AUSTIN, Texas, May 17, 2017 — The Texas Digital Library (TDL), along with the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin, has joined the Chronopolis digital preservation network, becoming the first new node since the network’s inception in 2008. Other nodes in the TRAC-certified digital preservation network, which is administered by the UC San Diego Library, include the University of California San Diego; the National Center for Atmospheric Research; and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

“By collaborating with other mission-aligned institutions in the Chronopolis network, we are advancing our collective goal of digitally preserving our cultural and scientific heritage for this and future generations,” said Kristi Park, Executive Director of the Texas Digital Library. “In Texas, in particular, this partnership gives our state’s institutions another trusted, non-commercial option for secure long-term storage of their uniquely valuable digital materials.”

“This partnership, along with TACC’s participation in the national Digital Preservation Network, demonstrates our commitment to supporting solutions for the long term preservation of our digital intellectual heritage,” said Chris Jordan, leader of the Data Management and Collections Group at TACC. “Our users create and utilize petabytes of irreplaceable digital data on a daily basis, and it is important for us to support solutions for that data at all stages of the research life cycle, including long-term preservation and access for future students and researchers.”

Partnering with TACC to provide a local Chronopolis replication node and access to petabyte-scale storage on the Corral data management resource, TDL will offer digital preservation services to its members using DuraCloudTM@TDL for simple ingest and management. Chronopolis services will be part of a broad range of TDL Digital Preservation Services that also include managed commercial storage in the Amazon cloud, as well as Digital Preservation Network (DPN) services. The first DPN node to offer production services, Chronopolis joins DPN as one of TDL’s efforts to provide community-driven long-term preservation alternatives to Amazon storage.

“Having TDL as a partner is a strategic collaboration that makes sense for a number of reasons,” said Brian E. C. Schottlaender, Principal Administrator for Chronopolis and UC San Diego’s University Librarian. “Having TDL on board will increase the geographical diversity of the Chronopolis network, advance our shared mission to preserve critical digital materials, and extend digital preservation services throughout Texas.

Chronopolis has the capacity to preserve hundreds of terabytes of digital data of any type, with minimal requirements of the data provider. The system leverages high-speed networks, mass-scale storage capabilities, and the expertise of the partners, to provide a geographically distributed, heterogeneous, and highly redundant preservation repository system. Features of the network include: three geographically distributed copies of deposited data; curatorial audit reporting; and application of contemporary best practices for data packaging and sharing. Chronopolis has been certified as a “trustworthy digital repository” by the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), and meets accepted best practices in the management of digital repositories.

The Texas Digital Library is a consortium of Texas institutions that builds capacity for preserving, managing, and providing access to unique digital collections of enduring value. TDL’s empowering technology infrastructure, services, and community programs support research, teaching, and digital curation efforts at member institutions; facilitate collaboration amongst the TDL community and with external partners; and connect local work to a global ecosystem of digital library efforts.

About TACC

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin is a leading research center for advanced computational science, engineering and technology. TACC’s mission is to enable discoveries that advance science and society through the application of advanced computing technologies. To fulfill this mission, TACC provides comprehensive advanced computing resources and support services to researchers in Texas and across the nation. TACC conducts research and development in applications and algorithms, in computing systems design/architecture, and in programming tools and environments to produce new technologies that expand the capabilities of researchers for knowledge discovery. TACC also educates the next generation of computational researchers, and promotes awareness of the importance and impact of computing to science and society. Visit TACC’s website at: www.tacc.utexas.edu

---

Source: TACC