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Personal Digital Archiving – Documents

I’m taking a Digital Preservation class and one of my assignments involves looking at my own personal digital archive. I usually pride myself on being organized and having a pretty minimal and clean digital presence…but formally looking at my stuff made me realize how much digital junk I really had!

So now I’m slowly working through my personal digital archive and am about to tackle my school documents. I thought I would post my thoughts and process on this blog for future reference.

Step 1 – Delete Stuff

I had a lot of junk lurking around from my school days. Old drafts, purely administrative documents, and other worthless things. Delete all of that stuff.

Step 2 – Copy Stuff

This is just an experiment so I’m planning on copying all of my school work (at least for the time being). Therefore I’ll be preserving the original file (in the original file format) as well as an archival master (as a PDF).

Step 3 – Rename Stuff

Right now, I use folders to sort and organize my files. This approach really works for me – but I wanted to explore an alternative way of describing and organizing files. So I’m going to embed more metadata in the filename itself. To do this bulk rename, I’m going use my Mac’s built in File Rename tool. Here is a video:

I’m going to re-work my folder structure into file names following these conventions:

SchoolSchoolYear-Semester#_CourseAbbreviation_FileName

So, for example,

  • NPU1-1_BTS1850_FinalPaper = North Park University, freshman year, first semester, BTS 1850, Final Paper.
  • NPTS2-2_BIBL5111_FinalPaper = North Park Theological Seminary, second year, second semester, BIBL 5111, Final Paper.

I’m planning on adding a readme to this folder – but the designated community for this project is just me and I think I can remember.

Step 4 – Migrate to PDF

I’m not dealing with ancient files here…but I am dealing with Word documents from 2002. So far, all of these files are still readable (and the Word format seems relatively safe for the foreseeable future…) but I wanted to get some experience bulk converting to PDF.

I’m going to use the Mac’s Automator feature again and run a custom AppleScript that I found online here: http://igikorn.com/batch-convert-word-documents-pdf/.

Step 5 – Back Up

At this stage, I have a folder – currently called “Personal Digital Archive” that has all of my school documents with uniform file names in the PDF format. Looks great! I’m planning on backing up these files using my standard back-up method (external hard drive) and I’m also exploring a cloud storage solution that is not DropBox or Google Drive.

 

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Northfield Historical Society

I’ve been working on hard on the Northfield Historical Society website recently and am excited about the progress there! Here’s what I’ve tackled recently.

  1. Transferred the hosting of the domain to my own bluehost account.
  2. Created a subdomain to archive the current website.
  3. Set up a redirect to provide access to the existing content while I build out the new website.
  4. Successfully installed Omeka on the Northfield domain.

Next steps:

  1. Add the appropriate plugins.
  2. Upload the metadata I created (using the Northfield metadata guide)
  3. Upload the file images to the omeka site.
  4. Create new email addresses on that domain?
  5. Actually transfer the ownership to my bluehost account.
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Springer Collection Procedures

I’m back for the second day of my internship with the Center for Railroad Photography and Art and wanted to record some of the technical parts of our process.

ScanningScanner Settings

While most of this collection has already been scanned, some needs to be scanned for the first time. Here is the process I’m using for the scanning process.

I’m scanning using Lake Forest College’s “Epson Perfection V750 Pro” scanner with the frame for negatives. I am scanning at 600 dpi in 16-bit grayscale and saving as jpg. The purpose of these scans is to create decent access copies for the Center with the option to add them to online databases (Flickr or the Center’s website) in the future so that this level of scanning is appropriate.

File Naming

Most of the files are named using the following convention: Collection Name/Box/Envelope. For example

  • Springer_02_123 = Springer Collection, Box 2, Envelope 123
  • Springer_04_067 = Springer Collection, Box 4, Envelope 67

I’m proposing that we standardize this practice across the entire collection. Additionally – to account for instances where one envelope contains multiple photos, I’m proposing that we extend this convention to be: Collection Name/Box/Envelope/Image. For example,

  • Springer_01_049_A = Springer Collection, Box 1, Envelope 49, First Image
  • Springer_01_049_B = Springer Collection, Box 1, Envelope 49, Second Image
  • Springer_01_050 = Springer Collection, Box 1, Envelope 50 (the only image).

