Global Ireland and the Digital Footprint: Th e Abbey Th eatre Archives in the Digital Repository of Ireland

: While digital technologies were initially seen as harbingers of globalization


Introduction
Digital preservation is a complex process associated with numerous unresolved organisational, managerial, and technical issues. Indeed, managing institutional repositories is a challenging task. Numerous preservation activities to date have focu-60 sed on the creation of repositories, the depositing of content, the promotion of content, the discovery and access of content, and/or the promotion of a necessary cultural shift. However, digital preservation has not been incorporated as an integral part of repositories work ow, and there is a lack of experience and consensus on the best practices to be used for digital preservation (Hockx-Yu 2006). To understand the processes needed to achieve the long-term digital preservation of objects deposited in a repository, it is helpful to break down what is understood as "e ective preservation".
Despite the challenges posed by digital preservation, cultural transformation requires its implementation. According to the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) mission statement, digital preservation has multiple purposes, which vary according to the reasons for preserving digital content, preserving the originality of digital content and protecting it from damage and loss is one such reason 1 . e current European policy framework for the digitisation of cultural heritage is supported by a collection of strategies, initiatives and programmes that aim to comprehend the relationship between cultural heritage and education, tourism, sustainability, development, and job creation 2 . Some critics argue that the European policy framework for the digitisation of cultural heritage is structured along a number of axes. One axis is concerned with promoting cultural heritage-driven innovations and the social and economic bene ts they o er. Another objective is to assist in reversing the negative e ects of COVID-19 on cultural heritage-relevant sectors, via digitisation (Münster, Utescher, Ulutas Aydogan 2021). is demonstrates a multidimensional approach to the digital preservation of cultural heritage and its associated bene ts. However, this European policy applies to all European nations, and is not primarily concerned with the national potential of digitising the cultural heritage of individual countries.
According to Irish digital cultural preservation policy, users must be taken into account, so as to support a vision in which digital cultural heritage is accessible and shared in order to entertain and educate 3 . e Irish policy resonates with Paul Wheatley (2004) who summarises primary preservation objectives as follows: 1) Data is maintained in the repository without being corrupted, lost, or maliciously altered. 2) Data can be located, extracted, and served to the user. 3) Data can be interpreted and comprehended by the user. e rst objective is a fundamental requirement which every digital repository must meet. e second and third objectives require repositories to support search and retrieval functions in order to improve information accessibility.
Digital preservation research has received a great deal of attention in recent years. In this respect, standards such as the Open Archive Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAIP-MH) have made it easier for service providers to create discovery services across repositories using repeated metadata harvesting (ibidem). ese are the objectives that digital preservation must meet. It is insu cient simply to preserve the original bit-stream that represents the data stored in a digital object. e challenge is to ensure that users can access and understand the intellectual property of content that has been ingested into the repository in the past, despite 61 hardware and software changes over time. In this respect, the DRI supports the reuse of cultural heritage data in research, education, the creative industries, and tourism. However, this content needs to be curated responsibly, and preserved and shared, not only on websites run by individual organisations, but via national and international platforms such as DRI, HeritageMaps. ie, Data.gov.ie, and Europeana 4 .
If we take into account the goals of the Global Ireland 2025 initiative, and the Culture Ireland Strategy 2017-2020, it could be argued that the DRI relates to Irish policies on digital cultural preservation and Irish cultural dissemination worldwide. Indeed, according to Global Ireland: Progress Report Year 1, June 2018-June 2019, one goal for communicating with the Irish Diaspora is to promote Irish culture and values (Global Ireland 2018). In this respect, Global Ireland emphasises the signi cance of Irish expatriates, which is a 70 million-strong Diaspora, as well as the ability of Irish culture and heritage to forge new international connections. In this way, Global Ireland 2025 encourages Irish culture to be tangible and visible to a variety of users and audiences, including the Irish Diaspora, students, scholars, and tourists. Global Ireland 2025 also works to strengthen relationships and communications with large numbers of Irish and non-Irish citizens abroad 5 . To achieve these goals, and to measure progress, ve prominent cultural ambassadors were appointed, and a Global Ireland Stakeholders' Conference was set up, as part of a multi-year plan to double the scope and impact of Ireland's global footprint by 2025. is initiative was also designed to re ect the Irish Government's commitment to dissemination goals.
Taking into account the goals of Global Ireland 2025's promotion of the dissemination of Irish cultural heritage, the remainder of this paper is divided into three sections. Section 1 will discuss Global Ireland and the Abbey eatre, and section 3 will discuss the digital footprint of Ireland and the Abbey eatre. In this context, section 2 will de ne the Global Ireland 2025 initiative, and will provide evidence for the Abbey eatre's role in promoting this initiative. Section 3 derives its conceptual framework from a description of the Abbey eatre's digital archive project at the Library of the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG), and this section will also consider the limitations of the project. Section 4 will explore DRI opportunities for the Abbey eatre's archived collections and will outline policies and practices used as part of the project, namely: Ireland's national policy for digital preservation and open access; the policy of federation; collaboration and partnership policy; and usability, archiving and access policy. Section 5 will discuss metadata management policy, including deposit policy and storage policy, and section 6 will present a conclusion. In this regard, the paper will consider DRI publications, including reports and guidelines drafted by the DRI's stakeholders and directors, including Sharon Webb, Aileen O'Carroll, and Dr. Natalie Harrower. is paper will use an interdisciplinary approach and a digital humanities lens to highlight the opportunities that the DRI can provide for disseminating, discovering and visualising details of past dramatic performances stored in the Abbey eatre's archives, as part of Irish literary heritage. ese archives form a signi cant part of the Irish national cultural canon. Further, in order to achieve its objectives, the paper will consider the practices of the aforementioned policies, in relation to the Abbey eatre's archived collections. e Abbey eatre's archived collections form part of e Inspiring Ireland project. Further, Inspiring Ireland and the National Library of Ireland, views the Abbey eatre as an important visual arts venue. In this context, sources reviewed include the Abbey eatre's archived administrative records, the Abbey eatre's archived prompt script collection, stored items from the Abbey eatre's archived photographic collection, the Abbey eatre's archived poster collection, and the Abbey eatre's archived Anne Yeats collection. e paper will conclude by addressing the following question: What are the advantages of preserving the Abbey eatre's archives digitally in an interactive, reputable, national, and collaborative digital repository like the DRI?

