Put Away ... And Not Forgotten

Put Away…And Not Forgotten
Riccardo Ferrante
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Smithsonian Institution Archives FairOctober, 2010

SI Archives is ….
The institutional memory of a unique American cultural resource and a steward of the national collections. SIA was established to ensure institutional accountability and enhance public appreciation of a great national treasure and the activities of the people associated with it.
[Neg.# 7004/b44f10/85-11427_0] [Neg.# SIA2009-0709]
Paleontologist Secretary Charles D. Walcott Ornithologist Roxie Collie S. Laybourne
Serves scholars, the Smithsonian community, and the general public, offering a range of reference, research, and records services.

Our experience with born-digital and digitized material
1982 – Received digital records
2001 – Preservation of digital records began
2003 – websites, preservation tools and techniques
2008 – email, preservation tools and techniques
Worked to establish standards and best practices
Digital archives includes over 30 Terabytes
Documents
Photographs and images
Video and Audio
Databases
Websites
Email
Computer-aided designs
...

“Horror” Stories
Adhesive label removed recording
layer from 10 year old CD
Equipment + Software

Obsolescence
A digital object becomes obsolete when it can no longer be maintained and rendered in an authentic and reliable manner, with integrity and completeness.
Risk factors
Physical storage media
Individual file formats
Applications, operating systems, hardware technology
Necessary skill sets for continued access
Financial sustainability
Too many varieties, precluding the ability to procure and sustain preservation environments
Digital Fragility

Organize
Reduce or eliminate risk factors
Preserve
Use
Effective Preservation Strategies

Organize
What you have, where it’s stored, and how to get to it
Draw boundaries around your collections
Give the items meaningful names usinga consistent naming convention

Organize
Virus scans and format verification
Backups
Long-lived file format types
Reliable storage media
Documentation
Monitor
Inventory
Inspection
Intervention

Organize
Preserve
Select long-lived file formats
Standards-based, non-proprietary
Accessible by multiple software programs, operating systems
Suitable for the object type
Examples
Photos: TIFF - 6,000 pixels across, 24-bit RGB, uncompressed
Documents: PDF
Video: Motion JPEG and MPEG-2 4:2:2

Organize
Preserve
Reliable storage media
Paper?
Optical disks
Internal or external hard drives
Flash drives
Or a combination?
Documentation
Keep records of what you have done with which objects
Essential for remembering what it is and choosing the next preservation step

Organize
Preserve
Use
Copies – not masters
Other file formats acceptable

Personal Collections
Organize
Preserve
Use
Organizational Archives

SIA’s Recent Activities
~ 20% of annual accessions include digital records
Some accessions contain only digital records
Digitization
Recent donation of Hussey photographs to NMAH

Online Catalog and Finding Aids to our Collections
http://www.siarchives.si.edu/research/main_collectionaid.html
The Web
Main website - http://siarchives.si.edu
Photography Initiative – http://photography.si.edu
Images Gallery – http://smithsonianimages.si.edu
And social media including Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook
Blog – The BIGGER PICTURE – http://blog.photography.si.edu
Flickr –http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/
YouTube –http://www.youtube.com/user/SIArchives
Facebook– http://www.facebook.com/SmithsonianInstitutionArchives
Reference OSIARef@si.edu– Photographic Services – Photos@si.edu
Smithsonian Institution Archives
Ricc Ferrante - Director, Digital Services and IT Archivist
202-633-5906 - FerranteR@si.edu
Contact Us

Put Away ... And Not Forgotten

by Smithsonian Institution Archives on Oct 25, 2010

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Put Away ... And Not Forgotten — Presentation Transcript