Packaging

Curate integrates a powerful and flexible AIP (Archival Information Package) packaging system that allows it to output your archival objects in a variety of standardized structures. This ensures that your preserved content is stored in a well-documented, sustainable format that can be easily understood and accessed in the future.

Supported Packaging Formats¶

By default, Curate uses the widely-adopted BagIt specification for packaging AIPs. BagIt is a hierarchical file packaging format designed to support disk-based storage and network transfer of arbitrary digital content. It provides a set of conventions for packaging content along with its metadata in a way that facilitates easy validation and long-term preservation.

In addition to BagIt, Curate also supports the E-ARK (European Archival Records and Knowledge Preservation) packaging format out of the box. E-ARK is a set of specifications that aim to provide a common European methodology for packaging digital archival records. It defines a set of information package formats (SIP, AIP, DIP) and guidelines for their creation, management and reuse.

Curate's packaging system is highly extensible. If your organization requires support for a specific packaging format not currently available, please get in touch with us. We can work with you to implement custom packaging formats to meet your specific needs.

Configuring Packaging Options¶

Curate allows you to customize various aspects of the packaging process through preservation configs. You can specify parameters such as the packaging format (e.g., BagIt or E-ARK), compression options, and whether to include additional metadata or reports in the package. See the preservation configs section for more details on how to create and manage preservation configs.

The Packaging Workflow¶

The packaging process in Curate is fully integrated with the preservation workflow. Once the core preservation actions (characterisation, normalisation, validation) have completed successfully (see preservation), Curate automatically packages the resultant archival objects according to the specified packaging format and options.

The generated AIP packages are then stored in your Archival workspace (see archive workspace), where they can be easily located, searched and retrieved as needed. Each AIP includes the preserved content along with comprehensive metadata (descriptive, administrative, structural, preservation) to ensure its long-term understandability and usability.

The AIPs generated by Curate are fully self-describing and self-contained. This means they include all the information necessary to understand and render the content, without relying on any external systems or documentation.

To learn more about the BagIt and E-ARK specifications and how they support long-term digital preservation, check out these resources: