The acquisition of born-digital material into the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Collection is a process of many stages, procedures, and tools. The CCA has developed new software tools to facilitate the selection, archival arrangement, migration, and preservation of born-digital material, while simultaneously developing new processes and workflows to support this mission. Our presentation will introduce the tools created by CCA to support these processes : our HARVESTING TOOL, ADAPT, QUESTIONNAIRE. Via this introdcution we will also touch upon various roles and workflows in the acquisition of born-digital material.

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2. Museum Computer Network Conference
Montreal, Quebec
November 23, 2013
Martien de Vletter and David Stevenson

8. Acquiring Digital Material at
the Canadian Centre for Architecture
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9.  Acquisition and ingest of digital
material into our collection is a
multi-step process
 References herein to a “Digital
Archivist” are for a newly emerging
role at CCA
 Our process is largely self-directed
and is based on the evolving
assessment of our needs; a work-inprogress
 Open Archives Information System
(OAIS):
 Ideas
 guidance
 definitions

10.  SIP : Submission Information
Package
 What we select for acquisition
 AIP : Archival Information
Package
 What we preserve
 DIP : Dissemination Information
Package
 What we provide access to

12.  Long-Term Preservation
 Authenticity
 Access

14. Knowledge

15.  Pre-selection of files
 Pre-reception of files
 Reception of files
 Harvesting media and files, and
reporting
 SIP production
ESTABLISHED
WORKFLOW
STAGES
(in practice)

16.  Ingest Management and Storage
 including file migration and TMS linking
 Archival Information Package (AIP)
preparation and management
 Work with Cataloguers
 Long-term preservation: submission
to Dark Archive with offsite backups
 Work with IT department
 Access to Dissemination Information
Package (DIP)
FUTURE
WORKFLOW
STAGES
(currently in
development)

18.  Ideally, the Digital Archivist reviews
materials in the native environment:
the donor’s location
 Digital Archivist identifies the
projects or content of interest
 Identification of linked or dependent
files
 Provide the Questionnaire to the
donor
 Staff at donor’s office puts files onto
portable digital media (HDD, optical
disk).
PRE-SELECTION

20. Addresses issues:
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The organization/firm
Staff/roles
The projects
The files
Computing environment
Software
Design methodology

22.  Digital Archivist: Creates Processing
Plan for expected receipt of materials
(versement)
 Registrar creates versement Record
in our collections management
system “The Museum System”
(TMS)
 Digital Archivist creates folder for
digital donation in Shipping Space

24. 
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Basic Project Details
Details of receipt
Harvesting
Preservation
SIP
Archival Arrangement

25.  Registrar: Receive Files by File
Transfer Service (No physical
Media), or, receive portable media
 Registrar: updates TMS and
Processing Plan with Record of
Receipt
 Registrar: Transfers Digital Media to
Digital Archivist
 Digital Archivist: Copy/transfer files
to folder in Shipping Space from
original media

26.  Review Content; Make sure that
contents reflect extent of what was
expected
 Digital Archivist Notifies Registrar Of
Files copied to Shipping space and
returns portable media
 Registrar Updates TMS with New
location in Shipping Space

27.  Digital Archivist: Reads the physical
media, analyzes the files
themselves, and generates harvest
reports
 WHAT’S THE HARVESTING TOOL
WE USE?

29.  Our harvesting tool is software that
was developed in-house.
 It extracts files from a piece of
digital media (CD, HDD, DVD, USB
DRIVE), and performs a series of
analyses on the files.
 Over time, the functionalities of our
harvesting tool have grown. It now
includes elements that lean towards
making it a “SIP preparation tool”.

34. 
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Reports
File quantities
File sizes
File identification based on file
extension and signature
Checksum
Temporary/junk files
Duplicate files
Corrupted files
File dependencies (links to other
files)

35.  Digital Archivist: Creates BLS
 Later, BLS files may be further
organized into a classification
scheme for archiving and
cataloguing purposes

36. Basic Logical Schema (BLS)
Category
Documentation and Research
Design
Presentation Material
Promotion
Administration
Software
Unclassified Material
Examples of Original File Content that
should be placed into BLS category
Site surveys, prototypes, road maps, etc.
Exports, diagrams, design development,
construction drawings.
Models, competition Drawings, bid packages
Publications, websites, brochures, etc.
Financing, schedule, textual documents
Software
Everything that is not contained in the other
categories

38.  Conservator/Digital Archivist:
Migrate files (if not normalized by
harvester) as Required for
Preservation and Access
 Digital Archivist: Link files to TMS

39.  Digital Archivist: Reviews BLS
&develops aClassificationScheme if
necessary
 Cataloguers, Digital Archivist &
Conservator:AIP Requirements are
applied

40.  SIPs, AIPs, are put into permanent
archival storage. This includes the
original bitstreamand a handful of
associated and relevant data and
the AIP.
 One-way repository, no access is
permitted except in very rare cases

41.  Availing derivative files created from
originals, for the purpose of access
 Possibility of using the virtual
computer workstation
 Access through CCA-produced
Digital Asset Management Software,
ADAPT

42.  We are still charting our course and
evaluating our technological and
staff role requirements
 The role of metadata in preservation
and resource description
 preferred formatsfor preservation
and access
 Preserving Significant Properties in
migration
 File processing tools

43.  And much more…

44. Merci