This course will help you understand that different digital preservation tools/services can perform different functions within the digital curation lifecycle, and will teach methods for investigating and selecting potential tools/services. The focus will be on low-cost and free tools and services. The instructors will cover how to build daily workflows that incorporate accessioning digital materials (both born-digital and previously digitized), processing them, and planning for their long-term preservation.
The focus of this course is on preservation, and not on access or digitization of materials. We will not be addressing the “why” of digital preservation; rather, we are preparing for the “how” of making informed decisions regarding tool selection and demonstrating some tools in action.
An introductory knowledge of digital preservation issues, such as those outlined in the Library of Congress's Digital Preservation Outreach & Education Curriculum, is required.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this class, students will be able to:
- You will understand that different digital preservation tools/services can perform different functions within the digital curation lifecycle, and be able to investigate and select potential tools and services, with an emphasis on low-cost and free ones
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You will learn pragmatic approaches to triage* your data for ingest with simple, free, and readily available tools
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You will learn how to upgrade metadata and recordkeeping practices in readiness for the next steps
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You will learn how to find communities of practice so that you won't feel like you're on your own
*We define "triage" as "standardizing and documenting your data and metadata so that it can easily move from system to system when you need it to." AKA making your life easier a little bit at a time.
Example Digital Preservation Conundrums
Our local Museum and Historical Society is now receiving digital photographs of community events and milestones. Help!
Our Archives are receiving electronic minutes and records. Help!
I just started a new job as a Curator; what do I do with these CDs, flash drives, and floppy disks in the collection? What's on those anyways?
Instructor
Jaime Schumacher is the Scholarly Communications Librarian at Northern Illinois University Libraries. Jaime served as Director for the Digital POWRR Project funded by a grant from the IMLS, and is now the co-leader of POWRR, currently funded by the NEH. She earned her M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and holds a B.S. in Computer Technology from Purdue University. Previously, Jaime was an Information Systems Consultant for Deloitte Consulting in Chicago, IL.