Global Ireland 2025 and the Abbey eatre
Global Ireland 2025 is an Irish Government initiative which aspires to spread the power of Ireland globally. Traditionally, Dublin's focus for foreign relations has been on Washington, London, and Brussels. e Republic of Ireland now seeks to reduce this reliance using its Global Ireland 2025 initiative, which was launched in 2018. Global Ireland 2025 represents the Republic of Ireland's largest international expansion since the 1920s. It aims to double the scope and in uence of the Irish state throughout the world over the next decade by strengthening and establishing new cultural, economic, and political alliances. Under this initiative, the Republic of Ireland has already established missions in Wellington (New Zealand), Vancouver (Canada), and Monrovia (Liberia). Further, new missions were established in 2019 in Bogota (Colombia), Santiago (Chile), Amman (Jordan), Cardi (Wales), Los Angeles (United States), and Frankfurt (Germany). Other plans to strengthen Ireland's global power include promoting Irish arts, heritage, and culture to new generations and a new audience worldwide 6 . e archived collections of the Abbey eatre were earmarked to be used as part of the promotion of Global Ireland 2025. e Abbey eatre holds high national, literary, and cultural status in Ireland for several reasons. In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, there was a general lack of interest in Ireland for Irish literature and drama. Indeed, at this time, Ireland experienced a signi cant decline in the number of literary and dramatic works produced there. e reasons for this include poor economic conditions, as well as sectarian con icts between Catholics and Protestants which led to heated political disputes. In the twentieth century, the proximity of Ireland and Britain also hindered the development of Irish literature because English culture, Modernism, and Capitalism heavily in uenced Irish popular literature, drama and culture. In English and international theatres, and in the Arts in general, Irishmen were portrayed, at best, as comical drunkards and, at worst, as indolent, lustful, or dangerous gures. e Abbey eatre was founded in 1904 in an e ort to present to the world an Ireland rich in culture, and to free Irish literature from English in uence. e Abbey eatre gained a signi cant foothold in the Arts compared to other theatres in Dublin, such as e Queen's, and the Gaiety eatre. Members of the Abbey eatre desired to demonstrate to England that Irish culture was in no way inferior by establishing a school of Celtic and Irish dramatic literature. e rst two and three seasons of productions were successful, during a time when people were barely interested in picking up a book or going to see a play, because they were struggling to provide for their basic needs. Early associates of the Abbey eatre were the Irish National eatre Society, W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and John Millington Synge 7 , who were able to successfully attract the attention of Ireland's National Press, and newspaper outlets abroad. At this time, many literary, political, and patriotic gures looked to revive the Celtic 63 culture, literature, and language through peaceful means. In this respect, a literary nationalist movement which celebrated and honoured Ireland as an independent nation emerged, and was linked not to acts of violence and bloodshed, but to art.
Prior to the establishment of the Abbey eatre, Irish theatres staged mainly English dramas, and intentionally and unintentionally promoted the English culture. In resistance to this, the Abbey eatrical Company made numerous tours of England and of the United States, in order to promote Irish literature and culture abroad. Inspiring Ireland has exhibited the text of a 1912 Abbey eatre tour programme from the Abbey eatre Archive's Master Programme Collection. In 1912, this tour landed at the Plymouth eatre in Boston. e Abbey eatre Tour Programme, 1912, describes the important role of the Abbey eatre in the global revival of Irish drama 8 . Further, this description ties in with the objective of Global Ireland 2025 which is to spread information about Irish cultural heritage.
rough the leadership of W.B. Yeats, a circle of Celtic literary gures joined forces to eradicate the negative portrayal of the Irish in English literature, and to try to revive Irish literature and language using Romanticism, and the revival of ancient Irish legends and Irish heroes and heroines. is Circle wanted to establish an Irish national theatre that would demonstrate that Ireland was a cultured and civilised nation. is led to the founding of the Abbey eatre in Dublin. J.M. Synge was among the playwrights who became a member of Yeats' circle. Yeats discovered a new outlet in Synge's unique dramatic style, which focused on the peasant lifestyle of the Irish people. e role of the Abbey eatre in the promotion of literature and drama can be evaluated based on selected dramatists' works and the impact of their plays on Irish society.

