Another semester completed – as well as a degree and certificate – and a whole month off before grad school starts. The last month was rather crazy, as the MARAC Conference led into two major papers being due, then finals, but I got it all done. The conference was okay; there weren’t as many topics that I was as interested in as last time, but Cape May was a nice town and it was nice to go walk on the beach for a few hours. And eat (and buy several pounds of) salt water taffy, which I’m still steadily working my way through.

I’m all signed up for my one summer class, and weighing out which 2 of 3 classes I want to take in the fall. I’m hoping to take one in-person and one online whenever possible, but there’s no forecast of online classes, so I can’t plan for it.

At work, I’ve successfully trained, assisted, reviewed, revised, nagged, and filed the people responsible for the file plans/ the file plans themselves for nearly 200 business units. I really enjoyed the project, though it has been my major focus since late February. During that I also made a completely awesome spreadsheet for tracking reference requests, charge-outs, and sending accessions off-site. I’m pretty proud of it and am now able to write vlookup and hlookup directions like a champ.

Now I’m working on policy – writing my own pieces, reviewing for others – and working on cleaning up the files. There’s a really great work balance right now. I get to have meetings where I talk to other people, then focused writing/editing time, then I get to close myself in the records room, put on some music and verify labels/chron order are correct.

And that about wraps up the last month for me.

I’m in the middle of my last two undergrad classes, and getting ready for next week’s MARAC Conference in Cape May. What’s really keeping me occupied, though, is my internship.  I’m in the Records Management office in a Treasury Department agency…and it’s file plan time! I got to help as we gave 177 business units  training on how to write their file plans (almost all of them had one already, but there was training for updating and whatnot). Then I got to do the file plan for the records management office. And that was not as easy as I thought it would be. And now? Now I get to review the 177 file plans, call the people who wrote them to ask follow-up questions and/or request corrections, and other little administrative duties that go along with the project.

The file plan project is literally all I’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks, which can be a bit draining, but at the same time I’m really enjoying it. There’s nothing like reviewing file plans for hours to give you a pretty good grounding in the General Retention Schedule and the agency’s retention schedule. I was worried about that when I started reviewing – how was I supposed to know if it was wrong? This is going to take forever – I’ll have to look up every disposition! It really didn’t take long before I could catch the ones that were wrong, and it really gives me a better sense of the governmental standards for retention.

In other good news, I was accepted to the MLS program at University of Maryland, starting in the summer. I’m VERY excited, and spend far too much time on their website reconfiguring class schedules and reading old syllabi. Go Terps!

Another busy semester has begun, with the exciting bonus of a full-year internship in a government records office. I’m waiting to get more information on what, if anything, I can blog about that. For now I’ll just say it’s awesome and makes me lean more toward that part of the life-cycle.

I’m in a Photoshop class right now, which I’m pretty excited about. It’s a little frustrating because the software is SO big, and there are just so many options for image editing. I hope to learn at least the basics for solid digital image preservation.My records management class this semester is on electronic records management – always a timely subject. I really enjoy William Saffady’s textbooks (this is the text, if you’re curious), they’re comprehensive and fairly easy to read. I have to say I’m rather sad that this is the last class in my certificate program. So far it’s a good semester.

Today I registered for the MARAC Spring Conference. I love going through the conference program, picking out (and then changing my mind) which sessions I want to attend. It looks like another fun, informative conference.

 

I attended a couple more sessions that focused on electronic records management. I know, a little heavy on the e-recs, but it’s an important area.

One of the sessions, “Born Digital Records – Moving from Theory to Practice,” discussed the efforts at Tufts University for implementing a more comprehensive electronic records management program. One of the main points the speaker emphasized was that doing something is better than doing nothing. It can be overwhelming to develop an electronic records program, especially because of changing formats, standards, etc, but a basic program is better than no program at all, even if it’s not as comprehensive as you’d like. Some of the technology that was used – not necessarily recommended, but that at least has potential, includes: Dspace, Duke University’s Data Accessioner, ArchNet, and Archivists’ Toolkit.

