State Scientific Library acquires new space for cultural heritage
Mária Halienová, Head of the Information Technology Department
Background
As part of its contract with the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic to provide public services and carry out specialized library activities, the State Scientific Library also focuses on the digitization and preservation of cultural heritage. It aims at providing high-quality library and information services by using modern information and communication technologies. The library has its own YouTube channel, organizes online scientific conferences, and makes electronic books available through the BOOKPORT service.
The library also provides various other modern data services, such as the collection and processing of a large volume of data in the form of audiovisual recordings, audio files, or photographic documentation. This ever-growing digital content requires space for storage, processing, and preservation. Having had a long history of working together, the customer approached us to resolve the issue of data storage and expand the capacity of their current storage arrays.
Project implementation process
After the initial consultation with the customer, we began exploring storage solutions from various manufacturers. We considered different methods of data storage and access, including archiving with a special emphasis on the data use, day-to-day handling of films, photographs, and other elements of digitized culture.
The key was to find a reasonable balance between storage capacity, functionality, and cost. Quick access to data and responsiveness during data handling were also an important factor. For this reason, we decided to add a few fast NVMe drives to the disk array for quicker processing of specific data types. The disk arrays were connected via aggregated 2x10Gb Ethernet connections.
The installation and deployment of the new NAS disk array went smoothly, thanks to our extensive experience with the customer’s infrastructure.
After a few months of positive experience with the disk array, the customer decided to further expand the storage capacity with the same solution from the same manufacturer. In the second project, we took advantage of the lessons learned in the first installation and connected the second disk array, along with additional disk trays, to the existing infrastructure.
This way we simply and effectively created space for several more years of data storage. The customer now has the ability to work with larger volumes of data, and smartly design the storage structure, as well as process recordings with a focus on archiving or potential data recovery.
Results and benefits
efficient storage capacity expansion
fast access to stored data
cost-effective solution
quick installation and storage system availability
Customer Profile
The State Scientific Library in Prešov is a governmental budgetary organisation established and managed by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic. As a public cultural, informational, scientific, and educational institution providing librarian, bibliographic, scientific research, and publishing activities, it systematically builds and provides access to its library collection while also offering library and information services. It serves the citizens of the Prešov region, primarily professionals, scientists, educators, and students, as well as state and local government bodies, and the business sector.
Customer Profile
Synology disk arrays
Cisco Nexus technology