Archival Duties - Preservation and Migration

            Preservation - taking care of the objects or items in the collection to deter their deterioration.  Migration - keeping online collections updated so they can continue to be accessed even as the technology changes.  Those are two essential tasks in the care of collections. 

            To preserve a collection you must manage the environmental factors that cause deterioration.  The first requirement is a stable humidity and temperature.  Dust and pollutants must be controlled and practices must deter mechanical damage from handling.  Often preservation requires re-housing in archival materials.  Sometimes depending on the composition of the object, it requires migration to a different medium because the original item is too unstable.  Putting newspapers on microfilm is a prime example.  Microfilm will last years longer than newsprint.  We’ve talked about most of this before.  When caring for objects the archivist makes the decision whether the object can or should be preserved or whether the information is what is important.  If it is the thing itself, re-house and store meeting the environmental controls needed for preservation.  If it is the information than find an alternative material.  Microfilm over newsprint.  CDs over videocassettes.  Digitization over audiotapes.

            If digitization is the choice or if the collection was born digital than the task of migration becomes paramount.  For documents the standard is to save the file as a pdf.  For a photograph, save as a TIFF.  Metadata, that is information about the digitized object are most important.  Metadata provide the information necessary for migration to occur when the technology changes.  Don’t count on anything lasting more than five years in its current digital state. Some upgrades are required even more often.  Archivists are still grappling with the preservation of digital material.  It will be an ongoing battle with I fear loss of an enormous amount of information.  I wonder how many of our favorite photographs saved digitally will actually be accessible in 50 years.  Not just archivists should be aware of this issue and work to keep their files updated.

Archival core duties - Arrangement and description

            Arrangement and description of collections are primary tasks for archivists.  Now we’ve talked about them before I know, but it can’t hurt to repeat.  As I’ve said before two of the goals that the archivist has in dealing with a collection are: to gain intellectual control (i.e. process the collection so you know what you have.) and to make that information accessible to the public.  To do that you look for any organizing principles that the creator of the collection might have had or if there are none determine what groupings you can impose on the collection.  These groupings are called series and can be things like correspondence; writings; photographs; and so forth.  Series can be further divided if necessary into subseries like (1) sent correspondence and (2) received correspondence.  The next level is that of the folder.  A folder level for correspondence could be a date (either month day or year), or a frequent individual correspondent. Most archives no longer inventory to the item level except perhaps photographs.  Briefly that’s arrangement.  Figure out an organizational scheme that exists or you impose one and organize the papers to follow that scheme.  Voilá arrangement.

            Description is quite simply describing the collection to your public.  Who created it, dates it covers, geographical area if appropriate, inventory and description of contents including an explanation of the series and subseries divisions.  This is called a finding aid and historically was what visitors to an archive would reference to determine which box of papers they needed. Today finding aids, at least the ones I wrote, are also on line as are the ones at other institutions like the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech and the archives at the University of Texas in Austin.  At one point on the wtda.org website for some collections you could click on a section of the finding aid and the link would take you to the records you wanted.  That feature will not continue when all of the images transfer to the Portal to Texas History.  The Portal does not use finding aids.  On that website metadata provide the search terms to gain access to the collection.  Finding aids will continue to be available on the wtda.org website, but a researcher will have to know to look for them - not everybody does- and the links to collections will be gone. (Most already are.)  I hope that the description part of an archivist’s job does not get too muddled with the age of digitization.  Metadata are all well and good for searching, but you simply cannot replace the summary information in a finding aid. Hope they don’t go the way of the dodo bird.  They provide valuable data about a collection and can provide enormous help for various types of researchers.  Hooray for finding aids.  Enough of my soapbox for today.

Archivist Duties - Appraisal and Acquisition

I just looked back over my blogs for the past year and a half and it seems I have neglected to talk about the actual activities that are part of an archivists duties.  There are four core jobs - appraisal and acquisition; arrangement and description; preservation and migration; reference and public programming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivist ).  These duties are also articulated in the Academy of Certified Archivists website (www.certifiedarchivists.org/) and provide the basis for testing to obtain certification. To simplify those duties even further, an archivist’s job is to take care of collections and make the information in them available to the public.   Today I’ll briefly explain appraisal and acquisition and I’ll talk about the others in subsequent blogs.

We’ve actually talked about appraisal before.  Appraisal should be the first assessment of the collection.  Initially the goal of appraisal is to determine the collection’s appropriateness for a particular archive and its condition. Does it fulfill the archive’s mission statement and collection policies?  Are there adequate facilities and resources to care for the collection? Will the donor sign a deed of gift relinquishing ownership to the archive? What will be necessary to make this collection accessible for use?  Does it have sufficient research value to preserve? Once the archive decides that the collection is appropriate for their institution then they move to acquire the papers.  One hopes that the acquisition is accompanied by some monetary donation to help pay for the processing of the papers.  For most archives funding is essential if they are going to be able to process and preserve the collection. 