Another speaker during that session discussed the needs of another university for implementing a larger digitization program; a basic program was already in place. This speaker emphasized the benefits of formal guidelines and boundaries for the program, the inclusion of all interested and relevant parties to relevant committees, and ensuring that a program is simple to follow for the next set of people who will need to follow it.

Another session focused on implementing a digital asset management system – here we again had the emphasis on open source, open access, interoperability, and open standards. An important bit of guidance – if your DAM system does not fit seamlessly with your workflow, it’s probably not right for your organization.

“Creating and Maintaining Web Archives” was really interesting to me. Capturing and archiving entire websites can be quite difficult; the service offered by Archive-IT seems pretty awesome, in that they will do extensive capture and retention for you. This is becoming popular for research – no one wants to have the online sources for their dissertation disappearing, right? Aside from a subscription service to do your capture and retention, there was discussion about storage, copyright concerns, and the difficulties of capturing multi-media content.

Last session – and the one that was actually unrelated to electronic records management (mostly) was about online learning and telecommuting for archival internships and work. I said it was mostly unrelated to electronic records because while that wasn’t the focus, it is one of the areas of archival work that lends itself to telecommuting.  The take-away from this session was that there are growing opportunities for remote work/internships/education in archives. There is no substitute for hands-on processing of a box, of course; reference work isn’t really something you can do away from the archives, and security has to be a priority.

So, that was MARAC’s Fall Conference. What I took away from it? A much greater electronic records understanding, some new avenues of research to explore (namely the various software programs mentioned in the sessions), and many hours spent looking at the archived web content on Archive-IT. It’s pretty interesting. I also learned that I should mix up the sessions I choose a bit more. The electronic records emphasis was useful, but it got to be a bit much. I’m looking forward to the next conference already. In the meantime, back to homework.

I decided to go for a little bit of overkill – an 8-hour workshop on electronic records management, and then the majority of shorter sessions on the same subject. First session – “File Formats: More than Alphabet Soup?”

The first speaker discussed the options an archives has for preservation of digital records. Pros and cons of open source vs. proprietary formats (often cost/support/longevity comparisons), how to do determine if a format is preservation-quality (is it stable? will the company who made it disappear? is it uncompressed and unencrypted?), and the benefits of the PDF/A-1, level A (not to be confused with level B) were discussed. Results? Do the best you can, there aren’t a lot of standards for preservation formats.

The second speaker talked about the problems she has had at the Smithsonian Institute in digitizing files. Some of the most common problems – the font Smithsonian uses in their letterhead/logo will not embed in a PDF/A, so there is an ongoing issue with file normalization. Two problems dealing with file type are misnamed files – a BMP with the extension .JPG, for instance; also the complete lack of file extensions (or entirely obsolete extensions). The speaker said they’ve recently accessioned files that were .ltr, .env, etc.

The third speaker discussed file formats as well as consideration of the scale of digitization (exabytes of data) and the sustainability of preservation formats. One of the problems reiterated throughout the session was that there is no set of steps you can take to preserve digital files, and then you’re done and can walk away. This speaker differed from the others in his acceptance of lossy compression as a real consideration for use. The argument is that it is not practical to avoid compression, and at times lossy compression (so long as the quality of the record is not impacted) may be the only real solution due to space considerations. We were reminded that a loss in data quality is far more likely to result from operator error, internal/external attacks, or organizational/economic failure than because a file was compressed in a lossy format.

The session provided some realistic considerations for preservation-level digitization, how to make the best preservation plan for your organization, and where to look in the future for the next formats. I personally would love to see an internationally supported open source standard that would allow a greater range of embedded data than the PDF/A-1, but the PDF/A-1 standard is a respectable option at this time for many record types.

Also – a useful reference is http://digitizationguidelines.gov/ the Federal Agencies Digitization Guidelines Initiative. There is some great information here about different record types and format options for preservation.

Today was full of workshops at the MARAC Conference in beautiful Bethlehem, PA. First, entirely off subject, I need to mention the enormous store filled with Christmas decorations, a couple stores away from a handmade chocolate shop. It’s a fantastic place to be. Now back to the workshop.

