The Holt Digital Archive Volunteer Program aims to preserve and enhance access to Australia's largest collection of digital manuscripts, maps, and other cultural artifacts. Volunteers can help by adding data, transcribing documents, and using the Xena system for digital normalization. Benefits of volunteering include gaining experience, working with interesting artifacts, and connecting with like-minded individuals.

1. Welcome Volunteers
The Volunteers Program for the Holt Digital Archive

2. Volunteer Program
Image of Uncle Sam courtesy of ThinkStock

3. Volunteers
The main aim of our volunteer
program is to further the
preservation and accessibility
of our collection to researchers

4. The Holt Digital Archive has Australia’s largest
collection of digital unpublished manuscripts, maps,
letters, music, photos and maps. They are all open
source to provide access for researchers and
academics.
Map of Australia from mid 1800s courtesy of (ANZLIC, 2015)

5. The Holt Digital Archive must maintain and preserve
it’s digital artifacts. with the growing rate of
technology upgrades, older file formats my become
defunct, leading to important cultural artifacts maybe
lost forever.
Image courtesy of Can Stock Photo, 2015

6. Imagine if we lost…
Ned Kelly by Sid Nolan courtesy of The
Age Blog, 2008

7. Or…
You’re the Voice by
John Farham,
personal collection

8. Or
Dismissal of Gough Whitlam courtesy of YouTube

9. Yes, all the examples exist in multiple physical
and digital formats, but all of them no matter
what format is important to the cultural memory
of Australia.
Each of these artifacts, whether seminally
important or small deserve preservation so they
can be accessed by future generations.

10. Digital Preservation
We have to be able to ‘normalise’ our
digital records. Meaning we format
files so they can be read on any
operating system or device no matter
what technologies change.
Think of it as re-boxing physical objects
to help with their preservation.

11. How You Can Help
By volunteering for the Holt Digital Archive you
will helping a specific community of researchers
preserving important digital records by;
• Adding important data for collection items for easier
access
• Transcribing from original documents for searchable
data
• Scanning original documents into our digital archive
• Normalising documents into Xena

12. Xena: our hero
XML Electronic
Normalising for
Archives System or
Xena works in a three
step process
• Determines the file
format of a digital
record
• Converts file into
preservation format
• Stores the file with
metadata as Xena file
Xena by Lucy Lawless courtesy of WVTM13, 2105

13. Xena Continued
• Xena is an easy to use system, which is
compatible with systems such as Microsoft Word
and Excel.
• There will be on the job training, to guide you
through the different processes

14. Benefits of Volunteering
You are giving up your time to help us, but there
are also gaining an important experience
• The opportunity to work with digital artifacts that
maybe of personal interest
• Gaining experience with working with artifacts
and archive technology
• Meeting like minded people interested in the
same things

15. A Few Things to
Remember
Remember you are giving up your time to help us.
• Take your time, it is not a race, there are no
quotas to fill
• Make sure to re-read and double check
everything you do, incorrect labeling or data and
you could misplace and lose the digital artifact
• Don’t be shy, always ask for help if you need it,
there is no such thing as a silly question here

16. Remember to Enjoy Your
Work!!!