Building digital archives: Design decisions: A best practice example

Building digital library applications is often a search for an applicable and adequate data or document model as well as for software tools which meets the requirements. Especially in digital archives, there are several data and document models to be considered. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all document model or system. For each application, the requirements and properties of a project have to be analyzed. In many cases, on one hand, a developer mostly together with a domain expert has to carry out time-consuming tests with possible solutions. On the other hand, one of the most important questions is sustainability and long-term archiving. Questions regarding these aspects are raised during the technical implementation, at least. In many academic projects, the maintenance and sustainability aspects leave open questions. Therefore, challenges, problems and solutions regarding document models, software systems, and sustainability are exhaustively analyzed in this paper. This is done in the context of the digital archive project DARL (Digitales Archiv Rostocker Liederbuch, engl. Digital Archive of the Rostock Songbook) conducted at University of Rostock.