**Governance & Membership** =================== **Governance Policy** **1.0 Introduction and Mission** 1.1 The Canadian Government Information Digital Preservation Network - The Canadian Government Information Digital Preservation Network (CGI DPN) is a project initiated in October 2012 by library staff at eleven member institutions: University of Alberta, Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, University of Calgary, University of Saskatchewan, University of Victoria, McGill University, Dalhousie University, Scholars Portal, University of Toronto, Stanford University. These institutions are the charter members of the CGI DPN Steering Committee. 1.2 Mission and Purpose - The mission of the CGI DPN is to preserve digital collections of government information. Digital preservation, for purposes of this policy, means ensuring the long-term viability of digital materials through geographically dispersed servers, protective measures against data loss, and forward format migration. Digital materials produced by government agencies that are at risk of being lost are preserved as part of the program. This network will also be used to act as a backup server in cases where the main server is unavailable. It will also act as a means of restoring lost data. 1.3 Need for Digital Preservation - Memory institutions have played a vital role in preserving government publications and making them accessible for long-term use. A distributed, tamper-evident preservation infrastructure is required to maintain this stewardship role in a digital environment. 1.4 Operating Principles The CGI DPN is guided by the following operating principles: - Commitment to the long-term preservation of digital government information - Application of the LOCKSS digital preservation software as the principal system for distributing copies of replicated content in secure, distributed locations - Exploration of new technologies and best practices for digital preservation - Ensuring that preservation strategies remain low-cost and sustainable while maintaining sufficient capacity to accommodate the largest collections held therein - Liaise and consult with stakeholders such as LAC and DSP as necessary and where appropriate **2.0 Membership** 2.1 Membership Composition - Institutions who are able to meet the CGI DPN membership requirements are eligible to participate. There must be a minimum of seven Member institutions for the CGI DPN to function. There is no maximum number of Member institutions 2.2 Requirements for Membership: CGI DPN membership falls into two categories: - 2.2.1: Member institutions must be able to provide the financial and human resource commitment to set up and maintain a LOCKSS node that meets the technical specifications required by the LOCKSS software and the minimum storage requirements as decided on by the CGI DPN Technical Committee. Member institutions must agree to participate in the DPN for a minimum of three years. Member institutions must pay the associated LOCKSS fees. Fees are waived for current LOCKSS Alliance members and set at the reduced, negotiated, and non-refundable rate of $1500/year for institutions that are not current LOCKSS Alliance members. - 2.2.2: If unable to contribute to and/or provide support for LOCKSS, member institutions must agree to provide in-kind support. Such support may include undertaking crawls, selection support, providing QAs and/or supplying metadata in conjunction with other members. Members are expected to attend regularly scheduled CGI-DPN meetings. 2.3 New Membership - The CGI DPN will consider expressions of interest for membership from any institution that can meet the Membership requirements. Requests will be reviewed and approved by the Steering Committee. Expressions of interest should be forwarded to the Chair indicating obligations for participation are understood, financial or other. 2.4 Withdrawing from the Network - Member institutions agree to participate in the CGI DPN for a minimum term of three years, thereafter with a minimum of six months’ notice required to withdraw from the DPN. If a Member institution wishes to withdraw at the conclusion of the initial three-year term, it may do so by providing written notice to the Chair of the CGI DPN steering committee. Upon withdrawal from the CGI DPN, the withdrawing Member institution’s content may be deleted from all CGI DPN servers. The withdrawing member will delete the content of other members from its CGI DPN server **3.0 Organization and Governance** - The CGI DPN will be governed by a Steering Committee that oversees the general operation of the CGI DPN. 3.1 Steering Committee - The Steering Committee consists of at least one representative from each member institution. Each institution, regardless of contingent, is entitled to one vote. - The Steering Committee is responsible for deciding policy including collection and access policies, governance issues, membership, and setting general directions for the DPN, including increasing capacity. - The group will strive to come to consensus on all issues, but will be governed by majority vote, wherein each member institution has one vote. - The role of Chair/Co-Chair will be shared amongst two members elected from the member representatives, for an off-set two-year term rotating term. - The Chair will work alongside a Co-Chair who will become the Chair in their second year. This will ensure overlap of knowledge and continuity. 3.2 Technical Working Group - The Technical Working Group advises the Steering Committee of matters relating to technical requirements and network capacity. The Working Group shall consist of at least three individuals from member institutions, including the Chair of the Steering Committee, or Co-Chair if approved by Steering. The term of service is a minimum of one year; representatives may be reappointed to subsequent annual terms. The Technical Working Group works with LOCKSS and Internet Archive technical staff as needed to establish and maintain the network. 3.3: Creation of ad-hoc Working Groups or subcommittees: - Will be as necessary and at the direction of the Steering Committee and Chair 3.4 Communication - Because of the geographic distribution of CGI DPN members, communications will generally take place online. Meetings of the Steering Committee will take place at least quarterly, and will be called by the Chair. Quorum will be 40% of complement. **4.0 Services and Operations** 4.1 Content Oversight - All CGI DPN members retain ownership of the content they submit to the DPN. This content may remain in the PLN indefinitely. However, the Steering Committee reserves the right to review and remove any stored files, including but not limited to content that has been submitted without proper copyright clearances. 4.2 Disaster Recovery - The Technical Working Group will develop a Disaster Recovery Plan that defines how the DPN will be integrated into the Members’ network infrastructure so that it may reliably and easily restore access to preserved content that is no longer available at its original source. 4.3 Network Reports - Members have access to various reports generated by the LOCKSS servers. It is the responsibility of each member to review these reports to ensure that the network node is reliably harvesting content and polling other nodes for content integrity. 4.4 Activities - Work of the Committee will be informed by the [Collections and Access Policy][1] 5.0 Review of Governance and Policy will be conducted every 5 years. [Last update May 5, 2023] ## Participating Institutions ## - Dalhousie University - McGill University - Simon Fraser University - Stanford University - University of Alberta - University of British Columbia - University of Calgary - University of Saskatchewan - University of Toronto - University of Victoria Steering Committee ------------------ Members - Geoffrey Brown, Dalhousie University - David Boudinot, University of Victoria - Graeme Campbell, Queen's University - Katie Cuyler, Chair, University of Alberta - Corey Davis, University of Victoria - Eamon Duffy, McGill University - Carla Graebner, Co-Chair Simon Fraser University - Sheila Laroque, University of Saskatchewan - Rhiannon Jones, University of Calgary - Susan Paterson, University of British Columbia - Renee Saucier, NWT Archives - Nicholas Worby, University of Toronto Related Resources ----------------- 1. *Report on Fugitive Canadian Government Information, February*, 2015 2. List of Agencies Identified in the Financial Administration Act with Directive to Deposit Publications, May 2014 3. "Introducing the CGI-PLN: Using the LOCKSS Program to Preserve DSP Content in a Changing Environment." Toronto, Ontario. Government Information Day, November 1, 2013. Amanda Wakaruk. http://hdl.handle.net/10402/era.38184 4. "On the hunt for fugitive government information." Ottawa, Ontario. Government Information Day, October 16, 2014. Sam-chin Li. http://gsg.uottawa.ca/gov/Docs/Government-Information-Day/Programme/11_Li_On-the-Hunt-for-Fugitive-Documents.pdf [1]: https://osf.io/vdxw2/