Processing Electronic Records and Born-Digital Material
The purpose of this section is to provide a clear workflow for processing collections that contain Born-Digital materials. This section will detail the tasks performed by archivists to identify and process these materials, link to information about the role of the Digital Archives team in transferring and imaging electronic records, and clarify the ways in which both units work collaboratively to make Born-Digital content discoverable and accessible. This section compiles documentation from the Archival Processing unit and Digital Archives, and describes the ways in which the two departments communicate and interact during this process. This section frequently cites the Digital Archives’ processing instructions in order to provide more detailed guidelines for using Forensic Toolkit (FTK).These workflows are subject to frequent revisions as technologies evolve and standards change. Please check this document and Digital Archives documentation before proceeding to process electronic records and Born-Digital material.
See the Description of Audio and Moving Image in ASpace section of this documentation for information about how to arrange and describe audio and moving image materials after they have been imported into ASpace.
Communications with Digital Archives
When you are processing a collection that includes electronic records, you will need to be in frequent communication with Digital Archives. Below is a chart of all the times you should contact the Digital Archives team, and what information you should share with them. When contacting Digital Archives you should always email them at digitalarchives@nypl.org.
| Event | Information to include in email |
|---|---|
| When you begin processing a collection with Born-Digital content | Collection name, processing timeframe, and current status. At this time you can coordinate with Digital Archives to survey the electronic records. |
| Additional digital carriers found during survey or processing | Notify Digital Archives about new content and formats. |
| Inventoried new digital carriers | Notify Digital Archives that they can pick up the electronic records from the incoming media shelves |
| Processing Proposal is approved | Email Digital Archives to set up an appointment to process the collection |
| When you finish bookmarking and processing Born-Digital records | Notify Digital Archives you have completed processing the digital content. Also let them know when you anticipate sending the finding aid for peer review. |
| After finding aid is approved by the curator and your supervisor | Let Digital Archives know the finding aid has been approved, and let them know if anything has changed since peer review. |
Identifying and Separating Born-Digital Content
When a new collection is received at LSC, the Collection Manager will identify, inventory, and separate Born-Digital content, which includes floppy disks, hard drives, flash drives, zip disks, CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, and laptops. Collection Management staff will add a separation sheet to containers where Born-Digital content has been removed. This separation sheet is for internal tracking purposes only, and should be removed from the collection during processing.
When you begin processing a collection with electronic records, email digitalarchives@nypl.org to discuss the current status, timeframes for processing, and arrange for an initial survey if desired.
If you find additional Born-digital content when you are surveying or processing a collection, send an email to digitalarchives@nypl.org and inventory the media in SPEC. See Digital Archives’ instructions for inventorying digital media for detailed information on how to do this.
Arranging and Describing Electronic Records
Once the processing proposal has been approved by your supervisor, and you have begun processing the collection, reach out to the Digital Archives team at digitalarchives@nypl.org to determine when and how you will process the records.
When arranging electronic records, approach them as you would other physical archival materials. Like papers, files on a disk or hard drive are often arranged hierarchically with folders and files. Just as you would not physically re-arrange individual paper files in a folder, you should generally avoid moving around files or describing individual Born-Digital files on the item level. If a group of files are already grouped together in a folder, it is likely that these materials can be described in the aggregate as a single ER. When considering electronic records within the overall arrangement as opposed to a separate entity, the description and context of the collection is more holistic, and represents a more comprehensive understanding of the creator’s activities.
Utilize the existing arrangement of the physical materials to inform the arrangement of the Born-Digital media or vice versa. For example, if your existing arrangement includes a series of correspondence, the electronic files that contain emails would likely be arranged in that same series. Electronic records should not be a standalone series simply because they are digital and not physical. They should be integrated into the arrangement the way varying formats of physical records would be.
Contact the Digital Archives team if you have any questions about the records or the tools you are using to process them.
Arranging and Describing Electronic Records on a Hard Drive
When records consist of a few common file formats in a relatively simple folder structure, the Digital Archives team may recommend processing the files on a hard drive. See the Digital Archives instructions on how to process files on a hard drive for detailed instructions.If desired, the Digital Archives team can encrypt the hard drive, so that you can take it home and process it on an NYPL laptop.
Arranging and Describing Electronic Records with FTK
Email digitalarchives@nypl.org at least twenty-four hours in advance to schedule an appointment on the Digital Archives Google Calendar to reserve your FTK session.See the Digital Archives instructions and FTK quick start guide for instructions on how to navigate FTK, as well as identify, label, and describe these records.
Keeping Track of Archival Components
While processing, it is good practice for archivists to record pertinent information, such as title, dates, and extents, in a separate spreadsheet. A template can be used to record the ER number, dates, series, and notes about the ER content.
When you have finished making your bookmarks and you have completed processing the electronic records, send an email to digitalarchives@nypl.org so the digital archives team can review your work for any files that should not be split apart for access reasons, system files that do not have research value, or files with Personally Identifiable Information (PII). In your email you should let the Digital Archives team know that you have completed bookmarking in FTK. It is also helpful to let them know when you expect the peer review process to be complete.
Once Digital Archives has finished reviewing your work, they will generate a report and calculate the extents of each ER component. Digital Archives will email you an export file of your electronic records data. See the Description of Electronic Records in ASpace section of this documentation for instructions on how to describe Born-Digital content in your finding aid.