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Page 1: Saving A Byte

How to Save a Byte

Information Technology StandardsElectronic Records Management Conference

Gina StrackUtah State Archives

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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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PDF

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

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Fine

Gina StrackUtah State [email protected]


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