e Irish Digital Footprint and the Abbey eatre
Using a global communications strategy, the Global Ireland 2025 initiative aims to increase Ireland's visibility, raise its pro le, and enhance its reputation by establishing a digital footprint.
is initiative has encouraged the emergence of digital humanities in Ireland, in a similar way to how cultural initiatives in Japan and China have worked. According to the Global Ireland Progress Report 2018-2019, capital expenditure was put aside for digital infrastructure investment. As a result, Ireland has strengthened its capabilities in ICT and data analytics (Collins, Harrower, Smeaton 2017). e DRI and the digitisation of the Abbey eatre's archived collections are outcomes of this investment in digital expertise.
In Ireland, the digital archiving of the Abbey eatre's production collections is an example of digital foot-printing in the humanities. e NUIG undertook the digitisation of the Abbey eatre's archives between 2012 and 2015. is was the largest theatre archive digitisation project in the world and had a signi cant impact on the University and its Library. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the signi cance of this project for Irish theatre and drama history, and for eatre Studies in general (Bradley, Keane 2015;Cox 2016Cox , 2017. e scope of the digitisation project presented a number of obstacles, such as fragile content, limited time, maintaining streamlined work ows, complex digital rights management, and ensuring e cient systems. e project was completed in 2015 on time and within budget using a "more product, less process" methodology (Greene, Meissner 2005, 208). Access to the Abbey eatre Digital Archive has had a signi cant academic impact on the NUIG, generating new 64 research income and international connections, and contributing to the University's improved ranking. e Digital Archive allows for new types of research, such as text and data mining, and has reshaped undergraduate curricula. It has also had a profound impact on the Library as the project's leader (cf. Cox 2016). In this respect, the archivist's role has evolved, and partnerships with the academic community have grown. is growing emphasis placed on digital publication has prompted the evolution of an organisational structure based on function rather than on subject, and one which promotes participation in digital scholarship initiatives, with archives and special collections assuming a new position of prominence (Cox 2017). e need to complete the digitisation project within three years ampli ed the di culties posed by the volume of the Abbey eatre's archived material. An initial institutional partnership was agreed for twenty-six years, and so time was of the essence. It became clear at an early stage that digitisation on this scale, within the de ned timescale, could not be achieved using existing Library resources. is necessitated the outsourcing of a substantial portion of the project. In this respect, the NUIG was fortunate to nd an excellent contractor, namely an archivist rm that understood the needs of all parties; the rm employed quali ed archivists to process a quantity of challenging material in an appropriate manner. e materials which posed challenges included the following: fragile documents that had been damaged in a re in 1951; a variety of formats and sizes, including di erent press cuttings and stage designs; a mixture of handwritten correspondence and typescript records; and audio or video recordings presented in legacy formats and/or in a fragile condition (ibidem).
Employees working in the Library bene ted from the Contractor's knowledge of e cient work ows, which were essential for achieving rapid throughput. It was essential for both contracted workers and library archivists to share their knowledge. e University's library workers engaged closely with the Contractor to establish the system's infrastructure. is was a crucial component for enabling large-scale digitisation and meeting complex requirements for rights management. Components included a variety of Digital Asset Management (DAM) systems which were designed by the Belfast based rm Aetopia Limited. e DAM was essential for managing digital rights, as follows: it enabled automatic redaction based on the occurrence of certain words; it facilitated the withholding of sections as opposed to entire documents; and it approved the automatic release of documents after the expiration of agreed embargo periods for certain categories, such as thirty years for board minutes. Cloud-based computing and storage infrastructures were successfully deployed throughout, and Amazon's Safe Secure Storage (S3) service was selected for this purpose.
Two aspects of the project are particularly noteworthy. Access to the digital archive was restricted to designated workstations in the NUI Galway Library's Archives Reading Room. is was speci ed in a partnership agreement with the Abbey eatre. e eatre had concerns about publishing their archives on the open web, because of rights management issues and relationship management concerns with living actors. However, most librarians favour open access (OA) and, therefore, it is frustrating that the digital archive resource is restricted in this manner. However, the reading room model is advantageous because exclusive access helps attract academic sta , students and international visitors to the University. As a compromise, minutes from 1904 to 1939 were made open access, and it is hoped that additional content will be made available in the future. e second area of focus involved metadata. A streamlined methodology, as exempli ed by the "more product, less process" approach was adopted in order to complete full digitisation in three years (Greene, Meissner 2005, 208). Integration of the Abbey's own productions database enabled the linking of a substantial amount of material, such as scripts and theatre programmes, relating to speci c plays. is worked to associate the content with the relevant cast and venue, and also worked to bring together the various document types associated with a play or production. It was not possible to link all documents to a play, of course. For this type of content, a brief descriptive record was created, and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) was implemented wherever possible to optimise full-text retrieval. e online environment enables a variety of methods for locating information, and, therefore, innovative approaches to processing archives should be available, to save time that would otherwise be spent on meticulous arrangement. e DAM provided robust search capabilities, and users have expressed satisfaction with the digital archive (Cox 2017).
According to Cox, attempts to digitise archived material in a library database, like the one at NUI Galway, poses some access and retrieval limitations. In response to these digital challenges, and as a continuation of the promotion of digital archives, it is necessary to determine how the DRI can overcome challenges in relation to the preserving, managing, and provision of access to digital objects pertaining to the Abbey eatre. Further, what opportunities does the DRI o er to digitise a wider variety of Abbey eatre objects?