I think it makes sense to supply the alphabetical distinction only when needed and to use letters instead of numbers because (1) it will improve computer sorting and (2) the original order (within the individual envelopes) is difficult to preserve.

Metadata

This is the core metadata for the collection

  • File Name (see above!) – This will serve as the unique identifier for each image in the collection.
  • Railroad – This collection is organized by railroad so that information will be preserved. I would imagine that acronyms and abbreviations will be replaced by the standard form of the name
  • Railroad Number – Because I lack the context, I’m transcribing as I find on the object. Again, I think standardizing to a formal, controlled vocabulary will be important at some point.
    • QUESTION – what should I do when multiple trains are listed. Should I create two fields for this data or combine them in one field?
  • Description – A few images have short (2-3 word) annotations. I wanted to preserve these notes and couldn’t think of a better field.
  • Location – I’ve seperated city from state in the spreadsheet on the basis that (1) it would be easy to combine these fields in the future and (2) this separation is easier to manipulate.
    • QUESTION – some cards contain information like “MP 60” which I’m interpreting as “Mile Post 60.” This seems like valuable metadata but data that doesn’t fit squarely in the “Location” field. Is this information worth preserving and – if so – how should I record it.
  • Date – So far, all photos have a clearly marked date. I’m recording that using the YYYY-MM-DD standard recommended by the Center.
  • Collection – This is all the Springer Collection.
  • Original Format – This collection is black and white negatives in several standard sizes.
  • Digital Format – I am creating jpegs.
  • Date Scanned – This technical metadata is recorded in the system.

As an aside, I thought it would be fun to mention two pieces of train-specific metadata I’ve encountered so far. I’ve mentioned one already – “MP 60.” Again, I think that means “mile post” but I’m really not sure. I think it would be great to record this and could be very useful to certain people in a certain context. However, it doesn’t fit with other standard vocabularies (city/state) and requires additional context to be useful.

The second train-specific information I encountered is this (2-8-4). A quick google search took me to Wikipedia where I learned that is the Whyte Notation for a particular wheel arrangement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-8-4).

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Center for Railroad Photography & Art Internship!

I’m excited to start an internship working with the Center for Railroad Photography & Art and the Lake Forest College Archives! I want to use this space to write up a bit about the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, the collection I’ll be working with, and the some initial thoughts and goals for my particular project.

About the Center

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art is a organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of railroad art as it intersects with American life. There website provides much greater detail about their mission: http://www.railphoto-art.org/about/. They are involved in publication – including the journal “Railroad Heritage” – and maintain an online web portal that serves as a digital collection of railroad photography.

About the Collection

I’ll be working directly with one of the Center’s collections – The Fred M. Springer Collection.  The Center for Railroad photography & Art has compiled a relatively complete biographic section – and he seems like a pretty interesting guy! I’m particularly fascinated by his interest in narrow gauge trains. I’m working with his collection of black and white negatives that are currently housed and curated by the Lake Forest College Archives.

The Project

Preservation

The collection is roughly 7,500 Cellulose Acetate Film Base negatives – most seem to be “Kodak Safety” negatives. Most of the negatives are 3.5 inches wide and 2.25 inches tall. These negatives are currently housed in sleeves and envelopes of various sizes and materials (paper, plastic, etc.) and I do not know if they are archival quality of not. These sleeves contain critical metadata for the collection. The collection seems in very good shape – no signs of deterioration at this point.

Options/Recommendations

  • Invest in A-D strips to check for deterioration (
    http://www.hollingermetaledge.com/modules/store/index.html?dept=27&cat=846&cart=1421953411839179)
  • Re-housing material in archival quality envelopes ($1,500) and boxes ($100) would be expensive – determine if there is need for this.

Organization

The physical negatives are currently arranged alphabetically by railroad (and possibly by train number following that) in what is presumed to be the Springer’s original organization. The collection is also physically divided into 6 boxes. Digital files are currently named used a locally devised scheme of Collection_Box#_Envelope# and seems to correspond closely to the existing physical arrangement.

Options/Recommendations

  • Gather all digital files in one folder and confirm that digital file naming standards match physical arrangement.
  • Add additional dividers within the boxes to reflect envelope numbering (current system makes discovery difficult).
  • Consider writing the unique identifier directly on each envelope/sleeve.
  • Standardize practice when envelopes contain multiple negatives (re-house in new envelopes/sleeves, change file naming structure?)

