New PeDALS Web site

The Persistent Digital Archives and Library System (PeDALS) project has a new -- and sleekly minimalist -- Web site: http://pedalspreservation.org

PeDALS is a multi-state digital preservation project funded by National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and it aims:

First, to develop a curatorial rationale to support an automated, integrated workflow to process collections of digital publications and records. Second, to implement "digital stacks" using an inexpensive, storage network that can preserve the authenticity and integrity of the collections.

In addition to those technical goals, PeDALS seeks to build a community of shared practice so that the system meets the needs of a wide range of repositories that could then support the ongoing development of the system and promote best practices. To further that end, PeDALS hopes to remove barriers to adopting the technology by keeping costs as low as possible.

PeDALS is led by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, and the other partners are:

• State Library and Archives of Florida
• New York State Archives
• New York State Library
• South Carolina Department of Archives and History
• Wisconsin Historical Society

At present, the new site has information about the project's metadata schema, upon which we're putting the finishing touches, project-based papers and presentations, and lots of background information. Once all of the partners get their hardware and software up and running, I'm sure that lots of technical information about the project will be available as well.