Engineering the Future of the Past » metadata

Documenting Process Flow

Kari R. Smith — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:11:45 +0000

As we are working on developing our digital archives capacities we have been testing, evaluating, and trying out processes for managing digital archival material. Towards this end we have documented and created templates for acquisition, submission and archival processing tasks.

Shared here [PDF files] are our latest working-drafts of templates, visual process flows, written workflows, and task guides. We welcome your feedback and comment. These are created under a CC-BY-NC license as product of the MIT Libraries, Institute Archives and Special Collections staff.

Digital Archives Transfer and Ingest workflow Guide

On-Site Data Transfer Documentation
Form for collecting information about on-site transfer of digital content.

README_template for Digital Archives Processing Tasks

Process Flow Diagrams for Digital Archives Transfer, Validate, and Ingest
Transfer Process Flow diagram
Validate Process Flow diagram
Ingest Process Flow diagram

Defining the Role of Digital Archivist

Kari R. Smith — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:22:10 +0000

Recently, I was asked to present at the MIT Libraries all-staff meeting on the topic, “Defining the Role of Digital Archivist.” It was a great opportunity to share with colleagues examples of what we have accomplished during the past year and also to speak to the point of defining the role of digital archivist at MIT Libraries. During the 30 minute presentation I talked about what archivists do on a day-to-day basis and how the role of the digital archivist supports and innovates on that work as we deal with digital collections.

Presentation Talking Points:

The Roles and Responsibilities of all archivists also hold true for digital archivists
Prerequisite knowledge and experience for a digital archivist may include additional technology and technical skills
Digital Preservation is likely to be included in the responsibilities of a digital archivist
Defining the role of digital archivist across our profession can differ widely
At MIT the digital archivist’s role includes: increasing the Institute Archives capacity to ingest, appraise, organize, store, protect, and provide access to digital material (digitized and born-digital)
The role is dedicated to implementation, strategic planning, and building a knowledge and skill base for managing digital material specifically within the Institute Archive and Special Collections and for the MIT Libraries generally.
Roles and Responsibilities of the digital archivist include those in the following areas:

Donor Relations
Preparing for Ingest
Manage and Protect
Integrate Digital into Practice
Access and Use

My presentation slides are attached to this posting. Please take a look — I’m glad to hear your comments.

January IAP Sessions at MIT Libraries

Kari R. Smith — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:37:20 +0000

During the month of January at MIT there are several IAP (Independent Activities Period) sessions that Institute Archives staff are presenting, which are related to digital archives. We list them here for any MIT affiliate who may be interested in attending and for the general audience to have an idea of some of the outreach and education we are doing here at MIT Libraries. If you are not an MIT affiliate and are interested in the presentations feel free to contact me for further information about them.

Digital Forensics for Archives 101, presented by Kari Smith

Personal Records Management 101, presented by Kari Smith and Krista Ferrante

Tagging and Finding your Files, presented by Kari Smith and Mikki Macdonald
Associated Resource Guide and presentation slides:
http://libguides.mit.edu/metadatatools

Storing and Protecting your Digital Documents, presented by Kari Smith and Helen Bailey. Associated Resource Guide: http://libguides.mit.edu/lifecycle/personal/storing-protecting