Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Archival Arrangement and Description: Analog to Digital

Archival Arrangement and Description: Analog to Digital teaches the core functions of arrangement and description. A historical summary grounds new archivists to assess proposed changes for digital files. After presenting the basics of arrangement and description (processing) for analog materials, the text segues to digital materials incorporating the OAIS preservation model into a detailed, sample workflow. Although accessioning and technical appraisal precede processing, they are discussed because they are performed differently for digital materials and create a different starting point for processing digital files. Description is external to the OAIS model but linked to it. Recent advances in description and its delivery are presented along with concerns for the ability of smaller archives to participate in envisioned future developments that are technology reliant. New specialties like digital curation and data curation show the continued relevance of archival expertise for the digital future. Rich with extras, the text includes and points to many readily web accessible additional resources. Review This book's greatest strength lies in its balance between covering the processing of physical and digital materials, and addressing how arrangement, description, and other standard processing practices compare and contrast in the physical and digital realms. . . Overall, this book is a welcome addition to any archivist or aspiring archivist's bookshelf.--Metropolitan Archivist This book is particularly useful for new archivists, graduate students in archival programs, and archivists who are embarking on implementing policies and procedures for arranging and describing their digital holdings. . . Archivists should feel empowered to choose from among the tools and advice presented to create useful supports for arrangement and description that fit within available resources, and to work toward a balance between good enough and perfection.--Mid-Atlantic Archivist This book was researched and written over a period of 18 months, and it certainly shows. Although relatively brief, the amount of information contained within this volume is extraordinary. . . Hamill approaches the very daunting task of explaining the complexities of digital arrangement and description with characteristic aplomb and clarity. . . . This book would be an excellent resource for a new archivist or someone just beginning to consider the role of electronic records, but because of its breadth of knowledge and resources, it would also make a helpful guide and bibliography for an experienced digital archivist.--Technical Services Quarterly The tools, additional readings, and notes that Hamill provides are more than enough to further the discussion on the topic of digital records and how archives interact with them.--Archival Issues Hamill provides an important and much-needed archival handbook that outlines new and revised strategies and basic workflows for the management, preservation, and access and discovery of a wide array of born-digital records. Hamill's book balances theoretical foundations of archival management and developing digital preservation standards with practical advice on issues ranging from technical appraisal to an overview of EAC-CPF and linked open data in finding aid production. An appendix documenting a chronology of technology changes impacting digital files and a reference list with descriptions of current tools and software for accessioning, processing, file identification, and disk imaging are comprehensive, as is an extensive bibliography listing current readings on digital archiving and data curation.... [T]he provision of practical and instructional advice by way of informative tables, task lists, and text boxes offering sample workflow templates make this work a fundamental reference for students and practicing archivists in any setting. Archivists, librarians, data curators, digital asset managers, IT pr