
form and is considered to be collectively owned by a
particular community.
CORI
Common Repository Interface. This is a recommended
implementation arising from this policy.
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Creative Commons
A licensing arrangement, voluntarily entered into by the
creator of a work; this arrangement specifies how a work
may be used. There are a number of licensing
categories to choose from: completely unrestricted,
Creative Commons is a non-profit corporation
dedicated to making it easier for people to share and
build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of
copyright.
Custody
The guardianship and management of archival records
based on their physical possession.
Database
A structured collection of data.
Destruction
The process of eliminating or deleting records, beyond
any possible reconstruction. ISO 15489, 2001.
Digital divide
The difference in ICT infrastructure, access, content and
capacity that occurs between the rich and the poor.
This includes the divide between the rich and the poor
nations, as well as the divide between the richer urban
areas and the poorer rural areas of all countries of the
world.
Digital heritage
Digital forms of representing heritage, in three forms:
• Born digital: Heritage resources that are created in
digital form, and for which the “original” is digital.
These include electronic documents and records,
digital arts, digital images, digital recordings,
computer programs, data files and web sites.
 Digitised heritage: Heritage resources that are
originally not in digital form, but of which a digital
reproduction has been made.
• Digital information about heritage, such as
descriptions, digital reconstructions of the original,
databases.
Digital master
A Digital Master is a combination of digital files,
metadata and index/manifest files which are structured
as a unit which provides the basis for authenticity of
digital records, and the means of reliable transfer
between the creator and the Provincial Digital
Repository.
Digital migration
The act of moving records from one system to another,
while maintaining the records’ authenticity, integrity and
usability. ISO 15489. 2001.
Digital obsolescence
The increasing speed at which newer versions of
electronic hard- and software are replaced with
successive generations of programs and equipment.
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Resulting in earlier versions of electric files, their
supporting software and hardware quickly becoming
obsolete. This poses a considerable challenge to cultural
institutions, which need to preserve electronic records for
the future.
Digital preservation
A set of specialised technical processes to ensure that
digital records and documents remain accessible over
the long term. Digital preservation consists of the
activities that guard against loss of the digital heritage4.
UNESCO (2003). UNESCO Charter on the Preservation of
the Digital Heritage. Adopted at the 32nd session of the
General Conference of UNESCO, 17 October 2003.
Digital repository
A repository of digital resources structured into various
collections. Also known as an electronic repository.
Digital resources
For the purpose of this policy digital resources are
specifically digital content representing heritage
resources, including all types of digital content on any
form of media and in any format.
Digital rights management
The formal management of the bundle of rights
associated with digital records. All items in historical
and/or cultural collections have legal rights, these legal
rights affect how these items can be used. These rights
are separate from the rights of ownership. Rights
management is, currently, seen as forming part of the
considerations for the management of historical
collections (i.e. collections management). It is imperative
for institutions to recognise the necessity for managing
the digital rights to their collection.
See associated entries on: intellectual property, fair
dealing or use, copyright.
Digitisation
.
Dispersed collections
The conversion of information in analogue form (that is,
documents on paper, photographs, paintings, objects)
into digital form.
Collections that are seen as a whole or unit, but which
are physically located and curated by two or more
individual custodial institutions.
Disposal
The action of either destroying or deleting a record; or,
transferring it into archival custody.
Document
Any recorded information or object which can be
treated as a unit.
E-Culture/E-Heritage
The reproduction of cultural and heritage elements to
support the dual goals of long-term storage and
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preservations, as well as broadening access to such
cultural resources and heritage resources.
E-Government
Electronic government: the usage of information
technologies to improve how government operates, and
how it communicates and interfaces with its
stakeholders.
E-Learning
The effective usage of information technologies to
enhance the ability to learn by providing access to
materials, information, knowledge books, lessons, tests,
and to provide a linkage to teachers on-line.
Emulators
Special-purpose computer programs that are able to
reproduce in software the functionality of obsolete
hardware, so that programs available in executable or
object form for the obsolete hardware systems are able
to be used without access to that hardware.
Electronic record
A record produced, housed or transmitted by electronic
means rather than physical means; and that satisfied the
definition of a record.
Ephemeral records
See entry under non-archival records.
