Best Practices for Every Day
Digital material WILL deteriorate -- it is a matter of when, not if. Software will update and change. New file formats will be created. Files that were once easily accessible may be trapped on a floppy disc or an older format with no compatible software to access it. What can YOU do to protect your files?
- Organize your files - a hierarchical structure is best, so that you can locate them easily.
- Move files off of at-risk media such as optical discs and floppy discs. Convert obsolete formats like VHS to digital.
- Normalize/Migrate file formats to align with long-term stability goals. For example, export Word documents or Power Point files to PDF.
- Keep at least 3 copies in separate locations. For example: Copy 1 on a hard drive, Copy 2 in Sharepoint, and Copy 3 in Amazon Simple Storage.
- Monitor and check your files. Validate using checksums if you can. At the least, make sure you can access and open them!
- DON'T throw away physical originals of digital content to save space unless they are obsolete.
Digital Preservation and Stewardship
Digital Preservation is not storage.
Digital preservation is an ongoing workflow of management that begins before items come to the archive and continue long after they are ingested into it. It is a series of actions that are undertaken regularly to monitor, inventory, and steward digital objects to ensure their authenticity and accessibility.
Preservation at Trinity
Good stewardship is necessary to maintain the authenticity and accessibility of our digital content, which includes born-digital records and digitized materials from the Watkinson Library College Archives and Special Collections.
- Good digital preservation practice begins at creation or ingest. Files are moved from obsolete or at-risk media (VHS, Optical Disc, Floppy discs). Ingested or digitized files are migrated or scanned to stable file formats that are recommended for long-term storage. These include uncompressed tiff, PDF, AVI and WAV among others.
- Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe. Following the guidance of LOCKSS, we keep 3 redundant copies -- that way, if one file changes, we can use the third to verify the authentic original. These copies are kept in geographically disparate places to prevent data loss.
- That's Not All! Putting assets into storage is not the end of the story. Assets are continually monitored and their fixity checked to ensure no deterioration or data loss has occurred.
Sources
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Digital Preservation HandbookThe Digital Preservation Handbook, created by the Digital Preservation Coalition, provides an internationally authoritative and practical guide to the subject of managing digital resources over time and the issues in sustaining access to them. It will be of interest to all those involved in the creation and management of digital materials.
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National Archives and Records AdministrationThe goal for digital preservation at NARA is to enable the continued, ongoing usability of its records, retaining the qualities of authenticity, accuracy, and functionality deemed to be essential and feasible. This is accomplished through risk assessment and planning, staff training, ongoing improvement of its processes and infrastructure, and internal and external collaboration.
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Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative GuidlinesThe Guidelines include shared best practices for still image materials (e.g., textual content, maps, and photographic prints and negatives) followed by agencies participating in the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative (FADGI).These guidelines are intended to be used in conjunction with digital image conformance evaluation targets and software. Together, these guidelines and appropriate testing and monitoring systems provide the foundation for a FADGI-conforming digitization program.