F- Collection Development

Use the basic concepts and principles related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of physical and digital information items.

Introduction and Explication

Archival records are those documents of any type and format which are identified to be of permanent value to society. They function as trustworthy evidence of institutional actions and transactions, and social and cultural memory (Driskill, 2015). Thus, the mission of a collecting archives is to gather, describe, preserve, and provide access and use of evidentiary materials "generated by bodies external to their parent-body in line with an acquisition policy" (Greene, 2015). The phases of effective collection development and management fall under the umbrella categories of selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation, and include appraisal; acquisition; accession; arrangement and bibliographic description; long-term preservation; and access and use (Franks, 2018, pp. 319-322). In the Digital Information Age, information access and use is frequently accomplished online, via digital repositories and/or digital catalogs of physical collections.

In keeping with the core values of the archival profession, archivists acknowledge that they are "active agents in shaping and interpreting" the historical record (Society of American Archivists, 2020). Therefore, we act as responsible “stewards for primary sources in all formats”, and make transparent and ethical legally-compliant, standards-based decisions related to the selection, evaluation, organization, and preservation of archival collection materials throughout their life cycles (Society of American Archivists, 2020). In accordance with professional best practices, archival records are arranged, described, and maintained at the collection level, thus ensuring the collection’s provenance and original order which maintains context and ensures the physical and intellectual control of the information contained within so as to provide transparency, authenticity, integrity, and auditability. 

Selection & Evaluation

Appraisal

In the archival context, selection is the "act of identifying creators whose collections a repository might wish to acquire", while appraisal is the "act of determining which portions of each total collection should be preserved by the repository" (Greene, 2015). The selection phase involves the cultivation of potential donor relationships and identification of collections of interest to an archive (Greene, 2015). Evaluation of the collection begins upon selection of a collection that meets organizational criteria.

Archival selection and evaluation (appraisal) is the process of identifying, selecting, and assessing those archival records and collections – in all types and formats – which the archives deems to be of permanent historical and evidentiary value to society (Craig, 2015; Franks, 2018, p. 319). Essential evaluative tasks include the identification and verification of a collection's creator, source, provenance, and original order; the relevance of its content to the organizational mission and user information needs; its reliability, authenticity, usability, and completeness; and the collection's condition, preservation costs, and intrinsic value (Franks, 2018, p. 319). 

Acquisition & Accession

Upon initial agreement between the archives and donor, the collection is officially acquired and accessioned to the archives holdings. Following the guidance outlined by the organization's acquisition policy, archival staff work in partnership with the donor to craft a formal, mutually-acceptable donor agreement and Deed of Gift and an accession record is created and maintained with the collection throughout its lifespan (Franks, 2018, p. 321). At that time, ownership of the collection is transferred to the collecting  archives. Copyright may or may not be transferred to the archives at this time.  

Organization

The organization of archival collections involves contextual arrangement and bibliographic description.It is generally done at the collection level for physical collections and at the item level for digital repositories. Standardized rules and best practices for archival description are dictated by Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) (Society of American Archivists, n.d.). Descriptive, administrative, and technical metadata is maintained for collections and/or objects as directed by the organization’s metadata application profile which identifies the standards-based schema, controlled vocabularies, and other rules-based authorities to which the archivist adheres Miller, 2022). 

Arrangement 

Archival arrangement is the process of representing the relationships existing among a body of records in a nested hierarchical scheme to facilitate efficient researcher access and use (Trace, 2015). Archival records are arranged at the collection level to facilitate researcher's understanding of the relationships expressed by the collection's creator (Trace, 2015). Moreover, collecting archivists "analyze the original provenancial, structural, functional, and documentary contexts that are both internal and external to a body of records" with the aim of maintaining the context intended by the creator (Trace, 2015). Arrangement occurs at five hierarchical levels: (1) the repository; (2) collection; (3) series; (4) folder; and (5) item (Franks, 2018, p. 322). 

Description

Archival description is subject-oriented and involves the application of metadata elements to the archival record and the creation of collection finding aids, both of which facilitate efficient access and use by stakeholders as well as system interoperability and resource description sharing among digital asset management systems (Miller, 2022). Examples of standards that dictate descriptive process and tasks include the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) (a metadata structure standard); XML (an encoding standard); Resource Description and Access (RDA) (a content standard); and the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) (a values standard). Throughout the arrangement process, the archivist gains contextual knowledge about the collection. This knowledge is “then instantiated intellectually in written format as part of the archival description process, and instantiated physically through the movement and storage of the records within the group to mirror the intellectual arrangement” (Trace, 2015).