Ethics
Ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and
society and is also described as moral philosophy. The
Greek word ethos can mean custom, habit, character or
disposition. Ethics are the well-founded standards of right
and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do,
usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society,
fairness, or specific virtues.
Ethics covers the following dilemmas: how to live a good
life; our rights and responsibilities as members of a larger
society; the language of right and wrong; moral
decisions - what is good and bad? Although law,
personal feelings, religion and prevailing social morals
are often cited as examples of ethical standards, or at
the least, guiding influences for ethical standards - as
these can, in fact, deviate from what is ethical. Ethical
principles can provide a guide for action in the absence
of any other guidelines or laws.
At the heart of ethics is a concern about something or
someone other than oneself, and one’s own desires and
self-interest. Ethics is concerned with other people's
interests, with the interests of society and the world. So,
when a person 'thinks ethically' they are giving at least
some thought to something beyond themselves.
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Examples of ethical standards include those that impose
the reasonable obligation to refrain from rape, stealing,
murder, assault, slander, and fraud; as well as those that
enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. Ethical
standards also include standards relating to rights, such
as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and
the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate
standards of ethics because they are supported by
consistent and well-founded reasons.
Fair dealing or fair use
The limited copying and use of a work for educational
purposes or for private study. It allows for the
copying/reproduction of a limited portion (usually no
more than one third of the total work) for noncommercial purposes. Most libraries and archives allow
for the copying of works or records on the assumption
that copies are to be used for the purposes of private
study, research or for educational purposes. Copyright is
not considered to be infringed upon, if the copying or
reproduction of a work falls within the limits of fair use.
Within cultural institutions, including archives, fair use also
extends to the copying and reproduction of records for
in-house uses, for example, creating low resolution
thumbnail images to display images of records on the
internet. Fair use also extends to the use of copies or
reproductions for the purposes of promoting the use of
the institution’s collection
Facsimile
See under the definition of copy.
File format
Information and data is stored in binary digits, or bits. The
manner in which these bits are combined into larger
structures is called a file format.
Governmental body
Any legislative, executive, judicial or administrative
organ of the state, including a statutory body,
commission, board or council, in the provincial or local
sphere of government in the province of the Western
Cape. See also entry for public record.
Head of the Service
Official appointed in terms of the Public Service Act to
head the Western Cape and Archives Service.
Heritage
The term “heritage” is defined in the White Paper on Arts
and Culture (1996) as “the sum total of wildlife and
scenic parks, sites of scientific and historical importance,
national monuments, historic buildings, works of art,
literature and music, oral traditions and museum
collections and their documentation which provides the
basis for a shared culture and creativity in the arts.”
(Section 12).
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Heritage resources
Section 3(2) of the National Heritage Resources Act (Act
No. 25 of 1999) defines any place or object of cultural
significance as a heritage resource, including:
(a) Places, buildings, structures and equipment of
cultural significance;
(b) Places to which oral traditions are attached or which
are associated with living heritage;
(c) Historical settlements and townscapes;
(d) Landscapes and natural features of cultural
significance;
(e) Geological sites of scientific or cultural importance;
(f) Archaeological and paleontological sites;
(g) Graves and burial grounds, including—
(i) Ancestral graves;
(ii) Royal graves and graves of traditional
leaders;
(iii) Graves of victims of conflict;
(iv) Graves of individuals designated by the
Minister by notice in the Gazette;
(v) Historical graves and cemeteries; and
(vi) Other human remains, which are not
covered in terms of the Human Tissue Act,
1983 (Act No. 65 of 1983);
(h) Sites of significance relating to the history of slavery in
South Africa;
(i) Movable objects, including—
(i) Objects recovered from the soil or waters of
South Africa, including archaeological and
paleontological
objects
and
material,
meteorites and rare geological specimens;
(ii) Objects to which oral traditions are attached
or which are associated with living heritage;
(iii) Ethnographic art and objects;
(iv) Military objects;
(v) Objects of decorative or fine art;
(vi) Objects of scientific or technological
interest; and
(vii) Books, records, documents, photographic
positives and negatives, graphic, film or video
material or sound recordings, excluding those
that are public records as defined in section
1(xiv) of the National Archives of South Africa
Act, 1996 (Act No. 43 of 1996).
