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What follows are suggestions for approaching appraisal and processing of electronic files removed from carriers.
APPRAISALAPPRAISE:
Before viewing the files, you should have already thought through the set of questions the digital archivists have posed.
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If you're unsure or have questions about what files to keep or what to discard, discuss with your team lead and the digital archivists.
Familiarize yourself with some different models of treatment and description that might assist you in figuring out what to keep and how to arrange files.
PROCESS (particularly if and /how to arrange):
Determine what files you want to keep, and work with the digital archivists to use bookmarks or other methods in FTK or in Quickview so you can work with just the files you want to keep.
Describe Determine how to group and describe electronic files in the your finding aid. If they are related to paper files, intermingle themIn many cases the number of files you're working with and their access issues will be the biggest factors in determining how to do this. 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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Are they arranged in meaningful folders on their carriers? Or are they just put on the carrier as a means of transport?
Access considerations. Can these files be linked through the finding aid? (Are there restrictions, has the donor agreed that material can be made available online? Are restrictions different for different types of files?)
If yes, determine (with Jen, Pablo, team lead) if there are normalization needs, what are the available ways we can deposit into DRS. E.G. If you have word processing files and plan to create individual links from the finding aid, convert the files to PDF/As, rename individual files with the corresponding E# from the finding aid, and deposit files into the DRS, and link from finding aid. Consult with team lead, Cat Holbrook, and Paula Aloisio on these steps as needed. [Also information to come: how to normalize and provide access to non word processing files such as images etc.]
To create PDFs from documents created on obsolete word processing documents:
In Quickview, choose a file to look at. Then choose Print. You have to print it as a PDF and in Print Setup, when you choose PDF, make sure to go into Properties and then under Adobe PDF settings, look for Default Settings and then choose—PDF/A. ( It doesn’t matter if you use PDF/A-1b RGB or CMYK: those are only printing issues, I checked with the DRS documentation. I’d just choose RGB since it is first, but again, doesn’t matter.)
Then when you print it, the program will ask where you want to save it.
If no, work with Jen to correctly label, restrict, and store files. Work on how to provide in-house access to come in 2016.
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MODELS of arrangement and description
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MODEL A: Born digital files are closely related to the paper files, and (due to their file uniformity and small number) can easily be transformed into PDF/As, deposited into the DRS, and linked out through the finding aid.
EXAMPLE: HRPBA Oral History project: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01503
These born digital files were all word processing documents, and Susan knew from the disk names and the collection materials that they were intimately related to the other records (primarily audiotapes) in the collection. She reviewed the files on R, and determined that each electronic transcript would be a separate "E folder" in the finding aid, listed after the audiotape of the interview. She transformed the word processing files into PDF/A files, Cat deposited those files in the DRS, and links to each file were added into the E folders in the finding aid.
EXAMPLE: Elizabeth Moulton Papers
MODEL B: Born digital files are closely related to the paper files and are described as such, but access considerations mean the material cannot be linked directly from the finding aid.
EXAMPLE: Mary Bunting Institute Records, see Series VI, subseries C.
Cat created "E folders" for electronic files that were closely related to paper files. Some Bunting Institute records are restricted, and can not be linked from the finding aid.Cat located many disks during processing, some of these disks were unreadable on the first try, and some were identified (after a brief file review) as being not from the Bunting Institute.
EXAMPLE: Elizabeth Holtzman Papers, see end of Series II, subseries G.
MODEL C: Born digital files are the same type as other paper files, but are not as directly linked. They are grouped into folders by series and described in more general terms.
EXAMPLE: Pat Parker Papers, see end of Series II and Series III.
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To create PDFs from documents created on obsolete word processing documents:
In Quickview, choose a file to look at. Then choose Print. You have to print it as a PDF and in Print Setup, when you choose PDF, make sure to go into Properties and then under Adobe PDF settings, look for Default Settings and then choose—PDF/A. ( It doesn’t matter if you use PDF/A-1b RGB or CMYK: those are only printing issues, I checked with the DRS documentation. I’d just choose RGB since it is first, but again, doesn’t matter.)
Then when you print it, the program will ask where you want to save it.