Technology: Preservation for the Ages?

Documenting Democracy Preservation for the Ages

Technology:

Preservation for the Ages?

Presented by:

Jerry Handfield

Handfield Consulting Group

San Diego, California

September 12, 2014

Connecticut Town Clerks


Wonderful you men of Athens, wonderful is the custody

of public records-390-324 BC


“Electronic Records are Coming!

Electronic Records are Coming!”

2008!


Plant a Digital Archives here


Happy Mail Family History

It is frustrating to know where a

family member lived and probably

married, but that particular State

of County does not even have an

index. I cannot order a copy of a

birth certificate unless I know the

family member was there, and

while some offer to do look ups

for me, that takes time and delays

my research. With this site, I

enter the name and instantly

know if the relative was here.

Thank you so much,

Virginia L.

I just want to thank everyone

who is involved in putting up the

digital records on the Internet. I

was able to find my grandparents’

wedding certificate from 1923, and

my 81 year old dad is SO

HAPPY! He never knew whether

they were married or not! We

spent years searching California,

and it’s a tedious process when

you have to go to separate

counties. This is a wonderful

service!

Thanks,

Jeanne


Happy Mail Elected Officials

I want to thank the Digital Archives Staff for your

refinement of a really useful tool to deliver public

documents in a place and manner that is useful to the

public. The application that you developed for us is not

only useful to the public but is very beneficial to my

office when you serve the public by producing the

record and depositing the statutory fee directly to

my account without my staff having to service the

request. In these times of continued demands and

less resources, the service has been invaluable.

Siri Wood, Chelan County Clerk


International Visitors

China- two delegations

Singapore

United Kingdom

Australia

Canada


Timeline Preserving Your Public Records — One Byte at a Time

2001 $1 Fee on Recorded Documents

2001 - 2004 Design Build and Implement

2004 Grand Opening

2005 Auditor records online

3 staff members

2006 Launch of Disaster Recovery Storage Service (DRSS)

2007 Library of Congress/National Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation

Program, $1M grant program (5 states)

2008 Audio search tool goes live

2009 Clerk records online

King County marriage records online

2010 13 staff members

All 39 county Auditors will have marriage records online

2010 LOC/NDIIPP 11 states


Digital Archives Mission

The Washington Digital Archives is the nation's

first archives dedicated specifically to the

preservation of electronic records from both State

and Local agencies that have permanent legal,

fiscal or historical value.


Washington State Archives 1963

Cuban Missile Crisis – 1962

Three stories

Nuclear Bomb Shelter


Why a Digital Archives in

Washington State?

• 1990s – System of Five Branch Archives

• Supported by fees $1.00 on recorded

documents and tax warrants – County Auditors

and Clerks.

• Conversion to imaging systems by local

government


• Comply with statutory & regulatory mandates

• Avoid loss of legal & historical records

• Manage risk (avoid litigation losses)

• Preserve rare paper records

• Centralize access to permanent electronic records

for government

• Improve access for citizens

Why a Digital Archives in

Washington State?


Preservation Myth #1

• “Paperless society” – 1950s

– Paper production still increasing

– Digital files printed 60 times…(source)

– Printing paper backups

– Acid-free paper common and less expensive

– Archives and records centers bursting with

boxes of paper records



• “Microfilm is rapidly becoming obsolete as a

viable format and is being replaced by digital

alternatives” (Pepperdine University Libraries website)

– Microfilm production & distribution more

centralized

– Major manufacturers: ImageLink (Kodak), Fuji,

Agfa

– Microfilm readers readily available



• Digital version adequately replaces analog

versions for long-term preservation

– CDs and DVDs touted as archival solution 1990s

– NASA loses space data and photos

– King County, Washington without Superior Court

records for 5 weeks – 2005

– Laws changing to allow only digital backups


Archivist & Archives: Assignment-500

• Preserve records to make them accessible for

500+ years

• Develop a recording and management

strategy for all vital and archival records

• Create a dependable archive system utilizing

multiple formats to safeguard records as part

of a modern records management solution


Archivist & Archives: Assignment

• Accomplish preservation without integrity loss

• Manage growth of records

• Handle increase in document types and size

• Adapt to complex & changing legal

environment

– Privacy

– Public records requests

– Legal holds


Former Archival “Relationships”


Democracy and Connecticut Clerks

• Charter Oak

• Keepers of the Records

• Masters of the Rolls

• Clerks

• Secretary of State

• Northwest Ordinance 1787

• Local, state and national archivists

Documenting Democracy

Sacred duty of the archivist: Protect the Past . . .

Capture the Present . . . Enable the Future


Nutmegs to Share

• Technology and progress? Edison cylinder

• Change/revolution-wood stove

• Trust, authenticity, custody

• Computers, Washington digital archives

• EMP – your pulse?


EMP

Electromagnetic Pulse

• Ancient Observations – Galileo 1633 Sunspots

And Solar Flares

• Interference With Communication – Telegraph

1850s

• 2014 – Wall Street Journal, New York Times


• Any disaster that affects paper or film may

also affect electronic media

• Paper and film may survive disasters that

completely destroy electronic media

• High capacity electronic media + highly

localized disaster = large scale data loss

• Benton County, Washington computer crash

- Recovery hard copy, microfilm, digital

Digital Disasters


The Ultimate in Preservation


50,000 Years

Mt. Rushmore – Granite Vault


Revolution

Paper To Electronic

Connecticut Yankee preservation war in the

revolution


One Nutmeg To Another

• Preservation is a war

• Will power

• Resources

• Leadership

• Yankee ingenuity


“Poor recordkeeping attracts corruption like flies to a

carcass.” 2002, Auditor General of Australia.

New England In Cheney, Washington


My Fellow Archivists!

Preservation alert…

My important records in

Norwich, Lebanon, Franklin, Windham

Birth, education, marriage…All history is local!


Contact Information

Jerry Handfield

Handfield Consulting Group

Archives, records management, history,

Personal oral biographies

[email protected]

360-402-1175

San Diego, California

mailto:[email protected]