http://rhizomedigital.com.au/why-digitise/
There are a few resources out in the interwebs that promote digitisation of records and other materials held in collections. The urge to digitise is not just exclusive to archival institutions who hold state or national records. All the organisations I have had contact with have wanted to digitise their records for what ever reasons. The records are business documents, photographs and other media materials. People believe that digitisation is the solution to storage issues, access, and information sharing. And yes it is, but there are more fundamental issues to consider when planning to digitise.
When I was first approached by the Darebin Parklands Association to create an archive of their ‘old materials’ I was given a planning document drawn up by another archival consultant which outlined their approach to the collection. In the planning document the goal was to digitise everything. There was an indexing system drawn up to manage the individual digitised items and a plan to catalogue the items into http://ehive.com. eHive can be used to publish an exhibition of the images and can be used in a limited way free of charge, or to be paid for as a subscription so that more images could be exhibited.
The previous archivist referred to needing an appraisal policy to help determine what should be kept as well as what could be accessed. The document also referred to training people to identify what was required to go into the archive, as well as a numbering system needed for storage of the physical items. BUT in the brief project plan these considerations were not listed nor costed. The archivist had identified that there was approx 4400 items and the intention was to digitise them all and to catalogue them into eHive.. The organisation was required to buy two cheap scanners (total under $200) as well as the storage materials to house the 4400 items.
The premise of the project was OK, but I wonder why the choice was made to digitise first. And why there was no plan to support the ongoing role of the archive in the organisation?
eHive is a good piece of software. It looks great and it has a good database structure behind it. BUT in my opinion it is not a recordkeeping archive – it is a museum archive. What is the difference? This piece of software focuses on the object – describing the object, managing the provenance of an object, it conservation and so on. Recordkeeping archives are about the processes and practices of records management. There are other needs for a records archive as well, such as when it is accessed and for what purpose, how this access might impact on future use of the records in the archive. The other issue I had with eHive was that although data could be exported, it was not guaranteed that data would be accessible if the company collapsed overnight. Secondly, there was not enough reliable security and redundancies of the data.
My approach to this project was to ask the Darebin Parklands why they wanted to digitise. The response was centred around sharing photographic images online, but this was essentially it. The DPA had limited funds and needed to spend them as frugally and usefully as possible.
So then, why digitise?
The previous archivist mentioned appraisal and access. I put forward that the best way to approach creating an archive was to determine its purpose, value and role in the organisation. Who would look after it? How would decisions be made to put more material into it? Who could make these decisions? As I said to the DPA at the time – I need to help the DPA not need me in another 10 years to do this project all over again with records that are being created now and into the future. Who might access the archives and when? I then wrote a Archival Policy for the DPA in consultation with the President. We developed and answered these questions together into a comprehensive and easy to understand policy document.
The first thing I do when approaching any new project involving boxes of material is to figure out what is in it – appraise it. For the DPA I went through the boxes, removed copies of papers, determined what kinds of activities were performed by the organisation and evaluated materials in poor condition. From this information I then worked out the main functions of the DPA and then incorporated these into the archival description and cataloguing as well as the Archives Policy. These functions helped to determine what needed to be kept. I also organised for a short survey to be sent out to key members to ask them what they thought should be retained for the DPA archives. This information was also incorporated into the Archives Policy.
So then, armed with a way to describe and arrange, as well as a policy to help decide what goes in and what can be disposed of, I catalogued. Out of the 4400 items estimated by the previous archivist, I catalogued approx 2500 items. When I sorted through the collection to determine what amount of sleeves, folders and boxes I needed to house the collection, I had a better idea of how many to order. Something else that could help the DPA save money.
So, I helped put in place some resilient systems to ensure the Archive had a strong identity and a useful and identifiable role in the organisation. While I was working with the DPA I also helped them to recruit and select a volunteer archivist so that they might be able to continue the processes I put in place. The materials were catalogued into an Access database, unfortunately, as their website could not host one of the open source archival software. But, because it is in Access, the data can be exported and imported into any other database. As a result of the project I also helped the DPA clearly identify their primary functions and establish the language in which these functions should be described.
The organisation is now left in a stronger position to begin a digitisation project. While I was working for them some volunteers did a test digitisation project with my advice and distant supervision (I was not there on the day), with high quality scanning equipment owned and housed at one of the member’s homes. By taking the digitisation process away from the major project and allowing the member community to contribute their expertise to it, it helped build awareness of the Archive, as well as build community.
Finally, it was necessary to help the DPA identify ways to ensure their current information was being managed appropriately. Taking into consideration that certain organisational records are actually born into the Archive, such as newsletters and meeting minutes, there needed to be some advice around how to manage this process as easily as possible. This involved talking about how born digital items could be added to the Archive, as well as where they could be stored. An organisation like the DPA has a dispersed information technology system. There is no office for the DPA admin or computer. This is a great challenge for many community organisations.
The result is a more holistic archive and archival process. At least I think so. There was systems set up to identify what was important to keep, so that members knew what information needed to be created and added to the archive, as well as when it needed to be added. We also talked a little about disposal and when to engage in disposal of records.
So, the lesson I learned in this project was that there are many ways to figure out how to do an archival project. There are also many ways to figure out what kind of archivist you are. I work with the principle that I want to empower a community, which is why I include them in the processes, and why I try to figure out what the best way is to ensure that knowledge is understood and shared. I work with the principle that I want to empower a community, which is why I include them in the processes, and why I try to figure out what the best way is to ensure that knowledge is understood and shared. I do not assume that because I have expert knowledge that I should be dictating to communities what is important for them and what archival activities they need. I advise, encourage and guide.
The current volunteer archivist has been working on ways manage the collection and we keep in touch. The project was a success and came in on the tight budget I was afforded. These kinds of archives need to be created and supported by archival professionals. The DPA has contributed significantly to the local community as well as provides a story of its time – about grass roots organisations, as well as rising awareness of environmental implications in urban communities.
There are some visionary archivists out there that see these kinds of archives as being a part of a larger whole. Much like Trove, the Australian Library catalogue, it is possible to join all these community archives together to tell a larger, meaningful story about Australia.
I would like to start with looking at the archives of local organisations related to the DPA and see how they might be linked and what might be the issues for doing this and why. These are the kinds of research questions that I think are useful to explore to support strong, resilient communities at a grass roots level in Australia. What might it mean to the communities themselves to link materials? What about those who do not know about the communities? How might this impact on awareness of the issues the communities are formed around? What role does digitisation have to play in the linking of catalogues? What standards are required? Who would host the information?
Something to think about.
Postscript. You might have noticed I do not mention original order. I have real problems with applying this archival principal as a structural rule for physical collections. Archives are not about original order, but more about good descriptive metadata that captures all considerations of the record. I would like to hear other people’s thoughts on this.
Comments