Ireland's National Policy of Digital Preservation and Open Access
e DRI de nes a digital repository as, "an infrastructure that provides long-term storage management, preservation, and access to digital resources" 9 . is con rms that the DRI is a system used for managing and preserving digital materials over the long term, as well as for providing reliable access to such resources. To understand the DRI in detail, scholars, practitioners, and relevant stakeholders gathered in Dublin and Maynooth in 2012 for a three-day workshop entitled Realising the Opportunities of Digital Humanities, which was organised by the DRI, the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), the Digital Humanities Observatory (DHO), and Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU). In order to promote the adoption of digital humanities knowledge, techniques, and technologies, this workshop sought to identify the most pressing research questions in the eld, and to strengthen academic-industry cooperation 10 .
Dr. Sandra Collins explained in 2013, when the DRI joined the Digital Preservation Coalition, that the DRI is working to raise awareness of the need for and bene ts of digital preservation and open access, while respecting and acknowledging ownership, copyright, intellectual property rights, privacy, and con dentiality 11 . Dr. Collins explained that it is crucial to preserve the social and cultural heritage of Ireland in a digital format, and, thus, digital cultural preservation must assume a prominent position. e DRI states that digital preservation is the active management of digital content over time to ensure its continued accessibility, and highlights two main goals of digital preservation, namely, long-term preservation and open access. In the pursuit of these goals, the DRI conducted a national programme of stakeholder interviews to determine the digital preservation needs of, and access practices of cultural institutions, libraries, higher education institutions, funding agencies, and others (Webb, O'Carroll 2012).
As part of their national programme of stakeholder interviews, the DRI undertook interviews with forty institutions, focusing on the methods and practices adopted in the humanities and social sciences to archive and maintain the data in collections. ese interviews also explored the maintenance of digital data. e ndings addressed multiple aspects of the digital lifecycle, including types of digital data, sharing and reuse, preservation, storage and formats, metadata and inter-operability, user tools, and structuring content (ibidem). e outcomes of these interviews shaped the speci c requirements of building the national repository and were used to begin a process to agree national guidelines on digital preservation for the humanities and social sciences. is strategy entailed determining national practices, collaborating with the community to develop national guidelines, and informing national policy as a result. us, digital preservation in Ireland was recognised as having national potential.
As a national Trusted National Digital Repository (TNDR), the DRI promotes national policies and guidelines for long-term digital preservation, and enduring access to Ireland's humanities, cultural heritage, and social sciences data. It also o ers digital data stewardship for a variety of member organisations, including: higher education institutions; cultural heritage institutions (the GLAM sector of galleries, libraries, archives, and museums); government agencies; county councils; and community archives. Further, the reach of the DRI was expanded using diverse collections and outreach initiatives in 2022. is was done so that the digital cultural heritage of Ireland could be explored for educational and recreational purposes.
In addition to facilitating the long-term preservation of, access to, and discovery of Ireland's social and cultural data, the DRI serves Irish cultural heritage in a speci c way. Culturally, Ireland is torn between American, British, and European in uences. erefore, there was a need for a credible national project to preserve the cultural identity of Ireland. e DRI project was o cially launched in 2015 as a national cultural project and looked to form partnerships and connections with other Irish humanities projects, such as Inspiring Ireland, which provides opportunities for the innovative preservation of Irish humanities heritage. e DRI works to re ne and expand the conventional depiction of humanities scholarship. Further, it illuminates the national culture of Ireland through the lens of digital humanities. erefore, Irish culture becomes more tangible, visible, and approachable. us, the DRI can be viewed as an attempt to rede ne and modify the traditional representation of Irish humanities heritage. Conventional knowledge purports that there are boundaries between disciplines, while this repository serves as a starting point for the dissemination of the interdisciplinary humanities concept in Ireland. e Abbey eatre bene ts from the DRI as a TNDR for several reasons. e Abbey eatre is viewed as a national theatre, and so the digitisation of the Abbey eatre's past production archives is seen as a crucial factor in an apparent "return" of nationalism, an ideology which re-emerged alongside several contextual factors, such as the 2008 economic crisis, the subsequent austerity measures imposed, and migration-related demographic and cultural shifts. As evidenced by an abundance of research, political parties around the world rely on digital media to spread nationalist rhetoric and to promote anti-immigration and anti-liberal views (Alvares, Dahlgren 2016;Engesser, Ernst, Esser et al. 2017;Fuchs 2019;Pajnik, Sauer 2017;Waisbord, Amado 2017). In many ways, the digitisation of the Abbey eatre's dramatic performances works as a means of communication with the Irish Diaspora. For example, Chancellor's Pho-tographic Studio captured a scene from Kathleen Ni Houlihan by W.B. Yeats in 1902 12 . is scene was transferred into the DRI, Abbey eatre, on 16 June 2015. e scene depicted is from a play about the 1798 Rebellion, which could be perceived as empowering feelings of Irish nationalism among the Irish Diaspora.

e Policy of Federation and the DRI
For navigating the landscape of the humanities, institutional digital repositories are a new and essential vehicle. By means of free and unrestricted online availability, digital repositories facilitate a researcher's ability to disseminate and share research outputs, thereby supporting the open access objective of scholarly communication. According to the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), institutional digital repositories are becoming an integral part of the structure of scholarly communication (Crow 2002). ese vehicles o er authors more visibility and users more information more easily. Institutional digital repositories also have the potential to bene t academic institutions, to boost their research pro les, and to attract funders, who see a greater dissemination of research outputs. e DRI in Ireland is constructed via a research consortium of six academic institutions, collaborating to deliver the DRI's policies, guidelines, and training, namely: e Royal Irish Academy (RIA, Lead Institute), the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). ese parties are the members of the DRI's research consortium.
is policy of federation among Irish institutions o ers indirect bene ts to academic partners, including to the NUIG, which was the rst partnership established with the Abbey eatre, and is one of the six academic institutions of the DRI. In addition, the potential bene ts of the DRI extend to enhancing the visibility of the creators and publishers of the Abbey eatre's archived collections. ese partnerships also enhance the DRI's role in the global dissemination of research outputs. In this regard, the DRI Conference invited demonstrators such as Prof. Patrick Lonergan to present a demonstration of the Abbey eatre's digital archiving project, as the result of a partnership between the NUIG and the Abbey eatre. e Demo's description explains that the DRI project aims to represent a new era of international scholarship for Irish theatre, and seeks to shed light on Irish theatre, history, culture, and society. Furthermore, it looks to alter the conventional notion of Irish drama. In this context, it is generally accepted that the history of Irish drama is the history of Irish plays as written scripts. However, as a full multimedia archive, the digital archive provides researchers with access to the entire range of materials associated with theatre performance: not only scripts, but also visual materials (such as costumes, set designs, and lighting designs), sound materials (music scores and sound e ects), and supporting materials (advertisements, press releases, and reviews) 13 .

e Policy of Collaboration and Partnership
e DRI's policy of collaboration and partnership presents a number of opportunities for the Abbey eatre and other collaborators. As previously outlined in detail, the DRI is constructed as a research consortium comprising of six academic partners. e DRI's partnerships with these academic institutions re ect its educational and research objectives (Webb, O'Carroll 2014). In addition, the DRI's Depositor Manual states that the target communities for this repository are students and academics 14 .
As a result of the DRI's partnership and collaboration with the Abbey eatre, the global knowledge gap about the Abbey eatre's archived collections and its sources is narrowed. For instance, the Partnership works to preserve various elements of the Abbey eatre's archives, including its archived photographic collection, its Anne Yeats collection, its archived administrative records, and its archived prompt script collection. e DRI's Anne Yeats Collection serves as an information resource about Anne Yeats, who was Head Designer for the Abbey eatre, as well as other associates of the eatre. Anne worked with oils when she undertook her designs for the eatre and for publications. Anne was the daughter of W.B. Yeats and, together with her father, was immersed in Irish Revival culture. For example, the Anne Yeats Collection contains painting-formatted images of costume designs for Charles Ricketts who e digital preservation of the Abbey eatre's archived material in a collaborative national trustworthy digital repository, such as the DRI, secures the valuable position of resource materialin the national consciousness, especially relating to retelling the history of Ireland, the struggles of her people for freedom, and the preservation of its arts and culture for the future. Moreover, by collaboration with the Abbey eatre, its role as a resource in the context of the interdisciplinary approach to humanities is secured for educational and research purposes, and its history is revitalised.

