digital archives project - amia 2020€¦ · digital archives project • what exactly is the dap?...

Digital Archives Project

AMIA Conference

Miwa Yokoyama, Digital Project Manager

Friday, November 8, 2013

Background on Archives

Old Archives Space New Archives Space

ZERO to DAMS

• What does starting from zero mean for CH?

– Had some basic description and metadata in Access databases

– Finding Aids and OPAS Database

– Development wanted Archives to apply for grants

Digital Archives Project

• What exactly is the DAP?

o Conservation and Digitization

o Setting up a new DAMS

o Establish digital preservation procedures

• July 2012 – July 2015

Susan and Elihu Rose Foundation

Photo courtesy of The MediaPreserve

Photo courtesy of NEDCC

Photo courtesy of Colorlab

Planning

1. Hired a consultant

2. Researched best practices

3. Prioritized collections (assessment)

o Timeline and budget

4. Hired a Digital Project Manager

5. Formed a core team of advisors

6. Estimated a production schedule

Digitization • Preparing materials

o Inventories and basic item-level description

• Write an SOW to spell out your specifications and requirements

• How to best ship materials

Photo courtesy of The MediaPreserve

Photo courtesy of Colorlab Photo courtesy of Colorlab

Working with Vendors

• Asked for recommendations from colleagues

• Sent out RFP

• Selected a vendor that fits for your project

• Be clear about your expectations for customer service and deadlines

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Photo courtesy of Colorlab

Photo courtesy of NEDCC

DAMS Selection

Step 1: Gathered Requirements (6 months)

– Who will your users be?

– How many assets will the DAMS support?

• Digitized assets

• Born-digital assets

– What functions are must-haves?

– Storage Architecture Requirements

– Other technical requirements

DAMS Selection cont’d

Step 2: Came up with a shortlist of possible vendors that might fit

Step 3: Wrote a Request for Proposals

Step 4: Reviewed and Ranked Vendors

Step 5: Demo-ed top 2 or 3

Step 6: Decision Making

Taxonomy Development

• Established an internal working group

• Need for a unified terminology

• Research and Development

• GOAL – document of controlled vocabulary

• Work in progress, needs monitoring

Next Steps

• Hand over assets and data to vendor

• RFP for second primary storage

• YEAR 2 Digitization

• Develop and Implement Taxonomy

• Design public portal site

• Develop digital preservation policies

• Apply for more grants

DAP YEAR ONE • Digitized o 1294 audio recordings o 2 film collections o 833 videotapes o 35,000+ pages

• Set up a digital media station

• Selected a DAMS • Secured 440TB storage

onsite

Lessons Learned…so far

• Be flexible with your timeline

– Things will take longer than you expect!

• Become friendly with your IT Department and ask questions

• Articulate your expectations to vendors

• Use time-saving tools

• Need organizational support for buy-in

• Advocate for your DAM project

Thank you! • Questions? Contact myokoyama@carnegiehall.org or

Archives@carnegiehall.org

• http://www.carnegiehall.org/digitalarchivesproject/