The lecture given by Vicky Reich and David Rosenthal at the CNI conference (where they received the Paul Evan Peters Award for their lifetime achievements) is well worth a read. It includes a detailed overview of the LOCKSS software we rely on in the archive, and thoughtful perspectives on some key issues in digital preservation. We are so grateful they included CLOCKSS and here's what they had to say:
"And then along came CLOCKSS, where publishers took the lead to establish a community run archive that implements library values. In 2006, a handful of publishers, notably the late Karen Hunter, Elsevier, suggested a partnership between libraries and publishers to form a community run archive. In 2008, after a pilot funded by the founding archive libraries, contributing publishers, and the Library of Congress' NDIIPP, the CLOCKSS archive went into production.
Identical copies of archived content are held in eleven libraries worldwide (Scotland, Australia, Japan, Germany, Canada, and six in the United States). This international footprint ensures content is safe from shifting ideologies, or nefarious players. As in all LOCKSS networks, if a bad actor tries to remove or change content, the technology warns humans to investigate.
The CLOCKSS founding librarians and publishers unanimously agreed that when archived content becomes unavailable, it will be hosted from multiple sources, open access. An example: Heterocycles was an important chemistry journal. Established in 1973, it abruptly ceased publication in 2023 after 50 years. Inexplicably the journal also disappeared from the publisher’s web site; current subscribers lost all access. The content was unavailable from anywhere.
Fortunately, the entire run of the Heterocycles journal was archived in CLOCKSS. In June 2024, two CLOCKSS archive libraries, the University of Edinburgh and Stanford University each made all 106 volumes open access on the web.
The CLOCKSS Archive is governed equally by publishers and librarians, in true community spirit. However, publishers provide the bulk of financial support, contributing 70% of incoming funds. Libraries contribute only 30%. Alicia Wise, CLOCKSS executive director reports this gap is widening over time. Ironically, the publishers many librarians consider “rapacious” are paying for an archive that upholds traditional library values and protects content access for future readers."