Human-readable records
A record that is intelligible without the assistance or
mediation of a machine; for example, a manuscript, a
drawing, a print, a hand-written letter, and such like.
Indigenous knowledge (IK)
Knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society.
In contrast with the international knowledge system
generated by universities, research institutions and
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private firms. It forms the basis for local-level decision
making in agriculture, health care, food preparation,
education, natural-resource management, and a host
of other everyday activities in, largely rural
communities. IK is distinguished by the fact that it is
orally transmitted and is widely shared.
Information Society
A people-centered, inclusive and developmentoriented society where everyone can create, access,
utilise and share information and knowledge, enabling
individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their
full
potential
in
promoting
their
sustainable
development and improving their quality of life.
Infringement (of copyright)
Infringement of copyright can lead to the awarding of
damages to the injured party, injunctions on further
use, loss of trust for institutions/organisations, the
destruction or removal of infringing copies.
Integrated pest management (IPM)
IPM uses a range of preventative measures to control
pests that threaten archival records; thereby, reducing
the traditional reliance on toxic and ecologically
damaging chemicals. IPM’s focus is to control rodent
and insect infestation by denying them access to a
building and making the building (and surrounds) as
inhospitable to insects and rodents as possible. One of
the components of IPM includes an extensive good
housekeeping program; another component is a
comprehensive building maintenance program.
Intellectual property (IP)
The concept of intellectual property (IP) is intended to
give recognition to- and protection for the creative
output of human mind. IP confers a form of ownership
interest in human intellectual output, and allows
owners of IP to exercise control lover the future use of a
work. IP grants owners the opportunity to exploit their
creation by passing IP rights onto others. Categories
recognised under intellectual property include:
inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names,
images and designs used in commerce. Government
texts are considered to be automatically in the public
domain and are excluded.
Copyright legislation is considered to be outdated,
compared to recent developments with electronic
media; IP makes use of more recent development in
law and policy associated with copyright issues, such
as trademarks and the management of electronic
records. IP has the potential to provide considerable
protection to cultural heritage, as it protects the rights
of the producer. IP can be used in the developing
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world to develop cultural heritage through the
protections it affords.
Intellectual property rights
Rights associated with intellectual property include the
rights to reproduce (e.g. photography and scanning),
adapt or create derivatives (e.g. translations), perform
in public, distribute (e.g. lend, rent or loan copies to the
public), display in public.
Metadata
Information about other information. For example,
information contained in a library catalogue is
considered to be metadata (about the books in the
library). Metadata, as a term, is most commonly used
to describe electronic data that describes electronic
records, e.g. date of creation, program on which the
record was created, and such like. Data describing
context, content and structure of records, and their
management through time. Metadata is used for
records management, retrieval and use.
Migration
The process of transforming an electronic record from
one encoding format to another, most usually by
transferring it to a newer version of software and/or
hardware. The most usual reason for migration is to
transfer records to newer generations of computers, so
that the records they contain can continue to be
accessed by later generations of digital technology.
The fast development and marketing of newer versions
of electronic soft- and hardware, means that the older
versions of programs quickly become obsolete. This
feature is referred to as digital obsolescence. The
average
rate
of
digital
obsolesce
through
technological and programming improvements is
increasingly shorter.
Migration techniques are active preservation method
which constitute a change to the nature of the record,
and entail a risk of information loss that must be clearly
identified and managed.
Moral rights
The ability of an author (or creator) of a work to control
the eventual fate of their work(s). Moral rights serve to
protect the personal and reputational rights of its
creator. Moral rights are a bundle of rights that include:
the creator’s right to receive or decline credit for
his/her work (paternity), to prevent her/his work from
being altered, displayed or utilised without the author’s
permission (integrity).
Moral rights are separate from, but complimentary to
copyright; as misuse of a work can give rise to a claim
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of copyright infringement. Moral rights cannot extend
beyond the term of copyright (author’s lifetime plus 50
years) and may terminate earlier. Moral rights die with
the person Moral rights are distinct and separate from
copyright. Moral rights are essentially personal rights
and not economic rights. Moral rights are analogous
and closely allied to personality rights under common
law. Personality rights are only enforceable by the
person concerned, and are not transferrable (e.g. to
heirs as copyright is). Personality rights concern the
honor or reputation of an individual, as well as the right
to control the use of his or her identity.
