Appraising and processing electronic files

**NOTE**

Since FY15, we have been experimenting and developing workflows and procedures for working with electronic files. As of FY17, most legacy carriers have been imaged, and digital archivists are making electronic files ready for processing shortly after collections are accessioned. As a department, 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 Kelcy and/or Jen Weintraub.

What follows are suggestions for approaching appraisal and processing of electronic files removed from carriers.

APPRAISE:

Before viewing the files, you should have already thought through the set of questions the digital archivists have posed.

Determine what kinds of files these are. Are they closely related to the paper files? Are they transcripts, drafts, diary entries?

Do you know who created these files? (if not, perhaps that information can be determined from metadata).

Do they have an intrinsic arrangement? Did they come on disks or other carriers with clear names? Are documents arranged in folders? 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.

(NOTE: if you find the electronic files are direct scans of originals in the collection, see Processing Collections with Donor-digitized material.)

If you're unsure or have questions about what files to keep or what to discard, discuss with Kelcy 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/how to arrange):

Review files in FTK or in Quickview.

Ensure that you can see all the files - some file types may be hidden, or corrupted, or result in separated files - work with Jen and Pablo to make sure you're not missing anything. (specific instructions on this and general working in FTK to come)

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.

Determine how to group and describe electronic files in your finding aid. In 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.

Some things to consider when determining how to describe the files:

Are the files restricted in any way?

Can you provide access to them directly out of the finding aid?

Are they complementary to paper files (e.g. are they drafts of a book project that already has a subseries or a number of paper files listed)

Are they arranged in meaningful folders on their carriers? Or are they just put on the carrier as a means of transport?

EXAMPLE: Process of appraising electronic files for March for Women's Lives Records (from Cat Holbrook):

"In The March for Women’s Lives material, there were not many files to look at, and since I had processed the collection not that long ago, I looked at the files in Quickview, with the FA open in front of me. Using my folder titles and scope notes, I knew that the electronic material was duplicated in the collection, and since the electronic material was blank forms, telephone scripts, and things of that nature, I made the decision that we did not need to keep these materials in electronic form."

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, Zachary, Kelcy) 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 Kelcy, 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.]

MODELS of arrangement and description

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. Feel free to use these models to guide you, in consult with Kelcy and digital archivists.

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.

(NOTE: if you find the electronic files are direct scans of originals in the collection, see Processing Collections with Donor-digitized material.)

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, Series III.

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.

"E folders" were created for electronic files that were closely related to paper files. Some Bunting Institute records are restricted, and therefore the files can not be linked from the finding aid.

EXAMPLE: Elizabeth Holtzman Papers, see end of Series II, subseries G.

EXAMPLE: National Women's Political Caucus Records, in multiple series.

MODEL C: Born digital files are the same type as other paper files, but are not as directly linked. They are grouped by series and described in more general terms.

EXAMPLE: Pat Parker Papers, see end of Series II and Series III.

EXAMPLE: Robin Kilson Papers

EXAMPLES

Other collections with born digital material described in the finding aid:

Elizabeth Farians Papers

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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.