I was in a workshop today, hosted by Geof Huth, on managing electronic records. This was an 8 hour workshop, so we covered quite a bit. I typed 20 pages of notes, if you were curious. The major points to take away is to be flexible, to be realistic, use open standards where possible, compromise where necessary, and break the issue into manageable parts.

7.5 hours before we got to that summary, we talked about some of the areas in which electronic records management differs from paper records management, as well as how they are similar. One of the crucial differences, and one that can actually be impossible to work around for some collections, is the need to gain control of the records long before they come to the archives. If you have a manuscript repository and your donations are spontaneous, there’s little you can do to get control of electronic records to encourage preservation. If, however, you are in a corporate or government setting, establishing a retention schedule is a good first step in encouraging retention. The problem with not getting early control is that people delete the records, the files become corrupted, the storage devices are obsolete, etc.

Electronic and paper records are similar in that they have similar steps – appraisal, accessioning, description, preservation, access, security – this exists no matter the medium of the record. With electronic records, however, appraisal has to consider things like whether a repository will be able to maintain readability and functionality. Preservation is also complicated by inevitable obsolescence of hardware and software.

There was a significant discussion of the ubiquitous metadata, but the greatest focus was preservation. Types of normalized file formats for various media were explained, as was data migration, strengths and weaknesses of media formats, and the major guidelines for caring for electronic media.

Access is also an area of much discussion, as levels of access and security must be maintained on the system this is an area that has to formally defined. Redaction is typically approached differently – though repositories have been known to make a hard copy that they can make physical redaction on – and this usually involves file redundancy, with one version of the record available for researcher use. Another key difference in relation to access is that staff need basic IT training in addition to archives training. Staff must be able to use the system and provide basic troubleshooting to researchers.

The last major area of discussion was establishing an electronic records program. Assessing the options available for platforms, for internal and external supports for the program, identifying training needs, and setting priorities and realistic time-lines are all useful steps in creating a functional electronic records program.

It was a really great workshop – I know I glossed over the details, but it was very helpful for understanding how to approach electronic records from an archival management perspective, especially how to control the collection and how to best establish a program for control.

Tomorrow will be two shorter sessions. I will report back soon.

My excuse for this taking two months to finish is that I lost the notebook full of my notes. We won’t go into how directly in front of me the notebook was when I found it. I’m going to wrap up my thoughts on SAA 2011, because I’m heading to MARAC’s conference this week. I have a wild and crazy plan to blog about the conference while I’m there. We’ll see how well I stick to that.

So, a few more items of interest from Chicago. First, I went to a session called “What ARMA can teach us beyond records management.” This session focused on the difference between the records management industry and the archives industry, considering how each industry approaches business management and tries to “sell itself.” ARMA really highlights the business value of records management, and emphasizes business training for its members more than the archives industry/SAA. Understanding the strategic values and goals, the management “buttons”, the objectives of management and the company; these are the important business tools that records managers are trained to find and utilize so that the needs of the records management program are met. The ARMA conferences have a preponderance of workshops and sessions that focus on how to write a business proposal, how to communicate with upper-level executives, create strategic plans for programs, and align program plans with the corporate vision.

These are excellent points – by contrast, many organizations view archival holdings as “old stuff” with questionable value. If they don’t need it at hand, how likely are they to need it again, except perhaps for legal compliance? The ability to sell the value of an archives program is of great importance to the entire industry, and I agree with the speakers that an increased emphasis on this, and teaching business skills, should be part of the SAA conferences. As an aside, the prohibitive cost of ARMA was mentioned in the session – the annual ARMA conference (which does not offer a student price) would run me about 5 times attending the SAA conference.