National Digital Repository (NDR) A digital repository which contains digital heritage in
the national interest and which is managed in
accordance with strict standards and practices to
ensure authenticity and integrity of the digital content.
Non-archival records
Records of a short-lived interest or usefulness; also
known as ephemeral records.
Non-Public Record
Recorded information, regardless of the form or
medium thereof, created or received by a private
individual or a body other than a body defined as a
governmental body. Records donated to the archives
by members of the public and non-governmental
organisations or institutions.
Obsolescence
The increasing rate of technological advancement in
the computing field results in hard- and software
increasingly becoming out of date (or “obsolete”)
within an increasingly shorter time span. It means that
certain file types and images cannot be opened or
accessed by later generations of hard- and software.
This is a concern, as it means that much information in
digital or electronic form may be rendered useless as it
cannot be read by later technology. This issue had
been a concern for cultural institutions since the start of
digital record keeping. Cultural institutions have to plan
for obsolescence by ensuring that electronic records
are migratable across successive generations of
software.
See
associated
migration.
Ontology
entries:
digital
obsolescence,
A structure of knowledge as used for the construction
of common category systems and vocabularies such
as thesauri and authority files.
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Open Access
Access to information resources free of limitations or in
which some communities of users may have preferred
access over others.
Open Content
A form of publishing of works that is published under a
license that allows anyone to copy, modify or use the
information.
Open Source
A means of producing and maintaining software
programs in which the source code is provided and
which is provided free of proprietary licenses.
Optical character recognition (OCR)
Software programs that enable the searching of a
scanned image of a printed or typewritten document.
The software has the ability to recognise certain
keywords appearing in the text. Scanned images of
printed or typewritten documents are then able to be
searched, greatly enhancing the value of the
information and the scanned image. Currently, no
commercially successful program exists to read
manuscript or handwritten records, in the same way as
printed or typewritten text.
Original record
An accessioned record, which may be in a physical or
electronic format, from which a copy or surrogate can
be made. In certain instances, an accessioned record
is itself a surrogate; e.g. a microfilm. In this case the
accessioned record is considered to be the original.
Orphaned works
Works of art, journals, letters, photographs, and other
records, found in collections, for which no owner can
be identified. Orphaned items present a problem with
regard to the management of digital rights within
cultural heritage institutions worldwide. Orphaned
works need to be catered for when devising digital
rights management strategies, exhibition and loan
policies, etc.
Preservation
Measures aim to prevent, retard or halt deterioration of
archival records and other cultural property.
Preservation is considered to be integral to the
functioning of any given archives or heritage institution.
Preservation measures touch on a variety of actions
and functions within any given archives or heritage
institution. Preservation measures include: maintaining
clean and safe storage conditions for records; ensuring
that pests and other threats to the collections are
mitigated for; that correct handling of records is
adhered to by staff and clients; that the building fabric
is kept in a sound state of repair; that the use of
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appropriate protective enclosures for fragile records
occurs, etc.
Privacy
Privacy and confidentiality are often thought of as the
same and the terms are often used interchangeably.
However, confidentiality is a separate legal concept
where information is given to a person under an
obligation to keep the information confidential (for
example, a trade secret, or information confided to
someone). Confidential information is usually not
available or readily accessible to the public, and may
be information which is not recorded in some form.
Provincial Digital Repository (PDR) The division in the Western Cape Archives and Records
Service who is responsible for the safe and secure
preservation of the digital masters created or received
by a governmental body in pursuance of its activities.
All digital masters that are appraised as having
archival value must be transferred to this repository.
These digital masters must be managed in
accordance with strict standards and practices to
ensure authenticity and integrity of the digital content.
Public record
Recorded information, regardless of the form or
medium thereof, created or received by a
governmental body in pursuance of its activities.
Record
Recorded information, regardless of the form or
medium thereof or evidence of a transaction
preserved for the evidential information it contains.
Recording
Anything on which sounds or images (or both) are
fixed; or, from which sound or images (or both) are
capable of being reproduced, regardless of form. See
entry on technology-dependent record.