Metadata and Access

Implement metadata standards that relate to the intended purpose and audience of this collection. Existing metadata is written on the envelope and often includes: train, train number, location, date, and sometimes a short description.

Options/Recommendations

  • Transcribe existing metadata to a spreadsheet – apply controlled vocabulary and standards – and add other descriptive and technical metadata (collection and collector information, original format, digital format, size, color)
  • Create new descriptive metadata (classifications, titles, longer descriptions)

Questions for the Center

To organize my thoughts and get a better sense of the project I wanted to compile a list of questions for the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Here is a quick list.

  1. What is the intended purpose of digitizing this collection? Who is the intended audience? Where will this live online?
  2. What level of metadata is required for this collection?
    1. Is associating digital files with unique identifiers sufficient for this collection?
    2. Should the unique identifiers be associated with descriptive metadata and – if so – what level of metadata is required?
  3. What is the best way to store this collection?
    1. Preserve existing organization and structure – would it be okay to add additional marking and structure?
    2. Are the current storage systems of archival quality? Are there funds to invest in other storage systems?
  4. Small Questions
    1. The orientation of some of the photos is wrong (i.e. letter/numbers are backwards) – is that something we should fix?
    2. Should I change basic orientation?
    3. One file per photo – extend file naming to be Collection_Box#_Envelope#_A if we continue using the current file naming convention or assign new unique identifier if it is replaced.

Background Information

I’m new to the area and wanted to begin building a body of knowledge and resources as it relates to this project. Here are some helpful resources I’ve found so far.

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Getting Serious about Omeka Web Development

I’ve been fooling around with Omeka for two years now – and it’s time to get serious. I’ve decided to try and set up a whole test environment on my local machine so that I can try to do more customizations.

  1. Download XAMPP (https://www.apachefriends.org/index.html) and follow the standard installation process for XAMPP.
  2. Download Omeka (http://omeka.org/download/)
  3. Install Omeka (http://omeka.org/codex/Installation)
    1. Create a MySQL database and user.
      1. I went to http://localhost/phpmyadmin
      2. Clicked “Databases” tab and created a new database.
      3. Clicked on that database, then the “Privileges” tab, then created a new user.
      4. Important stuff from this step: database name, user name, user password.
    2. Extract the Omeka Download into the XAMPP htdocs folder (in my case, C:\xampp\htdocs). I renamed this “north” to relate to a project I’m working on now.
    3. Update the db.ini file here (C:\xampp\htdocs\north) with the information from the steps above.
    4. Open a browser and head to http://localhost/north
    5. Complete the installation prompts.

I ran into two problems that I wanted to fix. First, on the main install screen I got the following warning:

Omeka PHP problem 1

To Fix this problem, navigate to C:\xampp\php and edit the php.ini file. Uncomment the following line

extension=php_fileinfo.dll

by removing the “;” from the start of the line. Then restart the Apache server through the XAMPP interface. Problem resolved!

The second problem was getting the image magick extension installed. This proved to be a major problem and one that is still unresolved. However, because I had an active installation, I found a solution by simply copying the SQL database from my live webhost to my local host and then copying files from that server to my local machine. This allows me to do local changes without having that extension installed. Ideal? No! But functional.

 

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Review of “Data, Discovery, Readers, and Records — ER&L 2014 In Review”

I’m finally getting around to watching a webinar entitled “Data, Discovery, Readers, and Records – ER&L 2014 In Review” presented by Electronic Resources and Libraries and Library Journal.

Here is the description from the webinar website: “Managing e-resources, developing collections, evaluating user behavior, and making e-content accessible is equal parts challenge and opportunity. This free LJ webcast, developed by Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L), offers attendees a brief look at user’s expectations, how e-content is presented to our users, what we need from our vendor partners to make e-content accessible, and tools to better analyze our user data. ”

The webinar was divided into four main sections.

Why Users Won’t Jump Through Library E-Book Hoops and How to Fix It

This presenter makes a compelling case for why current access methods to ebooks are bonkers. People expect an intuitive and easy to use interface and librarians tends to expect users to learn and master complicated interfaces instead. Her solution – work directly with publishers to established Demand Driven Access to ebooks with no-DRM is certainly a step in the right direction. I wonder if the “ebook hoops” would extend to library workflows as well – setting up contracts with many publishers, loading MARC records from a number of different sources, and monitoring usage is a daunting task that would stress the staff at most libraries!

