The DIGITAL Archive is the ad-hoc (semi-official but mostly unofficial) blog of the McGill University Archives' digitalpermanence project. This is the place where, from time to time (if we are not too busy with the project), we shall post updates and such regarding the project.
What is digitalpermanence?
digitalpermanence! That's digital permanence, bold and italicized, and all one word for greater effect and punch.
But what is digitalpermanence?
digitalpermanence, established in January 2004, is a McGill University Archives initiative , in collaboration with other strategic McGill units, designed and developed to manage and preserve the electronic records of institutional value to McGill University.
As part of its responsibilities, the McGill University Archives manages and preserves the paper records of institutional value--for example, Senate and Board of Governors' Minutes, Students Records, Personnel Records, and so on. But times, they are a changin' because now so many of those paper-based records are being replaced by electronic versions. While the media has changed, the mission of the McGill University Archives remains the same: it must acquire, manage, and preserve for the long-term the records of the university, regardless of format.
Since electronic records pose such a challenge due their dependency on computer technology (which, as we know, changes and evolves and transforms so rapidly in such a short span of time), the McGill University Archives is responding with a systematic, on-going, investigative and proactive approach: digitalpermanence. In other words, the University Archives will endeavour to develop the procedures, protocols, mechanisms to manage the electronic records created by McGill University, preserve such records for the long-term, and make them accessible to researchers.
What's Next!
The campus inventory is complete; the results from this survey are being analyzed and will soon be made available on our project website. For now, what is available on our project website are some helpful tips for all matters digital, from managing email inboxes and establishing scanning standards and procedures to creating a classification scheme to organize and manage your electronic documents. It's all there to download. Just visit our digitalpermanence project website.
So it's all systems go...we have lift-off!
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Cheers!
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