The LTS Department designs and develops all systems powering the UF Digital Collections, for user-facing access, digital production, digital preservation, and integration with other systems.
UFAR (UF Archive) for Digital Preservation Support & Services
The Libraries at UF are committed to long-term digital preservation of all materials in the UF Digital Collections and in UF-hosted collaborative programs as with the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC). Redundant digital archives, adherence to proven standards, and rigorous quality control methods protect digital objects. The UF Digital Collections provide a comprehensive approach to digital preservation, including technical supports, reference services for both online and offline archived files, and support services by providing training and consultation for digitization standards for long-term digital preservation. The Libraries maintain redundant servers with copies of all online files, with an additional tape backup as a ready-access archive. In practice consistent for all University of Florida Digital Collections and projects, separate redundant digital archives are maintained in UFAR (pronounced U-FAR, which is an acronym of the UF Archives). Prior to 2019, UF utilized the now-closed Florida Digital Archive (FDA; WayBack Machine web archive of information).
Information about the archival processing for all digital objects, both online and offline or “dark” archived objects, is tracked and maintained within the current SobekCM online system under “Work History”. This is in-process for replacement with new development on a new digital library user and internal system, named Anubis. During Anubis development (expected 2020-2023), SobekCM will remain in use, and preservation information can be seen under “Work History” tracking includes the “History” which lists the workflow name (for the name of the archive and the process; e.g.; FDA ingest), date the workflow occurred, and location/notes (e.g.; the FDA IEID). Under “Work History” is another field titled “Archives” which lists all of the archived files including filename, size, last write date, and archived date.
Notes on History of Development
In 2021, the Digital Development Team began work on the new UFDC. The new system released in beta on November 29, 2021.
Earlier History: Until 2006, development focused on production tools. In 2006, LTS released the UF Digital Collections, which was initially a customized version of the Greenstone Digital Library Software. After that, LTS developer Mark Sullivan created SobekCM, which powers the user side and many production aspects of the UF Digital Collections. By 2020, LTS’s Robert Phillips developed the Digital Metadata Steward, which powers many production needs, and UFAR (pronounced U-FAR, with the acronym standing for UF Archives) which is the digital preservation system.