University Archives

Caldwell University Archives Digital Preservation Policy

v.1, July 2024 / Kimberly Lynch

I. Purpose & Objectives

II. Types of Content

III. Metadata & Technology

IV. Procedures

V. Access

VI. Review

VII. References & Further Reading

Purpose

The Caldwell University Archives (CUA) has become increasingly responsible for the preservation of digital content, both digitized and born-digital. As these new types of collections have emerged, so has the immediate need for a policy which details how to handle digital content through all stages of the life cycle. This includes, but is not limited to, ingest, storage, description, access, and long-term preservation. The purpose of this policy is to provide a basic level of standardization and guidance on the preservation of digital materials to ensure their long-term accessibility according to best practices. By having a successful and sustainable digital preservation program, the CUA can better meet the needs of the institution it serves. Considering that the implementation of a digital preservation strategy is a fairly new undertaking for the Archives, this policy will be revised as needed.

Objectives

1. Create a manageable, sustainable digital preservation program that can be supported by a very small staff (one person).
2. Identify collections to digitize which are unique to Caldwell University and that have interest within our local and regional communities and beyond.
3. Identify born-digital content that is significant to the history and development of Caldwell University and merits long-term preservation.
4. Provide context for digital materials by creating metadata necessary to understand them, and follow established metadata schemas to ensure consistent metadata creation.
5. Ensure persistent access to our digital content over time as the technology for digital content creation and access evolves.
6. Comply with professional standards for digital preservation and access.

The types of born-digital content that will be accepted will be in accordance with the Archives Collections Policy. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Administrative records
  • Meeting minutes and agendas from various groups on campus
    • Academic departments
    • Committees (GAFC, Academic Leadership, Curriculum, etc)
    • Board of Trustees
  • Accreditation reports and supporting documents
    • Department accreditations
      • ACBSP, CCNE, ABAI, CAAHEP, CACREP, CAEP
    • Middle States
    • The CUA will keep final accreditation reports/self-studies, report/responses from the accrediting body, and any addendums or follow-up reports
  • Course proposals and program proposals
    • Chairs and Deans should send the approved and signed course proposals and syllabi
  • Other administrative records as deemed necessary / appropriate
• Student research (already in JSTOR digital collections site)
  • Honors projects
  • CRaCAD posters and papers
• Faculty and staff publications
  • Institutional repository in JSTOR
• Photographs & other media (video / audio)
  • Campus events, athletics, etc.
    • Creators MUST include some form of file inventory that provides information and context about the photos. At the very least, this needs to include the name of the event and the date.

Storage does not equal digital preservation; just because the content is stored on an external hard drive or in the cloud does not necessarily mean it’s being preserved. The CUA will utilize a digital preservation tool called Preservica to ensure long-term access to files and maintain file integrity, in addition to several other platforms intended for storage and access. 

• The following tools / platforms will be used:
  • Google Drive: for short-term storage and access / departmental and institutional use; not intended for long-term archiving
  • JSTOR Forum: for managing and providing access to digital collections content
  • Omeka: for creating digital exhibits
  • Preservica: for long-term storage and preservation, and occasional access
• In most cases, two or three levels of preservation for digital content will be maintained using a combination of the following methods, depending on the content:
  • Locally on PC and/or Google Drive 
  • On external hard drive in the Archives
  • In JSTOR Forum 
    • This only applies to content being added to digital collections in JSTOR
  • In Preservica for long-term preservation
• In most cases, content will be described using the Dublin Core metadata schema.

Administrative records

The collection and preservation of these records will follow this process:

• Establish an ingest schedule with content creator(s) & designate a contact person.
• Establish permissions / restrictions.
• The designated contact person will be sent a Preservica contributor invitation via email according to the established schedule.
• The contact person can upload the digital content directly to Preservica. This process allows for the upload of multiple files and folders at once.
• Once the invitation has been sent, the contact person will have 7 days to submit their content.
• The Archivist will review the submitted content in Preservica and add/edit metadata as necessary.
• The Archivist will download the files and save them to an external hard drive.

Faculty, staff, and student research

The CUA has already established a process to collect and preserve research from members of the campus community. This includes student research (Honors Projects and CRaCAD papers/posters) and faculty/staff publications in the CU Institutional Repository.

• Content is submitted by the creator via an online form.
• The submissions are received by the Archivist. The files are downloaded from the form results, and metadata is copied into a spreadsheet template.
• Each file is saved as a PDF as an access copy. The original master copy remains unchanged. The access copy is renamed according to a file naming standard.
• The access copies are uploaded into JSTOR Forum and metadata is added for each item.
• The files are published to the appropriate digital collection on the CUA’s digital collection site in JSTOR.
• Both access and master copies are saved to the Archives Google Drive and locally on PC.
• Going forward, they will also be saved to an external drive and Preservica.

Photographs and media

Photographs and audio/visual media will typically fall into two categories, which will impact the way they are preserved: 

• Digitized: physical items such as photographs or slides that have been scanned into a new digital format
  • This type of content mainly consists of digitized photographs that are already part of the Archive’s physical collection and makes up most of the Archives’ digital collections in JSTOR.
  • Content is managed using JSTOR Forum; metadata is collected and maintained in spreadsheets; files usually follow a file naming standard.
  • Content will be manually added into Preservica for long-term preservation.
• Born-digital: items that were originally created as digital files
  • This type of content will be collected using the remote contributor function in Preservica, as described above.
  • Creators MUST include some form of file inventory that provides information and context about the photos. At the very least, this needs to include the name of the event and the date. 
    • It is important to understand that without this crucial information, digital photographs lose much of their historical value.
    • The Archivist can provide a template for this information upon request.

Access to digital content will be in alignment with the CUA’s Access Policy. The CUA is committed to providing access to its collections as much as possible. However, the CUA may have a legal or institutional obligation to restrict access to some collections or parts of collections. The CUA will inform researchers of conditions governing access to its collections.

Records in Preservica

Some records might not be intended for public access. Access permissions should be determined with the content’s creator(s) prior to ingest.

The Archivist will periodically review this policy and related procedures to ensure the policy remains up-to-date and meets the institution’s needs, and will make revisions as necessary.

Bishoff, Liz, and Erin Rhodes. “Planning for Digital Preservation: A Self-Assessment Tool.” Northeast Document Conservation Center. 2007. https://www.nedcc.org/assets/media/documents/DigitalPreservationSelfAssessmentfinal.pdf. 

Corrado, Edward M. and Heather Moulaison Sandy. Digital Preservation for Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Second edition. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.

Knies, Jennie Levine and Robin C. Pike. “Catching Up: Creating a Digital Preservation Policy After the Fact.” Archival Practice 1, no. 1 (2014). http://libjournal.uncg.edu/ap/article/view/870/532.

Knies, Jennie Levine, Robin C. Pike, Joanne Archer, Vincent J. Novara, and Carla Montori. “University of Maryland Libraries: Digital Preservation Policy.” DRUM: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland. January 7, 2014. https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/14745

Northeast Document Conservation Center. “NEDCC Digital Preservation Policy Template.” https://www.nedcc.org/assets/media/documents/SoDAExerciseToolkit.pdf

Ohio State University Libraries. “Digital Preservation Policy Framework.” August 2013. https://library.osu.edu/documents/SDIWG/Digital_Preservation_Policy_Framework.pdf 

Rinehart, Amanda Kay, Patrice-Andre Prud'homme, and Andrew Reid Huot. "Overwhelmed to Action: Digital Preservation Challenges at the Under-Resourced Institution." OCLC Systems & Services 30, no. 1 (2014): 28-42. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/OCLC-06-2013-0019.