The Rockefeller Archive Center’s Processing Team is building knowledge for the future of archival processing, specifically related to organizing, describing, and preserving incoming digital records. In 2023, we created the Digital Processing Collaborative (DPC) to help us think about what digital processing will look like at the RAC. The DPC is a working group led by the Processing Team with a mission to prioritize collaborative learning about born-digital records and digital processing activities. The group is responsible for working together to identify learning opportunities, future projects, and institutional goals related to digital processing.

The DPC includes staff from all RAC program areas (Access, Collections Management, Digital Strategies, Processing, and Research and Engagement). The first year of the Collaborative has focused exclusively on knowledge sharing and discovery. The Digital Processing Collaborative has worked to learn about the impact of the Processing workflow on other stages of the record’s life cycle, including discovery, delivery, and preservation.

Stepping Back Before Moving Forward

Because the DPC is made up of individuals from various program areas, not everyone has a background in processing, digital transfers, or working with born-digital records. We took the approach of taking a step back before moving forward to acknowledge what expertise each of us had (collections knowledge, outreach skills, contact with donors/researchers, and/or technical know-how), as well as recognizing gaps in our understanding of digital processing.

The group kicked off by answering a prompt: “What are the top 3 things I need to know about digital processing (or related tasks) to begin having conversations about the topic?”. This exercise resulted in a list of questions that highlighted our knowledge gaps. More importantly, it showed us that many of us had similar questions:

  • What are some activities related to digital processing that might differ from processing paper records?
  • What is the “good enough” practice for digital processing? Is there one that exists already?
  • What types of digital records are we collecting? And what is currently being done to these records? In other words, after we ingest the files using Project Electron, what still needs to be done to provide access to these records?

As we discussed these topics as a group, we began to share resources to help each other fill in some knowledge gaps. We came across an old Asana project that contained a list of resources the Collections Management team used during the pandemic to level up their digital preservation knowledge. We were inspired by this collection of resources and thought something like this would have been useful to us from the start.

The DPC Zotero Library: Helping Our Future Selves

Motivated by this effort to reimagine an old resource, we felt like we had a new goal. We repurposed some of the preexisting resources and added new ones. Most of the new resources we added were sourced from items we had bookmarked for future reference as well as content from webinars and conference presentations.

There was value in this effort to collect and share digital processing resources with each other. But there was even more value in thinking beyond ourselves. If we felt these resources were useful as DPC members, they’d likely be useful to those tasked with processing digital materials (RAC’s Processing Team). Having resources handy makes a difference when you’re learning something new. It saves a person from wandering the depths of Google with fingers crossed hoping they find something.

Along that same line of thinking, we realized we had an opportunity to connect users to resources within the library they might find valuable. We decided to add tags and comments to each resource. To do this, we would need to review each resource. The group split up the resources, reviewed them, added comments, and assigned tags.

We used the following tags for every resource within the library:

  • Levels of Understanding (Beginner, Intermediate, Experienced)
  • Format (Text, Text with Pictures, Video)
  • Time Estimate (5-10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour)

These tags allow users to pinpoint resources that match their experience level, learning style, and time commitment.

After gathering all this information, we shared our new resource library with our Collaborative Advisors and the Processing Team. Because the resource library’s purpose is to be used by the DPC and the Processing Team, it was crucial to get their feedback and acknowledge that we can continue to make additions and improve it as we move forward. Some of the recommendations we received included:

  • Move this project into Zotero since it’s essentially a bibliography.
  • Create a README to describe the purpose of the library and how to use it.
  • Create a list of tag descriptions, especially for “levels of understanding”. What assumptions are we making when we tag something as “Beginner”?
  • Avoid using acronyms, explain them within the resource abstracts (BDAX, OAIS, etc.)
  • Add a list of the subfolders used and explain how the concepts relate to digital processing. For example, the folder “Data Fixity and Integrity” - what is fixity and why do I need to know about it?

We integrated the recommendations we received and in doing so, it challenged us to make good on our goal to connect people with resources. Having discussions about the rationale for certain tags, definitions of “beginner”, and the conformity of terms forced us to be critical of our work and avoid making assumptions.

View the DPC Zotero Library here. We recommend first looking at the README folder to familiarize yourself with how the library can be used. Due to privacy concerns about conference material, the DPC Zotero Library is public but has a closed membership. This means anyone can view the bibliography but access to the links is limited to DPC members.

What’s Next?

November marks the one-year anniversary of the Digital Processing Collaborative. Upon its creation, the 2024 group agreed to serve one year on the Collaborative so members could better manage their time commitment to this group along with other RAC team projects. Our final meeting included tying up loose ends, drafting this post, and completing a retrospective exercise (4 L’s) to help figure out what worked and what could be improved.

In December, we will be gathering new members for the 2025 DPC and working with Associate Director of Archives and Chief Digital Strategies Officer, Hillel Arnold and Assistant Director of Processing, Bob Battaly to suggest goals for the new group.

Acknowledgments

We’d like to give credit where it’s due and express our appreciation to the Collections Management team and RAC staff who created and shared the Digital Preservation Asana Project, which inspired the DPC Zotero Library.

The 2024 Digital Processing Collaborative:

Processing: Amy Berish, Amy Fitch, Darren Young

Access: Renee Pappous, Tyler Perry

Collections Management: Brent Phillips

Digital Strategies: Patrick Galligan, Ima Oduok

Research and Engagement: Andrea Cadornigara