digital preservation

Celebrate Electronic Records Day October 10!

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Please join with the Council of State Archivists to celebrate Electronic Records Day. Electronic Records Day is an opportunity to raise awareness among government agencies, related professional organizations, the general public and other stakeholders about the crucial role electronic records play in our world and the need to manage and preserve them. More information and resources are available at the Council of State Archivists’ website. Also, when looking for resources to share with stakeholders, don’t forget about the OhioERC’s tip sheets!

Digitizing Microfilm – Benefits and Drawbacks

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For many governmental departments and organizations, digital preservation has been a concern for the past several years. One such concern has been what to do with microfilm in the next five to ten years and should your microfilm records be digitized.

Benefits of Microfilm:

  • Microfilm can last up to 500 years if stored in the proper conditions;

  • Eye-readable – can view with a light source and a magnifying glass.

Drawbacks of Microfilm:

  • Large collection of records on microfilm and your microfilm is only for records preservation purposes, not for use. You don’t have “access copies” for many of these records that are on microfilm;

  • Limited physical storage space for microfilm;

  • Departments need access to records that are on microfilm but they do not have the machines to read the microfilm;

  • Some types of film are too expensive to create duplicate copies;

  • Don’t have the budget to store duplicate copies at an off-site location for disaster preparedness purposes;

  • An inventory of what is on the rolls of microfilm may not exist;

  • Parts for microfilm readers may/have become obsolete;

  • Have to train people on how to use the microfilm readers;

  • Microfilm may develop vinegar syndrome if you do not have an environmentally controlled space to store them properly.

Benefits of digitizing Microfilm:

  • Digital preservation preserves the digital record and creates an “access copy”;

  • Can migrate the format so that it will always be accessible;

  • Cloud-based storage and glacier storage. Glacier storage is a Cloud-based type of storage that is cheaper since these records do not need to be accessed however, they need to be preserved;

  • Search-Engine based (online platform) accessibility for certain digital preservation systems, the public and/or staff can access;

  • Continual 24/7 monitoring of digital records;

  • Will no longer have to store microfilm which will save space and money.

Drawbacks of Digitizing Microfilm:

  • Extensive project especially if you have a large microfilm collection – need to prioritize;

  • Limited time and staff to carry out project.

Elise Kelly
Multimedia Archivist, Greene County Records Center and Archives

County Records Centers and Archives and the need for a Digital Preservation System

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Many County Records Centers and Archives face the challenges of modest budgets and limited staff. Oftentimes, we have to prioritize projects and rely on volunteers for additional help. Planning is a must but frequently in a small office, plans change and staff need to be able to communicate with one another and adapt to changes in plans.

For a number of years, we at the Greene County Records Center and Archives were aware that we would need to acquire a digital preservation system for the growing number of permanent/long-term County digital records. Priorities and a limited budget prolonged tackling this issue. In 2021, we began speaking with and surveying many of the County Offices/Departments regarding the direction they were going with their records. We found that Offices/Departments were either completely going digital for their records or were doing a hybrid approach – paper and electronic. We also learned that the County’s Offices/Departments’ in-house data management systems, were no longer going to be supported by the County’s IT Department. We knew that we needed to act soon for providing an alternative for these Offices/Departments.

We researched the best digital preservation systems and found that Preservica met all of our needs. Below are the following points that sold us on Preservica.

  1. Digital preservation system that preserves long-term/permanent records
  2. Addresses hardware and software obsolescence through migrations
  3. Protects digital records from degradation/corruption of formats by monitoring the fixity of records
  4. Converts records to open formats based on archival standards
  5. Secure/Controlled digital environment – backed up on five different Cloud servers around the world multiple times
    1. 24/7 monitoring
    1. Encryption of all files
  6. Can add metadata to make records searchable
  7. User Security Settings
    1. Public User – public records
    1. Internal User – Public and Confidential records
    1. Internal Administrative User – Public and Confidential records
  8. Cannot accidentally or intentionally delete records without the action being reviewed by County Records Manager. County Records Manager can deny a deletion request if the Office /Department has not signed off on an RC-3 or if the records do not meet the retention schedule.

Purchasing Preservica was just the tip of the iceberg. There were many challenges and lessons learned along our year journey of implementing Preservica. These challenges and lessons learned will be documented in a tip sheet and will be available later this year.

Elise Kelly
Greene County Records Center and Archives