Class No. 8: Inreach and Outreach for Digital Archives

This week I attended my eighth DAS course, Inreach and Outreach for Digital Archives, taught by Fynnette Eaton. The course is part of the Tactical and Strategic tier of the DAS curriculum, and was an all day, in person event held at the Radcliffe campus in Cambridge. The objectives of the course were to identify the relevant stakeholders surrounding digital archives at our institutions; to learn how to articulate the importance of digital preservation to those stakeholders; to effectively communicate with donors about their born-digital material; and to think about ways to build a digital archives program within the context of our specific institutions. I thought the workshop successfully achieved these objectives.

Though the slides and the discussion focused on managing born-digital material, the general themes of this course would probably be applicable to any collaborative project in virtually any setting. Given the relative lack of born-digital material in my particular institution, I appreciated that; it meant that the discussions were relevant to me, and I was able to participate without feeling like I was thinking only in the abstract. The broad themes as I saw them were these:

• It is imperative to understand the political and social culture of your particular environment before undertaking any project that will require participation and buy-in from staff and management;
• Think carefully about who will need to be involved, whether directly or indirectly, and communicate with them early and often. In the context of a digital archives initiative potential stakeholders include management, IT staff, donors, fellow staff, and end users;
• a collaborative project must provide a clear benefit to every party involved, and the expectations and goals of the project must be well understood;
• It is a good idea to have a “champion,” somebody who is well-connected, well-liked, and trusted in your institution who can promote your idea;
• It is important to develop and manage the image you want your stakeholders to have of your project. The instructor referred to this as “branding,” which sounded a little foreign to my ears, but I understood the point and agreed with it. For example, if as a University Archivist you want the professors at your institution to think of the Archives as the natural place to transfer their born-digital files, it’s up to you to give them that idea by promoting the Archives as a safe repository for electronic records, and also by educating them about what files might be suitable for eventual transfer. 

More than any other DAS course I’ve taken thus far, this was a true workshop. We spent a considerable amount of time thinking and talking about the challenges we face at each of our institutions, and worked individually, with partners, and in small groups to brainstorm potential strategies for moving forward with a digital archives program. I thought the instructor did a great job of listening to our ideas and concerns, asking thoughtful questions, and offering useful suggestions. 

I'll be writing again in July, when I'm scheduled to take my ninth and final DAS course. I don't know when or where I will be able to take the comprehensive exam, but as I know more about that I will share it here. Thanks for reading, and as always please share any comments or questions.

Class No. 3: Digital Curation: Creating an Environment for Success

Earlier this month I attended "Digital Curation: Creating an Environment for Success" taught by Jackie Esposito, University Archivist and Head of Records Management Services at Penn State University. The workshop was held at the Harvard Business School which, with its beautiful campus and fancy cafeteria, isn't a bad place to spend a day. After my last course, which discussed the basics of digitizing analog archival material, the content of this course represented a return to the concerns surrounding born-digital material.

The recurring theme for the day was that doing digital curation is like eating an elephant; you have to break it into pieces in order to manage it successfully. I think the other main theme of the class could be used to extend the metaphor: an elephant, once broken apart, is best eaten with friends, meaning that digital curation cannot be managed by one archivist alone. Partnering with the right people within your organization, including records creators, budget writers, and IT experts, is key to your success.

As I've done for my two previous classes, I'll list the points that stood out most for me in this course:

• The format may change, but the function does not , meaning a record is still a record regardless of its format. This reinforces the idea that our archival skills are still applicable in the digital world.
• Though the same archival processes apply to electronic records, the window of time in which we must gain intellectual control over them is smaller. Whereas a box of paper can sit on the shelf for decades, a born-digital accession may only last a short time - something like 5 years - before the media becomes obsolete and inaccessible.
• As the permanent caretaker of the records, you can define the formats you are willing to accept. 
• When forging relationships with others in your institution, don't scare them by talking about all of the horrible things that will happen to your institution's records if they aren't managed correctly. Scaring people does not work. Instead, make them feel comfortable and work to convince them of the benefits of what you are trying to achieve. 
• Know what your priorities are, and make them manageable and measurable. Also, have frequent parties to celebrate your victories, no matter how small. If you have students on staff, feed them often.
• NEVER use the word "project." Instead, use the word "program," which implies permanence.
• If your public access interface doesn't look and act like Google, nobody is going to like it or use it.
• Don't reinvent the wheel - other archivists have done these things already, so borrow from them, collaborate with them, and generally draw on the experience and expertise of your colleagues.

Though the material in this course was mostly theoretical to me, I really enjoyed it, mainly because I found Jackie to be an extremely engaging instructor. One note, though: this is classified as a Foundational DAS course, whereas to me it seems more suited to the Tactical and Strategic tier. Foundational courses focus mainly on "the needs of practitioners—archivists who are or will be working directly with electronic records," while Tactical and Strategic courses are meant to focus on "the skills that archivists need to make significant changes in their organizations so that they can develop a digital archives and work seriously on managing electronic records." As the course title indicates, this was geared towards archivists who actually have the power to change the environment at their institution and who are responsible for implementing an electronic records management program rather than (or perhaps in addition to) working hands-on with the actual records.

I welcome any and all comments on this course or the DAS program in general, and as always, thanks for reading!

First things first...

When the Society of American Archivists announced the creation of its Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Curriculum and Certificate Program earlier this year, I couldn't wait to learn more about it. As a Digital Archivist who has learned most of my technological skills on the job rather than in a classroom, it sounded like the perfect way to continue my professional education. When the SAA Education Committee came up with the idea to find an archivist who would take the required DAS courses, (hopefully) pass the quizzes and comprehensive exam, and blog about the whole experience, I happily volunteered.

Though the Digitization Unit at the JFK Library is focused primarily on the digitization of analog archival material, I believe that the preservation and management of born-digital records is something with which all archivists should concern themselves. And though our collections date mainly to the mid-twentieth century, our backlog does contain materials generated more recently, most notably within the voluminous papers of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Just today I learned of a mysterious circular piece of computer hardware (I'm told it resembles a container used to transport a cake) that was sent to us with one of the Senator's accessions. What is it? What information does it contain, and how will we access it? How can we move the information somewhere else, and how will we preserve it? And finally, how will researchers access it? Hopefully by the time I've completed the DAS program, I'll be ready to answer questions like these. Until then, the mysterious circular object, along with many others like it, will remain on a shelf in our stacks, its nature and contents hidden, edging closer and closer to irretrievable obsolescence.