Born Digital Appraisal Practices Across Archives
Grant
Overview
abstract
The University of Idaho Library’s Special Collections and Archives supports students, researchers, and the public by preserving and providing access to primary sources for use in coursework, scholarship, and general interest. As more historical records are created in the digital landscape, archives require new workflows and technical resources to preserve the recent past. Files created and maintained entirely digitally are called born digital collections. This project proposal seeks to examine the effectiveness of archival appraisal practices for born digital collections across different archives to build workflows and policies supporting the long‐term preservation of born digital collections at the University of Idaho. In this research project, the primary investigator will explore existing born digital appraisal practices by conducting surveys and semi‐structured interviews with observations at other institutions. Building on existing literature and interview data, the principal investigator will then develop and implement workflows and policies for born digital appraisal and preservation in Special Collections. This research project benefits the PI’s professional development by developing a research agenda that will result in both publications and presentations building off existing case studies on born digital appraisal and collecting. In addition, implementing born digital appraisal workflows and policies will provide student assistants with valuable digital preservation work experience, and benefits the university mission by making more unique Special Collections’ resources publicly available for research use.
