Table of Contents

Introduction

What is this?

This page contains a curated list of resources to support Harvard Library colleagues that are seeking training and education in web archiving. It is an evolving list that will adapt and grow as technology shifts and additional resources become available. 

Who is it for?

• New web archives practitioners seeking to start up their web archiving project or program
• Experienced web archives practitioners looking for a specific resource
• Managers and curators that want to know whether web archiving fits in their program
• Any Harvard Library colleague, even those with no responsibilities in web archiving that are just interested in learning

Training Materials

Getting Started in Web Archiving

"What is a Web Archive?"

• A very brief (2:31) explainer that introduces the concept of web archiving, created by the UK Web Archive (which has an extensive YouTube channel as well).

IIPC Beginner's Training in Web Archives

• Designed by the International Internet Preservation Consortium's (IIPC) Training Working Group, this 8-module training offers a more extensive introduction to many aspects of archiving the web, including the main concepts, technologies, scoping collections and writing policies and elevator pitches.

Collecting with the Ivy Plus Web Collecting Program

Harvard Library is a member of the Ivy Plus Library Confederation (IPLC), a partnership between 13 leading academic libraries. IPLC hosts a Web Collecting Program that is a collaborative collection development effort focused on building curated, thematic archival web collections. HL curators and web collectors can partner with at least one other library in the confederation to nominate a website or series of websites to contribute to one of the collecting themes. The nomination is reviewed by the Web Advisory Committee of Ivy Plus, and if approved, an IPLC web archivist will archive that website using the IPLC's Archive-It account.

This is an excellent pathway towards web archiving for Harvard Library units that want to archive websites that crossover with partner institutions' collecting interests in order to take better advantage of collecting. It also relieves units of needing to expend additional resources (money, time, and training) on web archiving activities.

Want to begin the nomination process or have more questions? Please contact the Web Advisory Committe of Ivy Plus. 

Ivy Plus Web Collecting Program collection themes

• Browse the many collecting themes the Program currently supports. Curators can coordinate with partner institutions to suggest new themes as well.

Collecting Websites with Archive-It

Harvard Library has a consortial account with Archive-It, a web archiving service developed by the Internet Archive. Harvard Library units use this service for collecting and accessioning cultural heritage materials on the web. This service also acts as the primary access point for archival web collections by researchers.

Don't have an Archive-It account yet but think (or know) you need one? Please contact Stephen Abrams in Digital Preservation to initiate an account.

Harvard Library Archive-It Collections

• Explore the archival web content already collected by units throughout Harvard Library.

Archive-It Informational Training Sessions and Webinars

• You can sign up for a pre-scheduled informational webinar or request one if there are not currently any available.

Archive-It User Guide

• Archive-It has extensive documentation of how to use their service, beginning with how to get started, through actually crawling websites, reviewing and QC.

Collecting Websites with Conifer

Some Harvard Library archivists utilize Conifer, a free web collecting platform, to collect websites. Conifer offers a more intimate, manual process of crawling websites, which can result in a higher success rate of capturing more complex elements of a web page, such as videos and multimedia. Because it is less "automatic," it can also help users collect websites that may be behind security measures likes passwords. Once collected, the files are then uploaded and accessed through the collecting unit's Archive-It account.

Conifer User Guide

• This user guide offers an extensive explanation of the tool and how to utilize it.

How to Add External WARC/ARC Files to Your Archive-It Account

• If you utilize Conifer or another external collecting tool, or you collected someone else's legacy files, you can upload them to your Archive-It account alongside your other collections.

Further Opportunities

Meetings & Events

Harvard Library's Web Archiving Discussion Group

• An excellent opportunity to connect with colleagues that are also interested and/or engaged in web archiving activities

Courses

90-minute Web Archiving Fundametals

• A webcast offered by the Society of American Archivists through their Digital Archives Specialist curriculum.

Buddy Program

If you have you been tasked with initiating web archiving activities in your library and wish to connect with one of your peers in another library unit that has experience, the Web Archives Discussion Group and Digital Preservation can help identify a suitable peer unit for you to connect with. Please see the Web Archives Discussion Group wiki to contact the conveners for more information.

Additional Resources

IIPC Awesome Web Archiving Github

IIPC has compiles an ever-growing, comprehensive list of web archiving resources. They cover training and documentation, resources for web publishers, tools and software, and so much more. This is a one-stop-shop for really digging into everything you would ever want to know about web archiving.

Contact Digital Preservation

Digital Preservation at Harvard Library offers general consultation and guidance in web archiving activities.

Questions?

Suggestions? Hoping to find information you don't see here? Know of an excellent resource this page should include? Please contact the DPS team in Preservation Services for assistance.