e Policy of Usability, Archiving and Access
e dissemination, discoverability, and long-term preservation of the Abbey eatre's archived collections are in uenced by the DRI's usability, archiving, and access policies for three distinct reasons. Firstly, the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the DRI is designed to 69 meet certain requirements for usability, accessibility, and functionality. In this regard, the functionalities of the DRI's GUI can be broadly classi ed as browsing, discovery, and searching. Secondly, open access provides opportunities for sustainable access, discovery, browsing, and searching in the Abbey eatre's archived collections, sub-collections, and objects. irdly, the DRI's use of an Open Archival Information System (OAIS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) reference model is crucial for global accessibility and preservation. e OAIS reference model has been widely adopted and utilised elsewhere, to guide the creation of preservation tools and repositories, and is predicated as, "an organisation of people and systems that has accepted the responsibility to preserve information and make it accessible to a Designated Community" 18 . In this context, the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) de nes a "designated community" as, "an identi ed group of potential Consumers who should be able to comprehend a particular set of information. Multiple user communities may make up the designated community" 19 . is refers to users who possess the knowledge base necessary to comprehend information presented, independently, and as it is preserved and made accessible by the OAIS. is system aids in establishing boundaries and in determining the quantity of metadata that must be retained and managed to support the preservation process. A broader scope of the designated community implies less speci c domain knowledge, and, as a result, more metadata will be required to render and comprehend longterm preserved information.
Serving the needs of a speci c community requires a detailed comprehension of the users' knowledge base. is allows managers of institutional repositories to determine what information must be developed and maintained to guarantee the content's usability, in the present and in the future. In addition, this approach helps de ne how to present and provide access to content and may even determine its format. All of these factors have a direct bearing on preservation over time.
e CCSDS of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) rst initiated the process of OAIS, and it was adopted as an ISO standard in 2003. e OAIS reference model is a conceptual framework for a generic archival system committed to both information preservation and access. It is essential to remember that the OAIS reference model works at a high level. However, it often lacks implementation-speci c information and does not guarantee consistency or inter-operability between implementations. Its strength is that it o ers a common vocabulary and a set of concepts for describing repository architectures and comparing implementations. Numerous organisations have utilised this reference model to inform the planning and design of diverse types of digital repositories. Frequently, the management of access to an infrastructure, repository, or application server can be centralised or distributed. Access management is dependent on the system's level of federation and access policies. Further, access management can be centrally administered or delegated back to the community. In the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS, Harvard University) and Europeana infrastructures, for instance, contributors determine what is accessible and what is not. As for the DRI, control is delegated (federated) to its organisation members (Webb, O'Carroll 2014). e OAIS reference model includes a functional model which describes the six functional components that collectively ful l the system's responsibility for preservation and access. It also de nes the external environment in which the OAIS operates, and it provides high-level descriptions of the information objects managed in the archive via an information model. e 70 OAIS model's functional components are as follows: ingestion, archival storage, data management, preservation planning, administration, access, and common services (Tiernan, Tang, Bako 2014). ese items are described in more detail below. 1) Ingestion refers to the services and operations that accept data from producers, and which prepare it for storage and management in the archive. 2) Archival storage oversees the long-term storage and maintenance of the digital materials entrusted to the OAIS, ensuring that they remain complete and accessible over time.
3) Data management maintains descriptive metadata to facilitate the search and retrieval of archived content as well as the management of internal operations. 4) Planning for preservation creates a preservation strategy based on the changing user and technological environment. 5) Access manages the processes and services that locate, request, and receive the delivery of archival content. 6) Administration is in charge of daily operations and coordinating the ve other OAIS services.
e Inspiring Ireland Project -Abbey eatre is a federated archive 20 , that includes the name of a collection, its sub-collection, and fteen objects. ese items were selected from various Abbey eatre archive collections, and the formats of these items comprise photographs, documents, ephemera, and paintings. e collection is listed under the entry " e Inspiring Ireland Project -Abbey eatre", which comprises 15 objects in a sub-collection called "Abbey eatre". All are archived under e Inspiring Ireland Project. Inspiring Ireland is a component of a systematic preservation, access, and discovery programme of digital objects in the cultural institutions of Ireland. e Project forms part of Ireland's large-scale preservation infrastructure relating to Irish cultural heritage and is a curated exhibition featuring high-quality digital images of objects, expert interpretation, and contextualisation. e OAIS reference model de nes federated archives as a group of archives that make their holdings accessible via one or more common nding aids. In this context, a global community is de ned as an extended consumer community that, in the context of a federated archive, can access the holdings of multiple archives via one or more common nding aids. In this way, the DRI is most similar to the structure of a global site, because global access is achieved by exporting a standard-format associated description to a global site. e global site independently manages a set of descriptors from numerous archives and provides nding aids for determining which archive owns an interesting collection. e consumer is provided with a centralised, consolidated view of the holdings of multiple sites. To view a document's details, a user must visit the website containing the actual document. is is simpli ed when both sites and clients support a standard set of protocols (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, 2002).
According to Dublin Core Metadata, the prompt script for the world premiere of J.M. Synge's Riders to the Sea appears on the DRI 21 and also on Inspiring Ireland -A Sense of Place 22 .
us, the user can access this website for additional information and to view the document. 71

e Policies of Metadata Management
e DRI de nes metadata as structured information that performs the following tasks 23 : 1) It describes, explains, and facilitates the discovery and delivery of digital content.
2) It identi es and makes it easier to retrieve the aforementioned content.
3) It also makes it easier toutiliseand / or manage other resources.
For each dataset, it is essential to know who created the data, when the data were created or published, and the title or descriptive name by which the dataset is referred to. e DRI's metadata guidelines table 1 shows, Mandatory and Recommended elements, and suggested controlled vocabularies/standards for the DRI 24 . is guide tells us that some metadata elements, such as the title, creator, and description are mandatory, while others, such as language, contributor, and source, are recommended. is policy of metadata management has an impact on the ingestion, discoverability, visibility, and dissemination of Abbey eatre sub-collections and objects. Furthermore, the descriptive metadata of a digital object is useful for describing the intellectual entity via properties such as description, subjects, and places 25 . Each important function of DRI metadata management will be described in detail below.