Using Data Refinement Tools to Improve User Experience

These presenters collected

  • Discovery layer search terms
  • Database Usage
  • Link Resolver Statistics
  • Website Analytics and Usability.

They don’t collect Proxy Stat, Gate Count, Circulation by Patron. Success went from 80% to 90%; used weekly or once a month. They use Excel, OpenRefine, TextSTAT, Google Analytics.

They discovered some “bad” searches (“bad” from a librarians point of view – I’m trying to avoid blaming the users!) and decided that the best way was to clean up those searches using a program them developed. Basic stuff including sending people directly to the searched URL, linking to library hours, the writing center, etc. More advanced cleaning involved parsing APA citation data to extract just the title; this increases the odds of a positive result. They also added “Best Bets” in Summon based on known user searching.

Librarian Adoption of Web-Scale Discovery Services

This session was really titled “Garbage Dump or Buffet” that was a panel discussion at ERL 2014. Why Discovery? To compete with Google and to break down silos.

This presenters conclusion was the discovery in the new systems wasn’t perfect, but that it met the needs of the community.

Where Do MARC Records for eBooks Come From?

How do we purchase ebooks: single titles (firm order, DDA purchase, approval), publisher collections, aggregator collections. This presentation focused on the difficulty of adding MARC records from a number of sources. This mad me (1) grateful that most of our MARC cataloging comes from YBP and (2) motivated to check to confirm that I’m not missing updates from other providers!

Conclusion

Overall, this webinar was good and informative. It presented interesting information that either confirmed my ideas (about MARC cataloging and the adequacy of Web-Scale Discovery Services) and/or provided new perspectives on issues in electronic resource management in libraries. Overall, it was very well done!

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Data Mining and OPAC Usage Data

I’m working with someone in our IT department to look at our consortial OPAC usage data. This is really at the edge of my abilities so I’ll be rather blindly documenting that process here – hopefully it will be interesting and helpful to someone but I’m certainly not an expert in this area – at least not yet!

Tentative Process

  1. Download logs from CARLI.
  2. Creator Decoder.
  3. Design database
  4. Write parser thing
  5. Do basic analysis in MySQL.
  6. Do more advanced analysis in Weka.

We are going to use the program Weka to do this bit of data mining and I’ve installed this on my local machine. It was pretty easy to install and download – so that was nice. Here is the link: http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/ml/index.html

 Research Questions

These are the basic questions that are currently guiding my database design:

  • Basic numbers for the searches – how many?
  • How does VuFind compare to Classic Search?
  • Types of searching (title, keyword, author)
  • Search terms – what are the most popular? What are common misspellings?
  • Platform and OS?
  • What formats/filters/facets are applied?
  • Time of day?
  • Mobile vs. Desktop?
  • Look at Curriculum Center headings (start with a heading and see if it is used).
  • Number of search terms (how many terms in a kw search, for example)
  • Spelling Errors
  • Failed searches (no results)
  • Clicked vs. type subjects (i.e. what happens when someone clicks a subject heading?)
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Tweaking my Omeka Theme

It’s Winter Break at North Park – this means my evenings are more free for side projects. A long-standing side project has been working on installing and stylizing a few Omeka sites. I’ve written some about this project already – but haven’t been as productive as I wish. But, ever the optimist, I thought I would press on with a brief update as well as some goals.

Here is a link to my Omeka project – http://www.meyerwebsite.com/omeka/

Creating a New Omeka Theme

First, that header is entirely untrue; I’m not creating a new Omeka theme – I’ve just borrowed and tweaked an existing theme! The theme I’m using is Deco and I’m tweaking it, pulling it apart, and otherwise changing it. It was a relatively easy process: first, copy the entire theme folder (from public_html/omeka/themes/deco) to a new folder ( to public_html/omeka/themes/coffee) and, second, change the theme.ini file with my own data. This was actually pretty easy.