That is the ideal. - appraisal first and acquisition second. Unfortunately most of the time a collection has not been appraised when it is given and accepted by the archive.  In fact in many archives collections are simply stored sometimes for many years with little or no accompanying information. Sometimes you don’t even know who gave the collection to the archives.  There are no deeds of gift, no permissions for release of information, nada.

A Deed of Gift is essential for the acquisition process.  The Deed of Gift protects the institution if the donor or their heirs want to remove the papers. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened to museums where I have worked.  The Deed of Gift helps avoid an expensive court case and the potential loss of an important collection. The Deed of Gift provides an opportunity for the donor to specify limitations on access as Lady Byrd Johnson did with Lyndon Johnson’s papers.  They could not be released until after her death.  Some material may be of a very personal nature and the donor may not wish that released during their lifetime.  Restrictions as long as they are reasonable are certainly acceptable.  The Deed of Gift should also allow for the publication and use of the material.   The Deed of Gift does not replace copyright protections.  A researcher wishing to publish copyrighted material is responsible for obtaining all necessary permissions.  That means that the archives must also have permission for the use of copyrighted material, especially in the age of digitization.

Often the acquisition process is accompanied by a monetary appraisal.  Professionals who are unaffiliated with the university or the donor are hired and paid for by the donor to conduct the appraisal.  The IRS requires an appraisal requesting income tax credit for all gifts valued at over $5000.   A monetary appraisal is also helpful to the institution for insurance purposes.

That’s a quick summary of initial appraisal and acquisition.  At least it gives you some idea of what those duties involve.  If the acquisition occurred before the appraisal then the archivist reviews the collection and determines what steps are necessary to either preserve, process, or dispose of the material.  Remember not everything should be kept.

Sample of a Deed of Gift

DEED OF GIFT

(Institution)

I (we) _____________________________________________________________

Of (address) _________________________________________________________________

Am (are) the owner (s) of the property described as follows:

I (we) desire to transfer said property as a gift to the (Repository or institution name)

I (we) do hereby irrevocably assign, transfer, and give all of my (our) copyright rights and right, title, and 

interest in and to the above described property to  (Institution or repository name)

Should I not agree to transfer and assign all copyrights I do give permission to the (repository name) to use

 reproductions for their catalogs, publications and other fair use purposes.

Are materials confidential and/or use restricted in any way? ______Yes ______No

If yes, please describe the nature of confidentiality and the length of restriction.  We cannot accept materials 

that need to be permanently restricted from access by readers.

I agree that this material may be made available for research according to the established procedures of the 

archives and including the Worldwide Web, subject only to restrictions otherwise listed.

Date:_________________________                                     Signed:___________________________________

                                                                                                                                               Donor

The (Archives name) hereby gratefully accepts this gift in accordance with the conditions specified above

Date:_______________________                                         Signed:____________________

                                                                                                         Title__________________________

* Adapted from Lowell, Waverly and Tawny Ryan Nelb. Architectural Records. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006, p 86. 

Bookcases

                        This week I did an appraisal on a collection that had been donated to a small town public library.  Just as a reminder an archival appraisal refers to conducting a survey or overview of the collection determining the extent and makeup of the collection and its condition.  From that review you develop a processing plan.

                        The first thing I noticed was the shelving used for the storage of the material. Wood, of course.  Plywood actually, some unfinished.  The collection consists of books, photographs, scrapbooks and letters, none of which should be next to wood because it contains acid, which will damage the material.  Since throwing out one’s attractive wooden bookcases is not an option what can one do to retard acid migration and potential damage to your books and papers?  The Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/preservation/about/faqs/books.html#wooden) recommends lining the shelves with polyester or polypropylene film (used to be called Mylar)  This material is available from all of the archival supply houses.  It is inert and will serve to block the damage the wood can cause when it is direct contact with paper or other material.  Polyester and polypropylene comes in thicknesses from 2mil to 5mil.  It stands to reason that the thicker the film, the more protection.  I recommend at least 3mil or higher depending on your budget.  The thicker the material the more is the expense.  The 5mil material is also quite stiff perhaps more than you might like. I'm partial to middles.   Of course another plus for polypropylene or polyester is that they are a clear plastic so either are unobtrusive.  The film, as it is called, also comes in various dimensions or can be bought in a long roll so that it can easily be cut to the right size. 

                        So if you have valuable books or papers stored on wooden shelves you might want to consider inserting a barrier between your valuables and the wood.  It will promote longevity and deter the damage caused by acid migration.  Best of both worlds - pretty shelving for display with protection from the acid in the wood.

