DIGITAL IMAGING What Every Archivist and Records Officer Should Know

1. DIGITAL IMAGING What Every Archivist and Records Officer Should Know Presented by Kelly Eubank Barbara Tookey November 13, 2006

2. Purpose for Discussing Imaging • Imaging projects are popping up all of our campuses • Record management concerns need to be brought up and addressed sooner rather than later • Identify records that may require special attention to meet retention requirements

3. Goal of Records Management “The ultimate goal of records management is to ensure that at no point during its life cycle will the fate of the record be left to chance; the record is managed or controlled at every stage.” Philip C. Bantin, Indiana University Records Management in a Digital World Educause Center for Applied Resesarch Volume 2002, Issue 16 August 6, 2002

4. The Positives of Imaging In many cases, imaging makes excellent business sense. • Acknowledge the positives of imaging • Streamlines and speeds up business processes • Facilitates sharing information with multiple users • Easily accessible • Easily stored • Searchable • Frees up physical space • Creates efficiencies • Can be cost effective • Disaster recovery

5. Some Concerns About Imaging • Some of the concerns associated with digital imaging • Proper indexing can be complicated and time consuming • Was the imaging done correctly? • Confidentiality • Security • Records need to be reliable and authentic • Loss of data (accidental, intentional, migration…) • Long-term storage • Off-line storage media deterioration • Purging images from system

6. Digital Preservation Management-Overview • Ingest, or acceptance of the data or information and its preparation for inclusion in the repository; • Storage, or long-term storage and maintenance of the data with appropriate procedures for preservation and error-checking; • Data management, or maintenance of databases of descriptive metadata, appropriately updated and preserved; • Preservation planning, including updating policies and procedures and monitoring the external environment, including the development of new technologies; • Access, or management of the means by which users find, ask for, and receive data; • Daily administration, including interaction with users, problem-solving, negotiation with data donors, and overseeing performance of the system.

7. Authenticity of ERs • Content, Context, Structure • Documented process and procedures for production of Digital Images • Quality control of images before destruction of source documents • Save as relatively stable file format that will be accessible over time • Use quality media to store images and back ups or else data will be corrupted, lost or disc can no longer be read (Gold CDs)

8. Best Practices —Policy and Procedures • Document the process, provide training and refresher training • Decide update cycles and migration strategies • Have a security backup routine and store multiple copies at different locations

9. Best Practices —Integrity and Indexing • Integrity of Data • Metadata is critical and collecting it is essential if you intend to access or utilize the records over time. • Document special authorizations and permissions for records • Have a migration plan in place • For admissibility of records, preservation of content, context and structure is critical • Index all data and ensure that index can be exported as an ASCII text file • If using vendor to index, escrow the code should the contract expire.

10. Best Practices — Scanning • Use appropriate file format—Tiff IV, uncompressed • Make multiple copies--master file and access file • Access file can be compressed format with lower resolution • Scan at DPI of at least 300 • Naming of Files- • No spaces, use underscore • Should not contain non-alphanumeric characters • Decide between multi-page and single page TIFFs.

11. Best Practices —System Parameters: • Document the system that produced the record including the system hardware and software versions used to create the record. • All system equipment specifications • Contact information for manufacturers and vendors. • All system equipment specifications. • A description of all hardware and software upgrades • Technical and user operation manuals. • All policies and procedures related to access to and security • Any changes made to the system or the process should be documented. • System should be capable of providing audit trails and system security

12. Best Practices —System Parameters (Cont’d) • A migration strategy should be established and implemented • Document the controls that monitor the accuracy and authenticity of data • Use open-source software. • Use preferred file formats

13. Best Practices — Media Preservation and Storage • Select appropriate storage media and environment. • Store media in environmentally controlled conditions • Never operate drive systems in environments with high models of airborne particles. • If using optical media, periodically clean optical media to remove dust and other particulates. • Store media in appropriate physical positions-e.g. CD upright • If using DLT tape, tapes should be rewound under constant tension and periodically checked • Label properly

14. Best Practices —Eye to the Future • Technology Watch • Stay abreast of Industry Standards, new technologies and file formats • Acrobat 8 allows user to strip metadata

15. Best Practices —Legal Admissibility Standards • The Uniform Photographic Copies of Business and Public Records as Evidence Act • § G.S. 8‑45.1.  Photographic reproductions admissible; destruction of originals • Rule 1003 of the Uniform Rules of Evidence and Federal Rules of Evidence • Changes to the Federal Rules to Civil procedures, effective Dec. 1, 2006

16. How Can We Help? What can we as Records Officers do to help our campuses? • Encourage indexing that will make purging records easy to accomplish • Encourage documented migration plans for long-term retentions • Identify records that meet DCR’s Public Records Requiring Human-Readable Preservation Duplicates • Insist on compliance to DCR’s policy by having microfilm or paper copies of these records

17. Possible Actions by this Group • Make sure that records that are “permanent” truly warrant the retention (provide the reason why) • Prepare a list of records that meet DCR’s human-readable requirements • Identify those on campus that should have this list and distribute the list to them • Any other actions?

18. Questions to Ask? • Would this kind of list be beneficial to your campus? • Could this group make this kind of determination? • If there is an interest, what is the best way to get this done? • Other ideas?