ReVerDi Real Versus Digital (ReVerDi): Sustainability Optimization for Cultural Heritage Preservation in National Libraries

“National libraries are the guardians of a country’s national cultural heritage. They collect, preserve and make available a country’s history to all of its citizens, and open a window on that country to people all over the world.” (IFLA, n.d., p.1).

National libraries have been running projects to digitize their collections and simplify accessibility for years. The proportion of purely digital media is constantly increasing; however, some media must be physically stored due to legal and scientific requirements. In addition, physical media usually have a higher longevity. For example, paper-based books can still be read 100 years after production. With e-books, there is a risk that they will be inaccessible as early as 20 years after production due to changes in file formats and unavailability of reading devices (Burda et al., 2017).

There is increasing pressure on libraries to reduce their energy consumption and associated emissions, or at least limit their growth. However, a study conducted in Switzerland and discussions with representatives from the above-mentioned national libraries have shown that, due to the lack of data, the energy and climate impacts cannot be adequately addressed in library operations and investment decisions to date (Burda et al., 2017).

From an energy and climate perspective, avoiding parallel operation of physical and digital infrastructures seems advisable. However, neither a physical-only nor digital-only scenario can be realized because the demand for digital media is steadily increasing, while physical media must be kept due to legal, academic and cultural requirements. It is thus necessary to find an optimal mix of infrastructures and processes for handling physical and digital media that is economically viable, meets legal, scientific and cultural requirements, simplifies access for users and minimizes energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Otherwise (national) libraries will face increasing energy demands and costs and will not be able to contribute to (inter)national climate protection targets.

ReVerDi aims at answering the following research questions. Thereby, environmental factors (focusing on GHG emissions) as well as social-cultural factors (long-term availability and accessibility of knowledge) and economic factors (investment and operating costs) are assessed.

1) What requirements are placed on the archiving and handling of national library collections by legislators and users?
2) How can libraries effectively improve their social and cultural impact to be more inclusive, accessible and sustainable at the same time?
3) How much environmental impact and economic cost does the archiving and handling of physical and digital media collections in libraries cause today and how can both be reduced? How will the situation change in the future?
4) How can a sustainable and future-proof mix of methods for archiving and handling digital and physical media collections, considering legislative and user requirements as well as inclusiveness and accessibility of cultural heritage be achieved?

To answer the research questions, the ReVerDi project applies the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment approach and thereby provides the scientific basis required for national libraries and other GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) institutions to create future-proof infrastructures.
The ReVerDi consortium consists of three research groups (University of Surrey, Delft University of Technology & Bern University of Applied Sciences) and three national libraries (British Library, KB National Library of the Netherlands & Swiss National Library) from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Country-specific teams consisting of a research institution and a library are responsible for project implementation in the respective country. In addition, each research institution is responsible for a transnational focus topic (environmental, social-cultural, economic impacts). The three research groups have complementary disciplinary backgrounds (natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities) and expertise (digital technologies, LCA, cultural heritage), which provides a strong foundation for the successful implementation of the project. The overall project is governed by a steering committee comprising one representative of all six institutions (see Management Plan).

The project’s strength lies in the synergistic partnership between research institutions and diverse collaborators from research and practice. Our approach is transdisciplinary in the sense that problem definitions for research are derived from real-world problems independent of the boundaries of the disciplines involved, but can only be solved through the combination of different disciplinary perspectives. Only through the combination of the disciplinary backgrounds of the research institutions, all sustainability dimensions – environmental, social-cultural and economic – can be covered and innovative solutions to reconcile target conflicts between these perspectives can be found.

Collaboration with the libraries is pivotal for the project success in several ways. It allows collection of empirical data required and ensures that results will be implemented in real-life, because all libraries plan to build out their digital and physical infrastructure. The libraries ensure a pragmatic relevance by providing their practical insights with reviews, plausibility and feasibility checks and co-develop recommendations. Vice versa, the libraries benefit as well, because local researchers will serve as expert advisors for infrastructure projects throughout and beyond the project. At the same time, regular consortium meetings support the exchange of experiences across libraries and the creation of an international network on sustainable library infrastructure.

An intrinsic facet of the project is integration of a local and international approach. Local research streams in three different countries ensure the consideration of local nuances and development of results that are tailored to the local context. The comparison of results across countries and aggregation of country-specific insights promises to reveal country-specific differences, which point at those factors that are pivotal for overall impact. Cross-country comparisons also enable us to generalize and extrapolate our findings, rendering them applicable and insightful within varied contexts (e.g. other countries and GLAM institutions) in collaboration with our societal partners.

See also the Belmont Forum project page here: https://www.belmontforum.org/archives/projects/real-versus-digital-sustainability-optimization-for-cultural-heritage-preservation-in-national-libraries

Refs.

Burda, D., Dungga Winterleitner, A., & Estermann, B. (2017). Digitale Langzeitarchivierung in der Schweiz. Ergebnisse einer Studie im Auftrag der Schweizerischen Nationalbibliothek. In Burda, Daniel; Dungga Winterleitner, Angelina; Estermann, Beat (2017). Digitale Langzeitarchivierung in der Schweiz. Ergebnisse einer Studie im Auftrag der Schweizerischen Nationalbibliothek Berner Fachhochschule, E-Government-Institut [Info:eu-repo/semantics/report]. Berner Fachhochschule, E-Government-Institut. https://arbor.bfh.ch/9500/

IFLA. (n.d.). National Libraries Section – IFLA. International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Retrieved August 13, 2023, from https://www.ifla.org/units/national-libraries/