How is your digital content stored/structured? Is it grouped the way you want it to be?

Owned by Kari Smith (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 30, 2024
3 min read

Knowing where your digital content is stored and how it is structured will make decisions for packaging and Ingest workflows. You may need to understand where the digital content is located and determine if there is already a structure in place. This may involve talking with others in your organization who work with the servers, external storage media, storage services (e.g. DropBox, Box, GDrive), and computers where digital content is kept. Metadata will also play a part in how your digital content can be packaged.

Organizing your digital content

There may be a difference between how your digital content is structured and grouped and how the files are kept on a server. When talking with IT, share with them that there are digital preservation requirements for packaging the digital objects that are selected for digital preservation. Within the OAIS reference model is the concept of an AIC - Archival Information Collection. This is a way to group Information Packages of digital content into Collections.

An Archival Information Collection (AIC), is defined by the OAIS reference model as “an Archival Information Package whose Content Information is an aggregation of other Archival Information Packages.” (OAIS, 1-9)

Storing digital content is best done when it is structured and the digital preservation files are independent of any access file versions. Are you storing your digital content for preservation together with digital content for access? This may have an impact on your workflows for digital preservation packaging. See Packaging Your Digital Content: Digital Records Collections for an example.

  • Is the digital content you are preserving in organized Folders? Are the folders type ZIP or TAR?

  • Is there a finite amount of digital content or will there be additions over time?

  • Is the requisite metadata available to be joined with the digital content?

The Community Owned digital Preservation Tool Registry COPTR have a section for tools to use at the Storage life cycle stage. These may be useful in developing workflows for packaging your digital content for digital preservation storage.

It is common with digitization projects to combine both the preservation files and the access files in a project folder and kept by resource or date. This might mean that preservation TIFF files are stored together with access JPEG or PDF files. Consider grouping your preservation files separately from the access files as this will make it easier to locate and package only the files you plan to ingest for digital preservation.

Examples:

Example 1 - Digital Records Collections

Example 1 - Digital Photographs Packaging Your Digital Content: Digital Photographs

Question for your team/organization: What are your DP services provider’s requirements for the digital content they will be working with you to preserve? Are their requirements the same for all digital content types or does it vary? Do you need to reorganize your content before it gets packaged for DP storage? TDL members contact TDL for more information and assistance. 

Sources: Using approaches developed by and for the Digital Preservation Management (DPM) Workshop curriculum and resources.

Related Resources:

This is a joint initiative between TDL Digital Preservation Services and the Digital Preservation Management (DPM) Workshop and Global Archivist LLC. Dr. Nance McGovern and Kari Smith 2024.

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