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The Caribbean Military Academy Library’s collections are central to the learning, teaching and research of the Academy. They provide the information base for the academic work and are a repository for the Academy research outputs, learning resources and institutional memory. The Library will continue to curate its rich assets, combining print and digital to ensure the currency, longevity, depth and breadth of information appropriate to the needs of a major research-intensive university.

Many of our main collections however have great historical strength and breadth. We have also built up over the recent electronic era collections of online database, journals and digitized content to support current research and teaching in the Academy. In this rapidly changing environment, we recognize that we cannot and should not attempt to build or maintain collections in all areas equally. We need to target our collection building, digitization and preservation on areas we have prioritized as the most important to the Academy, and be guided by these principles in curating our electronic as well as our physical collections.

Categorizing Collections

To meet this challenge we have embarked on a major programme of categorizing our physical and digital collections to establish where our true strengths lie. Once strengths have been identified we will use this categorization to guide all decisions relating to purchase, subscription, location, preservation and digitization of our collections, whether analogue or digital. Collections will be categorized as follows.

Heritage:
Definition: Collections of internationally or nationally significant depth and breadth which the Library will continue to develop. Management: Heritage collections will be actively developed as live collections, able to respond to current teaching and research. Access to material will be via the most appropriate route, but outright ownership will always be considered. Items will not normally be withdrawn from these collections, but measures will be taken to preserve material of all formats contained within them. To develop these collections, items may be transferred in from elsewhere through collaborative collection development schemes, or received as donations.

Self-renewing:
Definition: Collections which do not have sufficient depth or breadth to be of national significance, but which are required to meet the needs of current research and teaching. Material will only be retained within these collections for as long as it is required for teaching or research. Management: Items within self-renewing collections will be regularly considered for withdrawal from Library stock. Access to material will be via the most appropriate route. These collections will not generally require measures to ensure long term preservation, however items may be digitized to facilitate current teaching or research. Material will not be transferred into these collections from elsewhere through collaborative collection development schemes, or received as donations, unless to satisfy a specific academic need.

Finite:
Definition: These are collections which have neither historic strength, nor relevance to current teaching and research. Some of these collections will be considered for withdrawal. In this context a ‘collection’ may be either large or small, and may be confined to one subject or physical location, or may be distributed across the different school library.

Our physical collections will continue to be very important into the foreseeable future. The maintenance of these collections will entail a commitment to physical preservation where feasible and desirable, and/or to digitization, both to enable access and for the purpose of preservation. The application of our Collections Strategy to our physical collections means we will:

Ensure access to reading list materials for students, purchasing multiple print copies where necessary and e-copies where practical, cost-effective and appropriate Manage and stock edits our self-renewing collections to support the Academy’s current learning, teaching and research. Continue to develop our heritage and Special Collections for current use and for future generations of scholars. Make our physical collections available to external researchers through Document Supply and through reciprocal visiting and borrowing arrangements with other libraries, where appropriate and feasible. Material which by law can be made publicly available will not be rejected solely on moral, political, religious, and racial or gender grounds.

Access to collections
The Library will make all of its resources easily discoverable to its users using single search functionality where possible. The Library will maximize the availability of its collections to the University community and external researchers, as far as licensing conditions or other restrictions permit.

Digital collections are complex and varied in their origin, content types and preservation needs. Some may be created, owned and hosted by the Academy, including items we have digitized from our own physical collections, where the originals are often rare or unique. With all these materials entrusted to our care we need to ensure that mechanisms and resources for the digital preservation of this content are in place as required.The application of our Collections Strategy to our digital material means we will: Prioritize electronic delivery of content where appropriate Collect and store the Academy’s research outputs digitally in our repositories Digitize material from our own collections in line with the Library’s Digitization Strategy, to be hosted in our e-prints repository Preserve and curate digital materials which are required for the long term and for which curatorial responsibility resides with the Library

Collection development and management
Collections will be developed and managed in keeping with the principles outlined above. The Library undertakes to consult academic colleagues on collections that relate to their areas of teaching and research primarily through Schools Library Representatives, and also, where appropriate, Directors of Research and Heads of School

Introduction
Caribbean Military Academy Library’s mission is to collect, create, deliver, and preserve collections for current and future research, learning and teaching activities. Collections historically managed by libraries were acquired in physical form, but increasingly content acquisition is of digital files. Digital content is at risk of being lost or unusable due to rapid changes in technology and infrastructure. There is a reputational risk if the Library does not address and mitigate the risks presented to the storage and access to digital content

Strategic Planning
Digital Preservation is a distributed activity between the Library and IT with specific groups and individuals responsible for elements of the life-cycle. Digital preservation may be one of many activities an individual is responsible for within their remit so coordination and communication across teams is essential to the delivery and safeguarding of content. As the digital preservation landscape is constantly changing so will roles, responsibilities and designated leads for a specific area. Strategic planning includes defining current capacity within the library, defining roles and responsibilities and forecasting future needs and staffing..

Key Principles of Digital Preservation Activities
Assessment, action and longevity Collect and appraise digital content in accordance with CMA Library Collections Strategy. Collect content in its original form when possible. Periodically assess digital content for digital preservation risks and assess risks identified. Act to ensure the longevity of data when clear risks have been identified but avoid pre-emptive or unnecessary preservation actions. Always retain the originally deposited data or sufficient information to enable re-creation of the original if format migration or other transformations become necessary in order to ensure continued access to the informational content. Provide guidance to depositors when possible about arrangement and conventions and best practice.

Storage
Maintain at least three copies of each data object, with at least one copy in a geographically separate location. Introduce different technology choices to avoid common mode failure across all stored copies. Prevent malicious damage by restricting access to the data and storage infrastructure.

Approach
We will use a formal and documented means of assessing and accepting digital content. We will define a timetable for retention if there is a requirement based upon the content type or collection. We will monitor and survey the rate and type of content coming into the Library and weigh this against content already held when deciding priorities. We will monitor digital content acquisition to plan future preservation activities. We will join up digital preservation and curation activities within the Library when possible. We will train all staff across the Library involved in the digital preservation workflow.

Access
The library endeavours to make material openly available whenever possible. Requests to access restricted material will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This process will be monitored based on the frequency and number of requests.