Ingestion
In terms of digital formats and metadata creation, the DRI follows best practice guidelines for data preparation. is enables inter-operability and improves the intake of digital repositories such as the DRI. In an attempt to strike a balance between best practices and the realities of existing institutional data, the DRI accepts non-standard formats for data import. Employees of the DRI work closely with new depositors to promote the incorporation of recommended formats, and to highlight poor format selections early on in the membership phase. For instance, see "Abbey eatre tour programme, 1906" 26 . 72

Discoverability
e DRI uses subject, title, name, and place information as metadata for a browsing tool for digital content. is promotes the discoverability of digital assets and objects from its collections. For instance, by entering the word "theatre/theater" as the subject information, a user can nd 141 objects about Irish theatres, including the Abbey eatre. e image entitled "Abbey eatre, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin City, County Dublin" 27 , shows the patrons of the Abbey eatre prior to the start of a performance. Using "Abbey eatre/ eater" as the title information, 62 objects can be discovered. Further, the image entitled "Abbey eatre Posters" 28 , shows various posters for the Abbey eatre from 1951; the user can discover 15 objects using "Abbey eatre" as the name information. e image entitled "Opening Night Programme for the Abbey eatre, 1904" 29 , shows the Programme for the opening night of the Abbey eatre in Dublin on the 27 December 1904. Using "Abbey eatre/ eater" as the location, the user is able to nd 10 objects. Furthermore, the image entitled "Old Abbey eatre Auditorium" shows the old building of the Abbey eatre in 1904 30 . e use of a thematic research collection as a digital research tool in humanities is appropriate for the discoverability function. Carole L. Palmer (2004) identi es ve fundamental characteristics of thematic research collections (TRCS), namely, they must be: digital, thematically coherent, heterogeneous, structured, and open-ended. Palmer explains that the signi cance of thematic research collections lies in the fact that collections of all types can be open-ended, and they have the potential to grow and change based on the commitment of collectors' resources. is is because the majority of thematic collections are not static, and scholars usually add to and improve the content. Indeed, the work on any given collection can continue for generations. Because of the inherent exibility (and vulnerability) of "born digital"and transcribed documents, individual items within a collection can also evolve (ibidem). For example, the Abbey eatre Archive Master Programme Collection details theatre programmes published for the Abbey eatre, including their formats, subjects, and locations 31 . is Collection demonstrates the fallacy of constructing disciplinary boundaries. According to the name information, the Collection lists a variety of subjects and themes, including sense of identity, Irish drama, and theatre. In this way, the dissemination of such a digital collection promotes interdisciplinary humanities as an educational resource.
Creating, maintaining, managing, and publishing a digital research collection necessitates the creation of an infrastructure to ensure that ongoing processes are e ective, dependable, inter-operable, and governed. It involves numerous interconnected activities. e detailed information which is required to intellectually and physically manage individual les and collections of interrelated les can be divided into four main interrelated categories: descriptive, administrative, le, and relational or structural data. e Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standards (METS) have formalised these categories, which represent the prevalent library model for recording management and control data (commonly known as metadata). Each of these four areas is concerned with a particular type of management and control data, and each is dependent on the others.
is enables e ective intellectual, legal, and physical control over collections of digital materials when they are interconnected or linked. However, these types of data are predominately data-centric and are, therefore, best represented by database technology (Schreibman, Siemens, Unsworth 2004) 32 . For example, in the DRI, the title of one collection for Inspiring Ireland is e Inspiring Ireland Project -Abbey eatre. e descriptor of this collection tells us that it is a selection of cultural heritage objects from the Abbey eatre presented as part of e Inspiring Ireland project. e Abbey eatre Archive Master Programme Collection includes photographs, programmes, manuscripts, and sketches from the Abbey eatre archives. ese items, spanning the years from 1902 to 2010, provide valuable insights into Irish theatre and the arts, as well as the country's history and social life throughout the twentieth century, and pertains to the international in uence of Irish theatre 33 . e Abbey eatre Archive comprises: the Abbey eatre Archive Administrative Records, the Abbey eatre Anne Yeats Collection, and the Abbey eatre Archive Prompt Script Collection, and all these items also display as part of e Inspiring Ireland Project -Abbey eatre.
e search box can be used to locate collections or objects that contain speci c terms in their descriptive metadata. To search for simple word combinations, one can just type them into the search box and press enter. By default, individual words in the search can be joined with AND, which means that the search will look for metadata containing all of the entered words. It is also possible to use the OR operation to search for metadata containing any of the words, for example: Abbey eatre Archive, Abbey eatre Archive Administrative Records OR Abbey eatre Archive Master Programme Collection. To search for particular phrases, one can enclose the search in quotation marks, for instance, "Abbey eatre Archive Master Programme Collection". In addition, searching for Abbey eatre / eater as a title is distinct from searching for it as a subject, location, or name. For instance, a search for Abbey eatre as a title returns 62 results, 61 images and 1 text. For example, the image entitled "Abbey eatre (Interior)" depicts the old Abbey eatre building 34 .