One of my favorite sessions was about mobile technology and the archives. The speakers all used different technology, and some were not entirely successful, but it was great to see new outreach being tried in the archival field. One of speakers had used QR codes extensively on a college campus, both marketing materials and exhibits. The use of a QR code on a flyer which would bring the reader to a website with more extensive information that can be kept up-to-date is useful. Even more so, I thought the use of a QR code to link a viewer at an exhibit to more detailed background information was brilliant. These can be used to connect to an audio file, as well, providing a personalized audio tour of an exhibit or collection.

Another speaker had used 4square to try increasing interest in the archives at a university. This was a bit less successful, and the speaker believed the rural location of the university had much to do with that. With a more urban setting and more off-campus activities, tying the university’s archives and library services into 4square could very well be an effective marketing tactic.

And, of course – there’s an app for that. Duke University has an app. Who doesn’t, right? Within that app is a section for the archives’ digital collection. This is a great tool. First, it was visually appealing, the design was great. Different objects in the collections could be highlighted, bringing attention to the value of the archives. It could also be updated, but the app content and design were being managed by an external company. This does lead to delays in implementation, but the quality of the company used also increases the expertise in how the app is managed.

These were a few of my favorite sessions, and I’m looking forward to what MARAC has to offer later this week. I’ll be going to my first professional workshop, where I will spend the entire day learning about managing electronic records.

I’m finally going to blog about the Society of American Archivists Conference I attended in August. First up – Creative and Low-Cost Preservation Strategies in Practice. This session was really interesting. The speakers were all approaching different areas of preservation, and mentioned some useful tactics and ideas.

For physical preservation, one of the points that was reiterated was providing an appropriate environment. I know it seems obvious, but I’m glad they kept mentioning it. If your temperature and humidity are appropriate and consistent, half your work is done. For the other half – that’s when we try to find the cheapest options possible that will still get the job done. A few of the new ideas I heard included using unbleached muslin to wrap fragile books, the heaviest Mylar you can find instead of oversize folders, and shrink-wrap for books.

The use of Mylar in place of specialty folders was a brilliant idea, because not only is it cheaper, but it also protects the item. Instead of needing to pull it out of a folder, the transparent “folder” protects the structure and the record itself. The speaker said she found it to be most useful for maps, as the structure can often be unstable because of the size.

Using shrink-wrap to protect books seemed odd – and it does result in environmental waste – but it’s an interesting option. The cost to shrink-wrap a book was estimated to be between 15 and 18 cents. When the book is needed, the wrap is cut away. This method does use some heat, which needs to be considered for preservation.

Another part of the session discussed assessing the collection for preservation purposes. CALIPR software had been used but proved to be not quite suited for the archival collections. It did provide a foundation for a home-made random sampling system, which was put into use to assess the needs of the collection. The goal of “good enough” was emphasized here, as was the need to avoid item-level preservation.

Next time – “What ARMA can teach us beyond Records Management”

I just got home from the Society of American Archivists’ Annual Conference (or SAA 2011). I missed some interesting sessions on Saturday because I raced home to beat Hurricane Irene, but I still had a great time and met some fantastic people. I’ll post more about the sessions I attended and the most interesting things I learned a bit later – I just wanted to check in for now.

 

Conservators find best treatment for wedding veil from “Gone With The Wind” is no treatment

“Gone With The Wind is full of lessons about love, life, and loss. Almost 75 years later, Scarlett’s silk wedding veil has one more lesson….Varnell explains that the conservation team could conceivably decide to support the veil with replacement tulle netting. The problem is that they wouldn’t be able to stitch the tulle to the cap because the cap is friable, meaning it will turn to dust if handled too much. “It becomes this trade-off,” Varnell said. “If we try to conserve it, what will happen? I wouldn’t achieve anything by way of support, and it would require so much handling I might end up with nothing. If we leave it alone, what will happen? We’ll pack it properly, it shouldn’t be shown, and it will be an object to be studied, not one to be displayed.” Since conservation will probably deteriorate the veil even further, Varnell and the conservation team have decided to keep an eye on the veil and regularly monitor its condition…”

One important, and difficult lesson – just because something *can* be done, doesn’t mean it should. It must be hard to make that call in conservation work, especially when you’re dealing with something that has such value to so many.