Preservation of Research Data

As anyone who has lost a file or dataset can attest, preservation is a critical part of the Research Data Lifecycle. This session will provide an overview of data selection, long-term storage options both on and off campus, format stabilization, preservation documentation, and research data preservation resources. The presentation slides are available by clicking the Download button on the right. Supporting materials for a workshop activity, as well as the video and audio files of this workshop, are listed as additional files below and are available for download

Time is on my side : harnessing the power of automation for efficient archival workflows.

In the 21st century, the idea of utilizing technology to increase efficiency is nothing new. However, many librarians and archivists lack specialized training in computer programming, file management, and other advanced technological skills. Instead, our professional training focused on more traditional aspects of librarianship like the reference interview, collection development, and subject analysis. Although these remain important components of serving our users, learning new ways to streamline workflows can free up time we spend on automatable tasks and allow us more time to concentrate on specialized aspects of our work that only we as trained archivists and librarians can accomplish. Regardless of institutional resources, simple techniques can make a significant impact on processes and productivity. This article provides examples of how archivists successfully integrated automation techniques into their collection management workflows and illustrates the impact these techniques can have regardless of institutional resources

The Basic Archives Workshop: A Partnership Between Kentucky Community Organizations and University of Kentucky Libraries

UK Libraries has held a series of archives workshops to help community organizations preserve and manage their records. In this session, archivists and attendees share personal and professional reasons for hosting/attending the workshop, workshop challenges and successes, and more. Featured are audio and video clips from interviews with community members who attended the workshops. An open forum follows to discuss: What are individual and community needs and interests? Is sharing knowledge through a workshop setting enough? What barriers prevent individual or community collaborations with repositories? How can these be removed or lowered? And more

The Basic Archives Workshop: A Partnership Between Kentucky Community Organizations and University of Kentucky Libraries

UK Libraries has held a series of archives workshops to help community organizations preserve and manage their records. In this session, archivists and attendees share personal and professional reasons for hosting/attending the workshop, workshop challenges and successes, and more. Featured are audio and video clips from interviews with community members who attended the workshops. An open forum follows to discuss: What are individual and community needs and interests? Is sharing knowledge through a workshop setting enough? What barriers prevent individual or community collaborations with repositories? How can these be removed or lowered? And more

University Library-Community Partnership: The Basic Archives Workshop as a Joint Community Support and Collection Development Initiative

In Fall 2015, local historian Yvonne Giles approached staff in the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) at the University of Kentucky Libraries about holding a basic archives workshop for clerks and secretaries of Lexington African American Baptist churches. Staff were excited to partner with Yvonne and held the first workshop for four participants in November 2015. The second workshop, given in early March 2016, attracted 15 participants from a wide variety of local organizations. A third workshop was held in June 2016. Giles and two SCRC staff (Ruth Bryan and Sarah Dorpinghaus) will discuss their individual and library-level reasons for suggesting, attending, hosting, and preparing the workshop; the content and assessment of the workshop; the successes and challenges of the workshop; and how the workshop is a win-win for both the UK Libraries and community participants

History Allies: Helping Protect Your Past: Resources on Managing Archives & Records for Community-Based Organizations

Since 2015, the UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center (UK SCRC) has offered “archives basics” workshops for community-based organizations in central Kentucky. These workshops, titled “History Allies: Helping Protect Your Past,” are free and open to the public and often hosted in partnership with area public libraries. Attendees have been from African American churches, LGBTQIA organizations, genealogical groups, museums, and more. Topics include the historical value of organizational records, selecting records for permanent retention, inventorying and storing physical and digital records, providing access to researchers, managing volunteers and volunteer projects, digitization methods and standards, and outreach and exhibits. The workshops also include opportunities for networking and small group discussion. Presenters for the workshops have included archivists and librarians from UK SCRC, Scott County (Kentucky) Public Library, and the Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library, including Sandra Baird, Ruth Bryan, Nancy DeMarcus, Sarah Dorpinghaus, Sarah Hubbard, Reinette Jones, Matthew Strandmark, Kathy Vaughan-Lloyd, and Stacie Williams

Maximizing Good: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Minimal Description for Online Archives

Minimal descriptive practices have been embraced by archives over the past fifteen years for their efficiency and practicality. This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of minimal description within the context of digitized collections and evaluates them against the assumptions made by cultural heritage professionals. It considers whether minimal description provides digitized collections with sufficient metadata to meet MPLP’s user-centered goals of improving access, sufficient context to ensure collections are understandable within their digital environments, and sufficient framework to facilitate data exchange across systems, all while considering MPLP within archival ecosystems that impact labor and resource allocation. The authors offer a set of questions under four themes that challenge these assumptions and promote critical evaluation of professional norms related to minimal description of digitized collections. Recommendations are presented that realign methods to develop nuanced strategies that maximize our ability to steward our collections, respect our labor, and serve our users

Will our future selves thank us? An examination of born-digital curation practices at UKL

Cultural heritage resources are increasingly being produced and distributed digitally yet the world of physical materials has not declined. Analog-based archival theory and practice is still relevant, but born-digital formats make acquisition, appraisal, resource allocation, collection management, and external relationships much more challenging. During this session, four archivists and librarians from the University of Kentucky Libraries (UKL) will share their current challenges and successes working with different aspects of born-digital stewardship. They will share practical tips, tools, policies, and mental frameworks to help attendees identify gaps, pitfalls, and opportunities in digital stewardship at their own institutions. Sarah Dorpinghaus will provide an overview of UKL’s shifting digital preservation landscape, highlighting challenges and opportunities in supporting digital preservation systems and activities during major changes in campus-wide infrastructure services. She will discuss how this impacts digital curation and preservation decisions. Megan Mummey will then talk about instituting earlier and more comprehensive appraisal practices for born-digital manuscript collections with an eye towards environmental impact. Ruth Bryan will follow by outlining challenges with acquiring currently-created born-digital university documents and offer some initial solutions. Emily Collier will then share her experiences with the Wildcat Histories project (funded by Project STAND) and the obstacles of dealing with web-based content, particularly the volatile nature of social media sites. Their experiences will examine how one academic research library is grappling with aligning current resources with future collection needs. They hope future UKL librarians and archivists will cheer, “Good job, past colleagues!