Visibility
To enhance the visibility of the Abbey eatre's objects and assets, such as museums and heritage centres, the DRI employs the "exhibition language" (Strepetova, Arcos-Pumarola 2020, 95). is provides opportunity for visibility, which, in turn, facilitates the dissemination of the Abbey eatre's digital project. e DRI is written in this language because literary heritage is considered an intangible cultural heritage. e relationship between an intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and museums or heritage centres has become a eld of research in Museum Studies, because it transforms the concept of the museum from a repository for objects to be displayed and preserved, into a space focused on people/users. is context allows a discussion of the concept of intangible museology, which addresses the di culties associated with presenting, interpreting, and transmitting ICH through a discourse shaped by tangible mediums in an exhibition setting.
Utilising images, posters, and photographs as forms of media can promote the DRI as a tangible medium of Irish literary objects. For instance, the Abbey eatre has deposited 94 32 e Companion is available at the following link: <https://companions.digitalhumanities.org/DH/> (05/2023

Deposit Policy
e DRI's deposit policy a ords Irish cultural institutions, such as the Abbey eatre, two advantages. Firstly, the digital collections deposited with the DRI should align with its mission to be the Irish nation's most reliable digital repository for social and cultural data. e collections should comprise materials generated by Irish researchers, held by Irish institutions, or digital materials pertaining to the island of Ireland. Secondly, collections may be in any language and should be accompanied by metadata written in Irish or English, as well as contextual information where applicable.
Creating and arranging objects and assets into collections is connected to deposit policies. e DRI Collection Policy (April 2020) provides depositors with an overview of data types, digital assets, and the kind of collections that the DRI intends to preserve. Consequently, depositors can evaluate le formats, metadata, and the copyright status of collections. If their research involves individuals, depositors can also review the DRI's Restricted Data Policy (DRI Restricted Data Policy (Amended 2019). e DRI organises objects added to the Repository into collections, and every item must be included in one of these collections. Sub-collections are an optional sub-division of collections. Regardless of the metadata standards used for the objects, collections are required. e metadata must be associated with a collection and should be identical to that associated with an object, namely: Title, Date, Creator, Description, Subject, etc. Additionally, collections can have a cover image that represents the collection. It is possible to assign speci c access permissions or licenses to the objects within a collection. Additionally, the DRI maintains repositories as Metadata Aggregators, Single-Site Digital Repositories, and Multi-Site Digital Repositories. e Inspiring Ireland project is an illustration of a single-site digital repository. In this context, the Abbey eatre is a sub-collection of e Inspiring Ireland -Abbey eatre collection, which has a cover image. is sub-collection comprises fteen items. e policy of depositing diverse materials in Irish institutional repositories means that assembling collections is required. Raym Crow explains that institutional repositories are, "digital collections that capture and preserve the intellectual output of an individual or community of universities" (2002,4). In contrast to subject-speci c repositories, an institutional repository stores and makes available the educational, research, and related assets of an institution. Although the majority of currently established institutional repositories are e-prints repositories providing open access to the research outputs of a university or research institution, the content need not be limited to e-prints and could include research data, learning material, image collections, and many other diverse types of content, such as the DRI.
As already noted, the DRI is managed by a research consortium of six academic institutions working together to deliver the repository, policies, guidelines, and training. Institutional repositories are a new but key area within the humanities landscape. rough free and unrestricted online availability, digital repositories make it easier for researchers to disseminate and share research output and, thus, they support the open access goal of scholarly communication. As noted by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), institutional repositories are becoming a major component of the evolving structure of scholarly communication (Crow, 2002). Digital repositories enable authors to gain more visibility, and users can nd information more easily. erefore, the potential bene ts of institutional repositories extend to institutions.
is can enhance research pro les, and reach funders who can see the wider dissemination of research outputs. e DRI indirectly contributes to the validation of the role of the NUIG in the global dissemination of research outputs and the national signi cance of the Abbey eatre. e partnership between the NUIG and the Abbey eatre was one of the rst company and a member partnership established by the DRI, alongside ve other academic institutions.
In a digital repository, the purpose of descriptive information is to serve as a mental standin for an object. In order to be able to identify the intellectual and digitally represented objects of a research collection, descriptive information is required. Documenting and tracking the sources and evidence used to develop a research project is essential for both traditional and digital research. For example, if sources are used to create a database that describes individuals and organisations, then the sources must be documented even if they are inaccessible directly from the collection. Subject information may also be included in descriptive information, in addition to author, title, and publisher information.
When existing traditional media are digitised, both the original and its digital representation must be described. Even though some information may overlap, the two objects are distinct manifestations of the same work, because there will be both public and private collections containing traditional media. is is crucial for preserving unique materials, such as manuscripts and archival records, but also for preserving copies, such as published books, because copies are in fact unique, albeit in subtle ways. Repositories and collections, including the researcher's private collection, contain resources that must be recorded and linked to the description of each digitised resource used.
When descriptive data is interrelated with administrative and relations data, it serves the dual purpose of documenting intellectual content and attesting to provenance, and, thus, con rms the authenticity of the sources and their digital derivatives (see Schreibman, Siemens, Unsworth 2004). For example, the Abbey eatre Company has digitally published an opening night programme for the Abbey eatre from 1904 in the DRI. Here, the DRI 76 citation is "Abbey eatre (2015) Opening Night Programme for the Abbey eatre, 1904, Digital Repository of Ireland [Distributor], Abbey eatre [Depositing Institution]". is citation di ers from the standard format of, "Opening Night Programme for the Abbey eatre, 1904" (Digital Repository of Ireland, n.d.) 40 . According to the DRI, this citation data emphasises the existence of both a distributor and depositor. It explains that this asset is the "Programme for the opening night of the Abbey eatre, Dublin on 27th December 1904". Other information given includes the author, title, publisher, and date of publication.
is descriptive information is helpful for academic and research purposes on a global scale. e International Education Strategy for Ireland (2016Ireland ( -2020 sets out a vision that aims to, "attract leading international student talent, and places emphasis on a high-quality learner experience, academic quality, research and mobility, and a distinctive Irish o er at the centre of our delivery of international education" (Irish Educated Globally Connected an International Education Strategy for Ireland, 2016Ireland, -2020Ireland, , 2020. In this respect, the descriptive information impacts on the usability of the Abbey eatre collections as published by the various sources, publishers, creators, and as distributed by the DRI. In the DRI, the main subjects related to this asset are: a sense of identity, Yeats, Synge, Lady Gregory, and Irish drama. is asset is important for writers or researchers of Irish drama, the Abbey eatre, and Irish dramatists all over the world.

