Perhaps your institution has found itself in a situation where a prominent donor has offered a trove of significant Office documents and digital photographs stored on her hard drive; or, an important department is ready to transfer records of long-term value from a file server to the archives; or, a professor drops off an external hard drive and DVDs with video footage from a symposium featuring nationally recognized participants.
If you were unprepared or unsure of how to handle such a donation, this one-day course will introduce you to basic policies, resources, and procedures that will enable your institution to successfully accession and ingest common born-digital materials (Office documents, PDFs, images, audio, video, and email).
In this context, “ingest” (as outlined by the Open Archival Information System Reference Model) encompasses “accessioning” in its traditional sense (i.e., “to take legal and physical custody of a group of records or other materials and to formally document their receipt”) but includes additional steps to validate the transfer and make the content suitable for long-term preservation.
Note: This course will not explore the creation, support, and use of database systems or resources (such as Archivists’ Toolkit) used to create and maintain accession records or to track the ingest, location, and status of digital deposits. Additionally, links to software will be included in registration materials. Students are welcome to pre-install applications to follow along with demonstrations, but hands-on activities will be limited so that excessive time is not spent on troubleshooting the installation and operation of tools.
Upon completion of this course you’ll be able to:
- Discuss current practices and resources
- Develop policies and workflows best suited to your institution’s mission and resources
Who should attend? Practitioners and managers with little or no experience handling born-digital materials (as opposed to digitized versions of paper/analog items) as well as IT professionals who seek to better understand archival concerns
What should you know? This course touches upon topics already taught in Appraisal of Digital Records, Arrangement and Description of Digital Records: Part I and Part II, and Digital Forensics for Archivists: Fundamentals and Advanced.
This course is part of the Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Certificate Program. If you intend to pursue the DAS Certificate, you will need to pass the examination for this course.
DAS Core Competency:
1. Explain the nature of digital records and their lifecycle.
3. Formulate strategies and tactics for appraising, acquiring, describing, managing, organizing, preserving, and delivering digital archives.
If you intend to pursue the DAS Certificate, you will need to pass the examination for this course.
Testimonials:
Responses to “what aspect of the workshop was most valuable to you?” included:
- “I feel like the information was presented in such a way that I could really use it to create a process for ingesting and acquiring electronic records at my institution.”
- “The combination of the real-life examples and the description of tools was most valuable and will help me apply what I've learned to my work at my organization.”
- “Group discussions were helpful. Content was communicated effectively.”
- “Normally I'm worn out after one of these workshops. I was energized when I left this one. Thank you.”
Attendance limited to 35.