Refreshment
The process of exactly copying the content of an
electronic storage media to another medium of the
same or different type. This may be undertaken as a
result of physical damage to the medium, or in
advance of technological obsolescence. It does not
constitute a change to the electronic record itself.
Repository
See entry for archives repository. A repository is
typically used in the context of archives repositories.
Within the context of this policy this term is primarily
concerned with digital repositories.
Restoration
An older word used to describe conservation;
“restoration” is often used interchangeably with
conservation. However, restoration is a deliberate
attempt to return a damaged object or item to its
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original (or, “perfect”) state; many of the assumptions
regarding how an original painting, book or document
may have looked like have subsequently been found
to be incorrect. This has meant that “restoration” has
often led to damaging and incorrect repairs.
The concept of restoration also lies uncomfortably
close to fakery; world-wide, unscrupulous persons have
been known to attempt to pass of restored objects as
un-restored originals, greatly enhancing their potential
market-place value. As both a term and concept
restoration is heavily out of favour within the heritage
preservation sector worldwide. Rather, conservation is
now the preferred approach to the repair of historic
and heritage objects. Conservation seeks to halt
deterioration, by repairing only what is damaged and
not entering into any restorative practises.
Rights management
Items in cultural and historical collections have legal
rights, which affect how they can be used. These rights
are separate from the rights of ownership. Institutions
have a professional obligation to manage the rights
associated with their collections.
The management of rights within any given institution
should include a rights management policy that will
specify how the institution is to go about managing
these rights. For example with regard to copyright,
intellectual property (IP), rights pertinent to digitised
and digitally-born records. A survey to determine the
nature of these rights will need to be conducted within
the institution to determine the rights applicable.
Metadata accompanying the digital record will also
have to include information on rights (e.g. ownership
and licensing information).
Scan right
A preservation-orientated approach for the scanning
of paper-based records. Paper records are to be
scanned at the highest possible quality image. This will
ensure that fragile paper-based records do not have
to be repeatedly scanned in order to ensure high
quality images. The once-off scanning process
minimises the damage that would otherwise occur to
documents repeatedly subjected to the scanning
process.
Scanning
The process of converting analogue artifacts into
digital form using optical scanning equipment or similar
equipment. This can be done in two-dimensional (2D)
or three-dimensional (3D) format. For the purposes of
intellectual property rights, the scanning process is not
considered a skilled enough process, to warrant a
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scanned image to be considered as being a new or
unique creation. Thus, scanned images are considered
to be derivative.
.
Sensitive information
Information that is regarded as restricted, confidential,
secret or top secret by an organisation in terms of the
MISS. Minimum Information Security Standards.
Surrogate
A copy or reproduction used in the place of the
original record. See under definition of copy.
Technology-dependent record
A record that is dependent on the mediation of a
machine and/or other technology such as software in
order to be experienced or rendered intelligible; for
example, audio-visual records and electronic records.
Thesaurus
A structured taxonomy of terms that are used for
categorisation and classification.
Vital/Essential records
Records that protect the enduring civil, legal, financial,
property and other rights of the citizens of a country.
Additionally, they are the records needed to continue
operational responsibilities under disaster conditions. As
well as, being records that protect the legal and
financial rights of the government.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
International treaties and conventions that South Africa is a signatory of
Berne Convention - international agreement governing copyright, 1886
2.
Additional sources used / consulted in the compilation of this policy document
Moral rights basics. Available on:
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property/library/ moralprimer.html. Accessed 3
October 2011.
UNESCO Charter
Directory of Open Access Journals. www.doaj.org.
Minimum Information Security Standards, NIA.
3.
CDL Digital File Format Recommendations: Master Production Files (CDL DFFR)
Maintained by the California Digital Library, August 2011, Reviewed and
Updated Semi-Annually
http://www.cdlib.org/gateways/docs/cdl_dffr.pdf Accessed 3 August 2012.
4.
National Archives and Records Service of South Africa
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National policy on the digitisation of heritage resources: final draft policy
(for public review) August 2010.
Records Management Policy Manual, 2007.
Managing Electronic Records in Governmental Bodies: Metadata
requirements, 2006.
Managing Electronic Records in Governmental Bodies: Policy, principles
and requirements, 2006.
Electronic records and the law: What governmental bodies need to know.
Advisory pamphlet No. 2, April 2012.
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