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Information Technology StandardsElectronic Records Management Conference
Gina StrackUtah State Archives
April 26, 2007 Gina Strack — Utah State Archives 2
April 26, 2007 Gina Strack — Utah State Archives 3
Introduction
The archives should articulate requirements for preservation and accessibility to ensure that archival records remain available, accessible, and understandable through time.
International Council on Archives, Electronic Records Workbook (2005)
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Scope
WHAT (retention schedules) WHY (the law)
HOW: Long-term preservation* Requirements Methods Formats
*beyond the life of the original software or media, includes PERMANENT
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Basic Requirements
authentic; complete; accessible and understandable; processable; and potentially reusable
Source: International Council on Archives
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Authentic
The electronic record is what it claims to be
Examples dates (creation, receipt) applicable process part of a larger system
Not a comment on content of record
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Complete
Nothing added or removed inappropriately
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Methods
Plan systems, technology, formats & specifications well
Be aware of available standards Preservation vs. Access (more later)
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Formats
The ideal preservation format is: stable and standardized free of patent rights (public domain) as simple as possible fully self-descriptive, not dependent on external sources suitable for containing structured and self-selected
metadata fully documented (open specification) not application or platform based, but easily exchangeable used and implemented widely easy to implement and to check for errors (validation)
Digitale Archivering in Vlaamse Instellingen en Diensten (DAVID) Project [Antwerp City Archives]
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Images - TIFF
Tagged Image File Format Uncompressed or Lossless
compression available Widely supported Independent of operating system Documented specification Large file sizes, end-users
sometimes cannot view
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Images - JPEG
Avoid if possible! “lossy”
compression = unrecoverable information
Small file size derivative or
access images
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Preservation vs. Access
Separate standards and formats for separate functions
Access methods (printing, copying, viewing on the web…) change and will keep changing
Plan from beginning how to handle both
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Text
Recommended XML XHTML, HTML SGML
Acceptable TXT Word DOC PDF
Library and Archives Canada. Guidelines for Computer File Types, Interchange Formats and Information Standards
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XML
Open international standard Successor to HTML Structured Flexible, eXtensible Programming and Formatting
available (XQuery, XSLT, style sheets)
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XML Examples
iTunes music and movie information Medical records exchange Transportation fleets Online descriptions of Archives records
(“finding aids”)
…and thousands more
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Reading XML
<library><book>
<title>Harry Potter</title><author>J.K. Rowling</author>
</book></library> “tags” can be anything though
often defined by industry- or platform-specific standards
nested tags for structure
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Preserves original layout & format Proprietary (Adobe) though openly
documented Widespread use
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PDF/A
International Standard ISO 19005-1
Latest version July 10, 2006 Adopted by National Archives for
permanent Federal records Based on PDF 1.4 (~ Reader 5.0) “developed to allow PDF to be used
as an archival format”
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Archives Digital Collections
Master TIFF Display JPEG
(smaller dimensions)
Metadata (description of content, creation & process) in XML
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Summary
open standards uncompressed will not alter record minimum tools/software to use
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References
Brown, D. L. (2004). Library and Archives Canada: Guidelines on Computer File Types, Interchange Formats and Information Standards.
International Council on Archives. (2005). Electronic records: A workbook for archivists.
National Archives. NARA Electronic Records Management (ERM) Guidance on the Web. http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/initiatives/erm-guidance.html
All references linked on “Resources for Further Study” on Archives’ Electronic Records web page: http://archives.utah.gov/main/index.php?module=Pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=1&pid=201