The Alabama ATC is managed by the Education Committee
of the Society of Alabama Archivists. Members of the committee include
Greg Schmidt, Marty Olliff, Tracey Berezansky, Carol Ellis, Jason Kneip, and Mike Breedlove. Please see the Society of Alabama Archivists website for additional information.
For addition information please contact Jennifer Taylor, 205-726-2104, jrtaylor@samford.edu
Free February 7, 14 and 21: 1 hour webinars open to anyone interested in basic digital preservation in their
library, museum, or archives.
These webinars are based
on the DPOE training, for the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
(ASERL: http://www.aserl.org/)
The target audience is libraries, archives and other
cultural heritage institutions who have digital content, but who don't really
know where to start in managing it for long-term access.
The first step in preparing for digital preservation is
to identify all the potential content that may warrant this attention. This
could include born-digital content arriving in special collections and
archives, material digitized on site for online access, and content created by
students, faculty, and researchers. This process will inform an organization
about the categories of content and types of files it might need / want to
preserve, as well as the challenges that might be encountered in doing so.
Once the possible scope of digital content is identified,
the portion of digital content an organization is responsible for preserving
needs to be specified. This process of selection may be known as appraisal in
archives. It may be necessary to develop criteria for prioritizing selection,
which can be a labor-intensive and resource-intensive process.
Knowing the scope of digital content to be preserved,
including the possible growth over time, is an important factor in developing
an appropriate approach for managing digital content over time.
Digital content that has been selected for preservation
needs to be stored in ways that align with good practice. It's necessary to
consider the file formats that are best suited for archiving, the requirements
for processing, and the metadata needed to make use of this content in the
future. Organizations also need storage management policies and procedures that
ensure multiple copies in at least two locations. Once stored, content needs
protection. This includes everyday concerns (such as who has access and whether
files have changed), as well as emergency contingencies (business continuity
and disaster planning). We will address how to manage roles and
responsibilities for physical and virtual access to digital content throughout
its life cycle.
Long-term access is the purpose of digital preservation -
organizations preserve content to be able to make it available as needed or
desired over time. In order to provide this access, we need to consider the
concepts, roles, and challenges involved. Furthermore, managing digital content
for the long term requires program planning, implementation, and
sustainability. A core component of this is preservation planning, which
includes organizational aspects (e.g., policy development, training, legal
issues) and resources (e.g., designated funding and
sustainability). This discussion will highlight some steps organizations can
take to make long-term access to digital content more possible to achieve.