Long-Term Preservation

Upon completing the arrangement of the collection, the next archival task - and central aim - is its long-term preservation which is considered to be “the very cornerstone upon which archival institutions are founded” (Ritzenhaler, 1993, p. 1). Standards-compliant preservation of physical collections involves ensuring that materials are stored in archives-specific containers that do not contribute to material degradation and loss, and housed in a climate-regulated environment that is consistently monitored and subject to a rigorous housekeeping and pest management schedule. A disaster preparedness plan for the archives is developed and a staff training program initiated. This plan should be iteratively tested and revised as material needs and other risks are identified. Additionally, conservation treatments may be undertaken in consultation with trained professional conservators. 

Digitization is also a viable preservation method, particularly when items in analog formats are at risk of degrading or becoming unavailable due to technology obsolescence. Digitization protects original, analog objects from degrading from repeated physical handling (Archives @ PAMA, Region of Peel, 2017). The process of digitization can be resource intensive or even prohibitive and, therefore, strategic planning is essential. Additionally, because digitization occurs at the item level, analog records at risk of deterioration or destruction can be identified and receive conservation treatments. Digitized versions of original records, or “digital surrogates”, function as backup copies and, when stored in the cloud and support disaster-preparedness (Archives @ PAMA, Region of Peel, 2017). 

Trustworthy Digital Repositories

Digitized and born digital collections should be formatted as per an archive’s policy and maintained in a trustworthy digital repository (TDR). The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model (ISO 14721) elucidates the protocols and best practices necessary to sustain digital objects for the long-term and provide researchers with intellectual access and use of archival evidence (Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, 2019; Digital Preservation Coalition, 2021). TDR’s should be regularly audited as per ISO 16363:2012 to ensure the integrity and reliability of technical and organizational infrastructure, object management, technology, and security (Evans, 2016, p. 275).

Evidence

Evidence 1:  The Eric T. Carlson Personal Papers: Scope & Content Note and Container List Links to an external site. 

This blog post is the result of an assignment in my Archives & Manuscripts course (INFO 256, Su21) in which I created a scope & contents note and container list for a recently-donated collection of personal papers (approximately 80 analog, text-based documents). The scope & contents note and container list are two essential elements of an archival finding aid. As a representation of collection, a finding aid is a user-centered, narrative resource and cataloging tool that provides structural and contextual information about a collection or item (Society of American Archivists, n.d.). In total, the finding aid includes information about the collection’s arrangement and administrative history; a biographical note; the collection’s scope (size, subjects, media types); and a hierarchical container list or inventory of contents (Society of American Archivists, n.d.). 

For this assignment, I crafted the scope & contents note, defined by the Society of American Archivists (n.d.) as “a narrative statement summarizing the characteristics of the described materials, the functions and activities that produced them, and the types of information contained therein.” The container list is essentially an inventory of a collection organized into series and subseries. As an emerging archivist professionally invested in intellectual freedom, possessing the knowledge and abilities required to create effective finding aids that facilitate efficient and accurate research are critical. This assignment represents my mastery of Competency F by providing a detailed example of my organizational decision-making as I moved through the process of arranging and describing a collection according to archival best practices. 

Evidence 2: Archival Strategies for Digital Image Preservation Links to an external site.

Written for Preservation Management (INFO 259, F22), Archival Strategies for Digital Image Preservation details the steps I undertook to organize, preserve, and make accessible to my designated community, a vast collection of my personal digital images. To accomplish this, I generated a test collection of images to which I applied the principles and best practices for digital image preservation including locating and identifying objects for the collection; describing, copying and formatting originals and duplicates; creating and implementing a saving and storage protocol; scheduling annual reviews; and setting recopying protocols (Library of Congress, n.d.-a). 

This blog post exemplifies my knowledge and skills related to Competency F by describing the standards-directed process I undertook to improve the long-term preservation and sustainability of a collection of digital images. It achieves this by providing a detailed description  of my use of the standards and best practices outlined by the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model (ISO 14721:2012), the format recommendations from the Library of Congress, and the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative’s (DCMI) Metadata Terms Metadata Element Set to name and describe each item in the collection. 

