Data Curation and the University Archives

Data curation—the active and ongoing management of data through its life cycle—is a concern for researchers. As caretakers, it would seem natural that the university archivist and the university archives have a role in the data curation process. This article addresses the authors' research project to determine the level of involvement of archives and archivists in data curation. The results are contextualized within archival theory and practice, and the authors suggest additional steps that should be taken if the profession is to have a role in data curation.Introduction -- Defining data curation -- Survey setup -- Survey results -- Discussion and implications of study -- Further considerations of curating data -- Conclusions -- Appendix I: Initial survey instrument -- Appendix II: Follow-up surveyPublisher allows immediate open acces

Counting Is Not Enough: Investing in Qualitative Case Reviews for Practice Improvement in Child Welfare

Outlines the value of quality case service reviews in child welfare systems, requirements for building and sustaining a robust process and adapting it under limited state budgets, and recommendations for jurisdictions, initiators, and national leadership

MOMMMA: Master Objects Migration and Metadata Mapping Activity

So you’ve got nearly 2 million digital files from 8 collecting units with minimum, scattered or unknown metadata—how do you prepare to migrate those objects into a digital preservation repository that acts as a “light archive” providing access to your digital collections? This presentation will delve into data wrangling efforts, the creation of workflows, and the challenges encountered while preparing digital resources for migration from a limited access FTP server into a preservation environment created in FEDORA, layered with Hydra heads for access and other functional requirements. We will discuss project planning, the de-duplication efforts, development of a collection assessment tool and its implementation that allows us to prioritize migration efforts, as well as techniques used to transform, normalize, restructure, and link metadata to the accompanying digital resources

Authenticity and Audit Trails

Maintaining an audit trail—the chronological record of activities that is sufficient to enable the reconstruction, review, and examination of the sequence of environments and activities—is inextricably linked to the provenance of a record, not just at the point of appraisal and accessioning, but from the record’s point of creation, through its primary and active use by an individual or within an organization, and throughout its archival life. There is the need to authenticate the provenance—information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection—of the all items that are accessioned, regardless of format, albeit a more complex undertaking for electronic records.Publisher does not allow open access until after publicatio

Does Size Matter in the Digital Age? Reappraisal Considerations for Syllabi

In the era of digital documents, does size matter? Do we collect digital records more readily than their physical counterparts simply because we can, because we perceive storage to be inexpensive and unlimited? If collection size does not matter in the digital world, what should be considered in determining whether or not to acquire a collection that experiences significant annual growth? College and university archives are charged with collecting, preserving, and providing access to the documentary heritage of their institutions. The central task of higher education—teaching—is very difficult to document; who taught what course can be recorded easily, what was actually taught and how it was taught is much more difficult. The syllabus, a key record to documenting this educational process, has often not been included in archival collections due to intellectual property issues and sheer volume. This article examines the issues that surround collecting syllabi as an exemplar of collecting large volumes of records because we can in the digital age.Publisher allows immediate open acces

Convergence in Environmental Reporting: Assessing the Carbon Disclosure Project

Preprint; final version published as: Matisoff, D. C., Noonan, D. S., & O’Brien, J. J. (2013). Convergence in Environmental Reporting: Assessing the Carbon Disclosure Project. Business Strategy and the Environment, 22(5), 285–305. doi:10.1002/bse.1741We perform content analysis on Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) responses from 2003 to 2010, focusing on the extent to which firms account for indirect emissions and have exhibited convergence in carbon reporting. We also examine standardization in reporting and the variation of reporting behavior across industry and country. We find that the CDP has produced a mixed record of improved transparency. In some areas, such as Scope 2 emissions, the CDP has demonstrated an increase in transparency in later years. However, the transparency and quality of direct emissions and Scope 3 emissions have not improved over time. Japanese and European Union firms have increased transparency, while American firms have decreased transparency. Energy-intensive industries have either increased transparency or remained the same, while less energy-intensive industries have become less transparent. We demonstrate some evidence of a learning effect among firms after participating in the CDP survey