Centralized Accessioning Support for Born Digital Archives

• Main Author: Alice Sara Prael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Code4Lib 2018-05-01
• Series: Code4Lib Journal
• Online Access: http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13494

Archives often receive obsolete digital storage media alongside paper acquisitions: CDs and DVDs mixed in with folders of correspondence, Zip disks, and floppy disks set aside by the donor with the intention to review the content later. Archives must not only have the expertise to work with digital media, but also the hardware and software to capture the content without the risk of altering the files merely by viewing them. This article will describe how Yale University Libraries and Museums addressed accessioning of born-digital archival content on physical media through a centralized digital accessioning support service. Centralizing the hardware and expertise required for working with physical media made it possible to accession media more quickly and return the files to the originating archives for arrangement and description.