GHL Blog Rotating Header Image

DIMP

“My LIFE’s in there!” Personal Digital Archiving and Saving your Stuff

Apr 25th, 2013
by Lisa (Digital Information Management Program).
No comments yet
Fire-damaged Laptop

Courtesy of flickr user connectologist

It’s National Preservation Week. I posted earlier this week about our redesigned digital preservation website, and about a document geared toward professionals managing digital collections.

But what if you’ve just got family photos taken with your phone, a Facebook account, and some old letters you’ve scanned? What if you don’t do this for a living, but want to do the right thing for your future?

Well, we can help you there, too.

Preservation Week Exhibit from 2012

The advice from the exhibit we had last year is still relevant and hopefully not too overwhelming. Take a look at the .pdfs in this blog post from April 2012.

Library of Congress’ Personal Digital Archiving Site

If you’re ready for step-by-step instructions on scanning, preserving email, and saving your digital videos, the Library of Congress’ Personal Digital Archiving website is the place for you.

“What about Facebook? Twitter? My LIFE’s in there!”

Both Facebook and Twitter let you download your content. While those sites seem like they’ll be around forever, people might have thought that about EveryBlock, Meebo, AOL Hometown, and a host of other sites. So anytime you put unique content into a social network or other online product, investigate ways to back up that data if you want to save it for the future.

Got a more specific question about saving your personal stuff? Add a comment below or contact us at digital.info@ncdcr.gov and we’d be happy to help.

Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects, NC Style

Apr 24th, 2013
by Lisa (Digital Information Management Program).
1 comment

PMDO logoIt’s National Preservation Week. On Monday, we announced a redesigned Digital Preservation Education website. Today, we’ve got another announcement specifically for North Carolina libraries, archives, and other institutions with digital files they want to preserve: we’re releasing a revised NC PMDO, or NC Preservation Metadata for Digital Objects.

Who needs the NC PMDO?

If you’re creating a digital collection by scanning images or documents, don’t just describe those files and throw them on the internet or a hard drive. Preserve your hard work! To help do that, preservation metadata is a must. The NC PMDO gives you a list of required, recommended, and optional metadata elements to record. If you’re completely new to metadata, try this brief description.

How do I use the NC PMDO?

You can record metadata in a number of ways – maybe just in a spreadsheet or database, maybe in a specialized content management system. We’ve tried to make the schema user friendly, with lots of examples. If you have more questions, just contact us.

How is this edition of the NC PMDO different from the first one?

This latest edition addresses born-digital files as well as scanned images. We also think it’s a little more streamlined – some elements that were more burdensome to record have been removed.

But we used the first edition of the NC PMDO. What do we do now?

Don’t worry. You can keep using the first version – many of the fields map to the elements in the new schema (see Appendix A in the new edition). You’re also welcome to adopt the new schema if you’d like to scale back on the amount of preservation metadata you record.

Special thanks to our NC PMDO draft reviewers at North Carolina State University Libraries and the North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

Preservation Week: Redesigned digitalpreservation.ncdcr.gov launched today!

Apr 22nd, 2013
by Lisa (Digital Information Management Program).
No comments yet

It’s national Preservation Week! Stay tuned to the blog for posts about all things digital preservation.

Today we’re starting BIG, as we unveil our redesigned digitalpreservation.ncdcr.gov. Now streamlined and mobile friendly, we hope our popular digital preservation website will continue to be your first stop in learning how you can keep your digital files accessible as long as possible. This site is a joint project of the State Library of North Carolina and the State Archives of North Carolina. Want to know more about it? Keep reading below…

Digitalpreservation.ncdcr.gov redesign screenshot

Why do we have this site?

The State Library and State Archives have long been stewards of North Carolina print state government publications and records. Since the first state employee began using a computer, our responsibility has extended to the digital.  We work hard to take care of that content according to industry best practices. Because digital preservation starts when you create a document (before it ever enters the Archives or Library), we also try to educate our customers about those best practices in an approachable way.

To help accomplish this in a cost-effective manner, in 2010 we launched digitalpreservation.ncdcr.gov. Now, it’s updated to make it even more approachable and flexible.

Who’s your audience?

Although we specifically hope state agency employees will find the site useful, it can be a starting point for anyone new to digital preservation.

What will I find there?

Start with the “Create” and “Manage” pages for the most fundamental first steps in managing digital files. Throughout the website, you’ll find hand-picked suggestions for how to learn more about digital preservation – from tutorials, to webinars, to great sources to follow on social media.

If you want to know what kinds of policies may apply to you as a state agency employee or are interested in examples of digital preservation-related policies, check out the aptly named Policies section. Finally, the “Presentations” page shows slide decks from grant-funded* talks we’ve given about digital preservation, digitization, and state government information.

But … huh?

It can be a tricky subject, digital preservation. But we’re here to help! Contact us at digital.info@ncdcr.gov or tweet us @digpres411 and we’re ready to answer your questions.

~

*Creation of this site was supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the State Library of North Carolina.

Digital Preservation Webinar Series

Mar 28th, 2013
by Lisa (Digital Information Management Program).
No comments yet

Hey North Carolina librarians, next week I”ll be kicking off a four-part webinar series on Digital Preservation. Brought to you by ASERL, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, these webinars are targeted toward those preserving digital content as part of their jobs, but are open to all. They’re presented by professionals from all over the country. And they’re FREE.

Here’s a synopsis of the four webinars. If you’re interested, I hope you can make it!

“Preservation Planning and Overview of PREMIS for Beginners”
Speaker = Lisa Gregory, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.
This webinar is designed to help participants begin formulating a digital preservation plan for their digital collections. Even if you already have files accumulating, planning and implementing basic digital preservation strategies doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Topics to be covered include what to consider during planning, first steps for implementation, as well as a basic introduction to PREMIS, the Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata.  The goal will be to help you start thinking about preservation as part of your everyday digital workflow.
DATE:  Tuesday, April 2, 2013  |  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/784245138

“Forbearing the Digital Dark Age: Capturing Metadata for Digital Objects”
Speaker = Chris Dietrich, National Park Service.
Metadata is the key to both discovery and long-term accessibility of digital content. This webinar will address metadata for digital photos, documents, audio-video, tabular data, and GIS data. Topics include categories of metadata, metadata standards for different asset types, metadata capture strategies, and metadata software tools. Links to additional resources for digital preservationists will also be provided.
DATE:  Tuesday, April 9, 2013  |  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/545077562

“Management of Incoming Born-Digital Special Collections”
Speaker = Gretchen Gueguen, University of Virginia.
This webinar will cover the basics of getting started with managing born-digital archives. Through basic techniques and practical suggestions, you will learn how to assess your collection, develop a management plan, put basic policies in place, and set up an accessioning workflow. Simple tools to help you do the job will be reviewed along with guides and other resources to help answer your questions.
DATE:  Tuesday, April 16, 2013  |  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/366765338

“Using FITS to Identify File Formats and Extract Metadata”
Speaker = Andrea Goethals, Harvard University.
After an introduction to file formats and technical metadata, a demo of the File Information Tool Set (FITS) will be given. You will learn what it does, how it differs from other format tools, how to use it, how to customize it and how Harvard is using FITS in different ways. No experience with FITS is necessary but if you would like to try it out in advance you can download it from http://code.google.com/p/fits/
DATE:  Tuesday, April 30, 2013  |  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
REGISTER:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/305875426

← Earlier Posts

This blog is a service of the State Library of North Carolina, part of the NC Department of Cultural Resources. Blog comments and posts may be subject to Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.