New Archivist at Work: Developing a Digital Preservation Program

Doreen Dixon, Drake University

There is always an adjustment period when starting a new job and learning new skills. Managing the learning curve associated with this adjustment period might include activities such as finding support, asking questions, taking notes, keeping a running list of priorities, and searching for learning opportunities. Imagine doing all this while adjusting to a new career and developing a new institutional program. This lighting talk will discuss the ongoing journey of a new archivist navigating the archival profession while developing a digital preservation program from the ground-up. It will document the challenges and successes experienced during the search for support while learning about digital preservation tools, standards, workflows, and policies. This discussion will also address hardware and software chosen to support successful implementation of a workflow.

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A low-tech solution for mediated delivery of born-digital materials

Keith Pendergrass, Harvard Business School

While many of us long for the day when virtual reading rooms are the norm to facilitate direct, unmediated access to born-digital materials according to local access policies, until then we need digital delivery solutions that we can implement easily across organizations with varying levels of technology support. This lightning talk will introduce Baker Library Special Collections and Archives’ (BLSCA) approach, which uses a Windows batch script written by the digital archivist and used by the public services team to ensure the integrity of files for delivery, remove files with access restrictions and files limited to reading room delivery when providing remote access, and provide contextual information for the user. This method allows BLSCA to maintain a single preservation package in Harvard’s preservation repository and create a deliverable package on demand—eliminating the environmental and financial impact associated with preserving additional deliverable packages. The goal of the talk is to introduce the delivery script and process, and seek feedback from attendees on whether releasing the script (and potentially porting the code to Python for use across operating systems) would be valuable for the community.

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