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Since FY15, we have been experimenting and developing workflows and procedures for working with electronic files. As of now (early FY17) most legacy carriers have been imaged, and digital archivists are making electronic files ready for processing shortly after collections are accessioned. We're still feeling out what to do, why, and how when it comes to working with electronic files. As each collection is worked with, we gain more experience and expertise, which can help to revisit and revise our current guidelines and workflows. Please provide feedback on the process, and suggestions as to how to improve this documentation, to your team lead and/or Jen Weintraub.
What follows is a DRAFT workflow for working with are suggestions for approaching appraisal and processing of electronic files removed from carriers.
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 this workflow worked with different models of collections.
APPRAISAL:
- 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? If you believe these files are possibly exactly the same as paper records in the collection, is there value to keeping them in electronic format? Weigh the possibility of time-consuming matching against access and restriction issues. For example, if the born-digital file will be restricted for 50 years, it may be worth your time to check to see if it is in fact a duplicate, since keeping dark digital files may be complex.
- Decide which files to keep and which to discard.
- For files you don’t want: for collections for which we look at in FTK, you may just ignore them and not export them, keeping them in the disk image. For files you look at and then decide you don’t want, you can simply delete them. We can always retrieve them from the disk image.
SURVEY
- Digital archivist Jen Weintraub is 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).
- During your survey process, view (as best you can) the born digital files to be processed. 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.
- You and Jen may start by looking at the files in FTK (Forensic ToolKit software), especially if it is a big collection. You will be able to mark the ones you definitely want to keep and process, the ones you definitely do not want, and then ones you want or need to look at in more detail and assess further. In the future, we will also be able to note which files have restrictions and what kinds of restrictions using bookmarks in FTK.
- Once you determine which files you want to keep and look at further Jen will export them to the Digital Collections Storage on the R drive. Some files can be viewed using Quickview at your own desk, and some can only be viewed by using FTK Imager on a forensic workstation.
APPRAISE
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PROCESS
- Describe electronic files in the finding aid. If they are related to paper files, intermingle them. If it seems more appropriate to have an entire series of electronic records, that's fine too.
Some things to consider when determining how to describe the files:
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