Evidence 3:  Trustworthy Digital Repositories, Risk Management, & Archivematica Links to an external site.

Trustworthy Digital Repositories, Risk Management, & Archivematica is a discussion post I wrote in Enterprise Content Management and Digital Preservation (MARA 283, S21). The post explains that the security of TDRs, and the information contained therein, is of paramount importance to maintaining OAIS compliance. Accessibility-related administrative security risks include those actions which violate the authenticity, reliability, and accuracy of digital objects. Technical security risks may result in the violation of the confidentiality, integrity and availability of digital resources (Evans, 2016, p. 272). 

To prevent these risks and maintain a secure technical infrastructure, collaboration between archives and information technology staff is crucial. Additional security measures require archivists to think and act broadly and proactively about risks to their TDR. Examples of security-enhancing administrative procedures include process and procedure documentation; incident documentation; ongoing self-assessment; and disaster- preparedness (Evans, 2016. pp. 272-277). Moreover, a TDR should have a system of checks and balances and undergo external auditing for OAIS-compliance on a regular basis. Archivematica is an example of an open-source, OAIS-compliant, trustworthy digital preservation platform, and Preservica is an example of a proprietary, OAIS-compliant TDR. Both platforms offer high-quality, standards-based solutions for the trustworthy and long-term preservation of digital and digitized collection items. 

This paper addresses essential criteria for trustworthy digital repositories (TDRs) as determined by the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Reference Model (ISO 14721:2012) within the context of administrative and technical security requirements. It elucidates my mastery of Competency F by describing how the OAIS Reference Model facilitates the transparency, authenticity, integrity of objects in a digital repository which, in turn, enables the security, integrity, accessibility, and usability of the evidentiary information held within the system. 

Conclusion

Within the context of our professional values, archivists must adhere to the professional values, laws, standards, and organizational policies and procedures which dictate archival best practices. To achieve trustworthy physical and digital collections, archivists adhere to national and international standards that support effective collection development and management and bibliographic description. As an emerging archivist, I will continue to apply these standards to my work. Further, I will remain vigilant to security risks to items and collections in my care, adhere to the standards-based principles and best practices requirements of ISO 14721 as I strive to uphold the ethical values and principles of my chosen profession.

References

Archives @ PAMA, Region of Peel. (2017, June 1). Why don’t archivists digitize everything?. In Archives @ PAMA. https://peelarchivesblog.com/2017/05/31/why-dont-archivists digitize-everything/ Links to an external site.

Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. (2019). OAIS Reference Model CCSDS 650.0-M-2 (ISO 14721). In OAIS Reference Model (ISO 14721). http://www.oais.info/ Links to an external site.

Craig, B. (2015). Appraisal. In L. Duranti & P. C. Franks (Eds.), Encyclopedia of archival science (pp. 14–18). Rowman & Littlefield. 

Digital Preservation Coalition. (2021). Rapid assessment model. Www.dpconline.org. https://www.dpconline.org/digipres/dpc-ram Links to an external site.

Driskill, M. (2015). Appraisal. In L. Duranti & P. C. Franks (Eds.), Encyclopedia of archival science (pp. 70–73). Rowman & Littlefield. 

Evans, L. (2016a). Creating a Secure System. THEORY: Creating a Secure System. In P. C. Bantin (Ed.), Building trustworthy digital repositories: Theory and implementation (pp. 271-279). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Franks, P. C. (2018). Records and information management (2nd ed., pp. 305–358). American Library Association.

Greene, M. A. (2015). Archival collection. In L. Duranti & P. C. Franks (Eds.), Encyclopedia of archival science (pp. 32–35). Rowman & Littlefield. 

Miller, S. J. (2022, July 24). Metadata resources. Steven Jack Miller. https://sites.uwm.edu/mll/metadata-resources/ Links to an external site.

Ritzenthaler, M. L. (1993). Preserving archives and manuscripts. The Society of American Archivists.

Society of American Archivists. (n.d.). finding aid. SAA Dictionary. https://dictionary.archivists.org/entry/finding-aid.html Links to an external site.

Society of American Archivists. (2020, August). Core values statement and code of ethics. Society of American Archivists. https://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics Links to an external site.

Trace, C. B. (2015). Archival arrangement. In L. Duranti & P. C. Franks (Eds.), Encyclopedia of archival science (pp. 21–24). Rowman & Littlefield.