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  • 1.  Digitized Collections

    Posted 28 days ago

    I am wondering how people view digital copies of physical collections in terms of preservation. Traditionally, manuscript and artifact collections that relate to an institution's mission are things that collecting institutions spend resources to preserve according to accepted professional standards. However, if a manuscript collection is scanned, do those scans constitute a collection that should be managed by those same standards of long-term preservation? Or are the scans considered copies and therefore possibly not preserved in perpetuity with the same vigor? A parallel example could be artifacts that are digitally photographed. Do those photographs hold the same preservation priority as the artifact itself?

    The assumption within this question is that the physical collection would be maintained with professional care.

    Thanks in advance for thoughts and insights.



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    Ellen Endslow
    Director of Collections/Curator
    Chester County History Center
    West Chester PA
    Chester County History Center
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  • 2.  RE: Digitized Collections

    Posted 27 days ago

    It depends on what policy the organization sets. For example, we do preserve the digitized copies of archival collections (manuscripts, photographs, AV, government records) using Preservica. But we also partially have Preservica because we are now getting born-digital collections. Those are definitely considered collection items. Preservica takes appropriate long-term preservation measures (e.g., periodic data checks to catch any data deterioration, making sure that a digital file we put there today will still be accessible in 20, 30, or more years).

     

    Currently, though, the photographs we take of objects in our collections are not preserved in the same way-although I wish they were and it's on my agenda to get that discussion going. We attach low resolution photographs in our CMS (PastPerfect), but we keep higher resolution copies as backup.

     

    Maybe the biggest question with preservation of digital is the cost – for storage and/or upgrades. Sometimes it's a matter of what the institution can afford to do with digital.

     

    You are asking really good questions. Hopefully this helps.

    Linda

     

    Linda Endersby | Collections Manager

    https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Eie1r0NWk79Um-dk88gAH1JP04F_J2y_

    P: 531-739-6931 | linda.endersby@nebraska.gov

    1500 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508  

    history.nebraska.gov

    Preserving the Past. Building the Future

     

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