Abstract

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!”

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

6-14-2023

Notes/Citation Information

Best Practices Exchange Unconference, 2023, held at the University of Georgia in the Richard B. Russell Jr. Special Collections Libraries.

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