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This is based on Susan Earle's July 2015 work with the Records of the HRPBA Oral History project, and on Cat Holbrook's work with the Mary Bunting Institute records in fall 2015. Every collection is, as we know, DIFFERENT (!) and workflows for different kinds of records and situations will vary. See below for how the this workflow worked with different models of collections.
SURVEY
- Meet with Digital Archivist archivist Jen Weintraub and/or Pablo Morales-Henry. Discuss the electronic files and gather statistics from AV/DC Tracker (NOTE: does Jen keep any relevant data in another spreadsheet?) as to their numbers, scope, etc. A working copy of the files should exist in a folder on R.View files. If they are older or contain many different file types, you may want/need to use QuickView, which should be installed on your computer. If it is not, contact Mark Vassaris in charge of creating disk images/removing data from carriers. She should have completed this work by the time the collection is ready to be processed. Check in with her about where the working files are kept (on the R drive).
- Schedule a meeting with Jen and possibly Pablo Morales-Henry to assess the born digital files. They should be able to provide archivists with a list of files that were removed from carriers; and a list of carriers that could not be read. If carriers could not be read on the first try, archivists should assess (in collaboration with Jen and Pablo) whether or not we should pursue other options for reading those files.
- During your survey process, view (as best you can) the born digital files to be processed. Jen and Pablo can let you know which files can be viewed using Quickview at your own desk, and which files will need to be viewed on a forensic workstation.
APPRAISE
- Determine what kinds of files these are. Are they closely related to the paper files? Are they transcripts, drafts, diary entries? Do they have an intrinsic arrangement? Do they have folder titles that make sense?
- Decide which files to keep and which to discard. (NOTE: What happens to the discarded files? Susan would like clear instructions as to what to do with them, etc.)
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