Customizing the Main Page

Next, I wanted to customize the main page of my Omeka site. Essentially, I wanted to remove the second column and just have the contents span the entire width. I accomplished this by editing the index.php page. I could have done a better job keeping track of those changes – but I did backup that file beforehand – but it really wasn’t more difficult that just removing the two <div> markers.

Changing the Deco_Get_About function

I wanted to removed the awkward <h3> header from this function – I did this by deleting a bit of code from the custom.php file responsible for this. It was pretty easy and looks great!

Future Projects

A list of future projects/ideas for this theme:

  • Create a cool logo to replace the text.
  • Add a secondary set of page navigation tools to each item page.
  • Change our collections are displayed.
  • Change the item browse display.
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E-Resource Workflows in CORAL

A while back, I read the book “The Checklist Manifesto.” It was a very worthwhile read that was very relevant to libraries and librarians. That has been in the back of my mind as I craft workflows for our electronic resources. The books main premise, as summarized by Steven Levitt is simply this:

No matter how expert you may be, well-designed check lists can improve outcomes.

Two small details from that book have stuck with me.

First, useable workflows are short. Long checklists seem doomed to fail – it is better to break those up into smaller, more manageable lists. Many of the books examples are drawn from the airline and health care industries; it would be crazy to craft comprehensive workflows in those situations. So they have checklists for particular situations that, if need be, direct you to other checklists. I’ve adopted and adapted that idea here.

Second, checklists can either be READ-DO lists or DO-CONFIRM lists. READ-DO checklists are like recipes; you read something and then do something. DO-CONFIRM checklists reverse the order; do the things that need to be done and then confirm they are done. I think too many library checklists are READ-DO checklists when I believe that DO-CONFIRM lists are better suited to this part of library resources. Why? Because the diversity of library resources sometimes demand different things and because, often, the order of steps isn’t vitally important. I could be swayed on this – but right now I’ve been happy with my DO-CONFIRM checklist.

In CORAL, workflows are set for Acquisition Type, Format, and (optionally) Type. All of these fields can be defined in the admin setting of the resources tab. I’ve decided not to really discriminate based on resource type or resource format. So, essentially, we have four basic workflows for electronic resources. They are as follows:

Active Trial/Electronic/[Any]

This is the starting place for all new electronic resources and is the basic workflow when setting up a trial.

  1. Resource information is complete in CORAL.
  2. Organization information is complete in CORAL.
  3. Collection decision has been made.
  4. Appropriate Access Points have been determined and recorded.
  5. Pay invoice; gather license; change Acquisition Type in CORAL.

Paid/Electronic/[Any]

If after the trial period we decide to purchase  resource, I will change the acquisition type to “Paid” – this will trigger a number of different CORAL workflows based on the resource type. Here is the basic and general outline.

  1. Resource and Organization information is complete in CORAL.
  2. A copy of the invoice is saved in CORAL.
  3. A copy of the license is saved in CORAL and has been parsed for ILL rights.
  4. Appropriate access points have been created.
  5. Access has been checked from both on-campus and off-campus.
  6. SUSHI (or alternative statistic measuring tool) is in place.

Free/Electronic/[Any]

I’ve decided to add all of the free resources that North Park provides access to in CORAL for a number of reasons. First, I’d like CORAL to be a centralized and complete inventory of all our electronic resources. Second, if we are providing access we need to commit to supporting that access. Third, because so many valuable information resources are moving forward open access models.

  1. Title information is relatively complete in CORAL.
  2. Applicable access points (Catalog, Database pages, Libguides, SFX) have been created.
  3. Check access points.

Additionally, a few of these resources are actually cancelled print+online titles that guarentee perpetual access. Because the workflows are identical, I’d added these to this category with notes detailing the acquisition history. They are identifiable by having a resource type of “ejournal (single title)”. NOTE: If we start adding many open access titles to our list, I might have to specify what sort of “free” we are talking about; free because of a past subscription or free because it’s open access.

Cancelled/Electronic/[Any]

Right now, our “Historical” Acquisition type is for cancelled titles are trials that we decided not to purchase. In addition to changing the status as “archives” we have a one step workflow for these resources.

  1. All Access Points have been removed, disabled, or deleted.

Additionally, I note why the product was cancelled and/or why we opted not to purchase the product.

So that’s it. I have other workflows for the more detailed processes (adding a title to SFX, setting up SUSHI, etc.) but those exist best as separate workflows.