Oral Histories Continued

          Still catching up on oral histories.  (It takes a long time to transcribe even a 30 minute tape.)  Anyway I had two more thoughts as I was finishing a project for one of the institutions where I consult.  As I mentioned I do a verbatim transcription of the oral histories, but I’m not perfect by any means.  I do go over the tape at least three times before I declare it complete and then make a hard copy, which I edit.  It’s funny how your eye can see what it thinks should be on the page rather than what is actually there.  Because of that tendency I’d recommend all transcriptions be edited by a second person before they are available to the public.  To properly edit, the second person must review the transcript while listening to the tape so that they don’t correct what is the speech pattern of the speakers by making grammatical corrections.

The second thought - One of the things that one should do after a transcription has been completed for an oral history is to provide an abstract.  This is simply a summation of the topics covered in the recording and should include any information known about the participants.  The summation should include a listing of subjects including individuals mentioned on the tape.  The reason for this, at least in my case, is to make it easier to later add the metadata. The catalogers have told me this is incredibly helpful and saves them a great deal of time having to listen to the tapes or even to read the transcripts.

Thoughts on Oral Histories

            Part of my job over the last six years has been to transcribe audiotapes from oral history projects at each of the institutions where I am a consultant.  I’ve blogged about this before, but recently as I have been finishing a project for one of the institutions I was reminded of some considerations I haven’t yet mentioned.  As I noted before I do verbatim transcriptions, which can be tedious, but are worth the effort.  That does require that the tape be of at least decent quality.  Unfortunately not all tapes are salvageable.  We have access to a machine that can be tuned to reduce background noise and enhance the voice recordings, but it’s not a miracle worker.  Sometimes you have to admit defeat.  Now I know there are companies that can take damaged recordings and salvage them, but some recordings are just not worth the cost.  It’s hard to admit defeat, but I have three that I just can’t transcribe.  What I will do is recommend that the institution keep the tapes in case there is a way to enhance them later.  Of course, the best way to increase the longevity of tapes is to store them vertically in a cool (about 68 degrees F, but not below 40 degrees), dry place in an acid free box.  The following pdf has good suggestions for care.   http://www.iowaconserveandpreserve.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/AudioTipSheet.pdf 

Digitization of your special tapes is a good idea.  I have had the impossible to transcribe tapes burned to a CD so at least there is a copy should the original audiotape completely crater. 

                Another issue if you are considering digitization is to make sure that you have signed permissions from the participants since making a tape public can potentially cause legal problems.  Keeping the recording so that it is available only within the institution is one solution that some institutions have tried.  Some choose to make it public and take their chances with a possible lawsuit. The potential issues are copyright and privacy.  If you have any doubt consult a lawyer.

Disaster Planning

         Abilene flooded this week.  Abilene always floods even if there is only a little rain.  You think they would have planned the drainage better, but since it seldom rains, the attitude throughout West Texas seems to be “why bother”.  So far none of the archives have flooded to my knowledge, but that doesn’t mean some of them can’t.

        The first thing to consider in disaster planning is to determine the type of disasters that could potentially occur in your region and rank them according to likelihood of happening.  For instance, tornadoes are fairly common here as are severe storms causing flooding or hail damage.  On the other hand earthquakes are not so likely and we never have a tsunami.  Once you have prioritized possible dangers, next you need to do a site assessment. This step applies to an institution preparing for emergencies and also to a person considering potential home emergencies.  For example, my cousin has gotten pretty good at loading her belongings so she can evacuate quickly in the face of fire.  She’s had to do that all too frequently.  Once you have objectively assessed your site then it’s time to correct any problems that you might have found, such as, providing adequate locks to protect from theft, appropriate fire extinguishers.  (In some cases, a fire suppression capability may be better than a sprinkler system.)  

           An emergency call list should be available for every staff member and you should have one next to your phone at home or on your smart phone.  For an institution the list should specify who gets notified first if something untoward happens.  Of course the library directors or their assistants are at the top of the list, but sometimes the institution chooses the employee who lives the closest to be the first to be called.  It goes without saying that an emergency list includes police, fire, and maintenance. Did I leave anyone out? Once you have devised a plan for each potential type of disaster then you need to practice and to train your personnel for each emergency.  In some instances you need to act immediately to ameliorate the damage.  For example, being prepared for floods would include having arrangements with local businesses to provide freeze drying of materials.  Freeze drying deters the growth of mold and protects the material until you can begin the process of drying it.  Having a list of potential conservators available is another good idea.  For libraries and museums you need to prioritize the value of the material in your care.  A first edition book may be a lot more valuable than a magazine.  Think of it as triage for objects.  Hopefully before the disaster you have had your most valuable material appraised and have purchased appropriate insurance. 

          Thinking and planning for the unthinkable is important for everyone.