Storage Policies
e DRI uses federated storage, which is sustainable for both depositors and users of the Abbey eatre Archives. Federated storage means that each federated member holds a copy of the repository. erefore, if one copy "goes down" there are additional copies of the data and metadata available. Nevertheless, as a digital archive and preservation repository, the DRI is not designed as a platform for temporary data storage, or ongoing data analysis. Deposited collections can, however, be updated and added to over time. is set-up ensures that users have sustained access to content. is is a necessary feature from the user's perspective, for a reliable service which garners trust. It also helps to build a user base that has con dence in the service provided (Webb, O'Carroll 2014).

Conclusion
e Digital Repository of Ireland demonstrates that the Irish Government is committed to realising the goals of Global Ireland 2025. However, the scope of Global Ireland 2025 is extremely ambitious, and only time will tell if it has an impact on enhancing Ireland's global reputation. In Ireland, the digital preservation of cultural artefacts is a crucial step in the transition to the digital age. Based on the e orts made to promote digital archiving and preservation, as exempli ed by the DRI, Ireland serves as a model for cyberculture. Digitisation is a modi cation and alternative to the traditional representation of national theatre and drama, which contributes to the long-term preservation of Irish theatre history. In addition, this cyberculture may be a means of constructing an Irish heritage una ected by British or European cultures. e work of the Abbey eatre reveals a connection between history, theatre, nationalism, 40 See <https://repository.dri.ie/catalog/9593x026s> (05/2023).

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and drama in Ireland, and, in this context, the DRI can serve as a platform for interdisciplinary humanities. However, digital preservation is a complex process with many unresolved issues (such as long-term preservation), which pose problems for institutional repositories. Nonetheless, the widespread implementation of institutional repositories o ers new opportunities for digital preservation. Indeed, much could be done to initiate digital preservation from the beginning, which is a process that involves authors. Integrating digital preservation into the work ow of repositories would facilitate the preservation of tasks in the future. Digital preservation is not a problem faced exclusively by institutional repositories. Over time, pressures on information providers to ensure digital storage and continued access will intensify. In this context, the widespread implementation of institutional repositories o ers new opportunities for digital preservation. erefore, much could be done to consider digital curing from the outset, for example, involving authors in contributing to the preservation of metadata during the creation process. Further, integrating digital preservation into the repository's work ow, thereby easing subsequent preservation tasks, should also be considered. Future-proo ng against technology obsolescence is one of the potential bene ts of incorporating digital assets into a managed repository framework. is is an opportunity to ensure digital preservation e orts that go beyond simply rescuing digital objects, towards building the infrastructure necessary to manage them from the beginning. In this manner, digital stakeholders could work towards a future in which digital preservation is fully integrated into the information management lifecycle and is no longer a separate activity. e DRI is an Irish national initiative designed to preserve Irish cultural heritage, but it also has global implications in respect of its connection to the Global Ireland 2025 project and the digital footprint. e DRI works to re ne, develop, and de ne a culture's traditional representation, so as to make Ireland's past tangible. In addition, it is an attempt to rede ne and modify conventional methods of preservation, serving as a starting point for spreading the Irish concept of cyberculture.
National archives are responsible for a state's records, while national libraries are responsible for preserving and cataloging documents, manuscripts, and other types of materials. Deep collaboration between academic institutions and cultural institutions a ords both parties numerous advantages. In this regard, the DRI's policy of collaboration and partnership is e ective for hosting collaborative digital humanities projects, such as Inspiring Ireland. Inspiring Ireland is a collaboration between the DRI and leading Irish Cultural Institutions, namely: e Abbey eatre, Chester Beatty Library, Crawford Art Gallery Cork, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the National Library of Ireland, as well as the Irish Government's Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG). is partnership illustrates how, using a digital humanities approach, academia, technology, and cultural institutions can collaborate to produce something innovative and of societal, global, and cultural bene t. Moreover, collaborative projects in the digital humanities eld, such as e Inspiring Ireland project, can demonstrate the signi cance of digital collaborative national infrastructures in sustaining a national policy of collaboration and partnership.
Digitising the archival collections of the Abbey eatre has many bene ts, including the dissemination of diverse sources and the discoverability of various creators and publishers. is contributes to diverse and innovative forms of publishing and creativity that can be tailored to the needs of a global audience. Moreover, this diversity of sources makes digital preservation policies and practices more progressive and re ned. Digitisation o ers an opportunity to preserve and absorb a substantial amount of Abbey eatre heritage. In addition, the DRI enables new forms 78 of archiving, access, and visibility, which provide new avenues for individuals to gain access to content. No longer is it necessary to physically hold a book or ledger in order to examine its contents, or to visit a cultural institution like the Abbey eatre in order to use and discover its archives.
Modern content is frequently born digital; there is no physical equivalent for email, websites, social media, etc. is digital world can facilitate new forms of participation for academics, tourists, and the general public. erefore, if digital technology can be used to digitise the archived collections of the Abbey eatre, then content can be preserved for future use. However, in the same way that "vinegar syndrome" a ects cellulose acetate lm, and humidity a ects paper, a digital object is also susceptible to damage. Digital objects may also degrade over time due to "bit rot" or ongoing format changes that render the object unreadable or obsolete. erefore, although digital preservation is the solution for ensuring future access, it entails active, ongoing data management which takes into account changing formats, standards, and software.
Most partner organisations have pre-existing repositories whose autonomy needs to be retained, and yet support is also needed for the task of long-term digital preservation. In this respect, partner organisations are cognizant of the bene ts of building links between the collections they hold and collections in other partner institutions. e technical, organisational and legal infrastructure developed by the DRI is responsive to these needs. However, it has the additional bene t of strengthening and supporting partnerships via federated structures that encourage the development of shared infrastructure, policy and advocacy.