SPEC Kit 329: Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials · 157
University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library Digital Processing Manual
5/21/12 3
Introduction
This processing manual provides guidance and instructions for the processing of
digital materials at the Bentley Historical Library (BHL). Procedures, tools, and the
overall digital processing workflow are subject to change due to advances in
professional best practices, the development of resources in the digital curation
community, and the Bentley Library’s ongoing collaboration with the University of
Michigan Library Information Technology division. In addition to revisions that take
place as BHL Digital Curation Services implements digital processing procedures,
this manual will be reviewed on an annual basis.
The BHL Digital Processing Manual details procedures that will take place from the
initial transfer and appraisal of content to archival custody through the eventual
deposit of material in a long-term digital repository. Digital Curation Services
advocates a More Product, Less Process approach to handling digital records and
emphatically notes that processing archivists and student processors will not be
able to deal with content on an individual file level. The BHL digital processing
workflow instead relies upon a number of micro-services that will perform batch
operations on digital accessions. In addition to traditional archival procedures such
as the appraisal, arrangement, separation, and description of content, digital
processing for long-term preservation requires the following:
Migration of content from removable media
Capture
Virus scans
Renaming
File format conversion
Personally-identifiable information scans
Creation of ZIP archives
File characterization
Message digest calculation
The various steps in the digital processing workflow produce log files that will be
preserved as metadata for the digital accession. It is of the utmost importance that
the steps and procedures outlined in this manual—from file naming conventions for
log files to settings used in application—be strictly followed by all BHL employees
engaged in the processing of digital content. In addition, processing archivists and
student processors will produce descriptive, administrative, and preservation
metadata that will permit the Bentley Library to generate a Metadata Encoding and
Transmission Standard (METS) document for each digital deposit.
Progress on each digital deposit will be tracked with the Bentley Historical Library
Digital Processing Checklist, a document that will reside in the \Metadata\ folder.
University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library Digital Processing Manual
5/21/12 3
Introduction
This processing manual provides guidance and instructions for the processing of
digital materials at the Bentley Historical Library (BHL). Procedures, tools, and the
overall digital processing workflow are subject to change due to advances in
professional best practices, the development of resources in the digital curation
community, and the Bentley Library’s ongoing collaboration with the University of
Michigan Library Information Technology division. In addition to revisions that take
place as BHL Digital Curation Services implements digital processing procedures,
this manual will be reviewed on an annual basis.
The BHL Digital Processing Manual details procedures that will take place from the
initial transfer and appraisal of content to archival custody through the eventual
deposit of material in a long-term digital repository. Digital Curation Services
advocates a More Product, Less Process approach to handling digital records and
emphatically notes that processing archivists and student processors will not be
able to deal with content on an individual file level. The BHL digital processing
workflow instead relies upon a number of micro-services that will perform batch
operations on digital accessions. In addition to traditional archival procedures such
as the appraisal, arrangement, separation, and description of content, digital
processing for long-term preservation requires the following:
Migration of content from removable media
Capture
Virus scans
Renaming
File format conversion
Personally-identifiable information scans
Creation of ZIP archives
File characterization
Message digest calculation
The various steps in the digital processing workflow produce log files that will be
preserved as metadata for the digital accession. It is of the utmost importance that
the steps and procedures outlined in this manual—from file naming conventions for
log files to settings used in application—be strictly followed by all BHL employees
engaged in the processing of digital content. In addition, processing archivists and
student processors will produce descriptive, administrative, and preservation
metadata that will permit the Bentley Library to generate a Metadata Encoding and
Transmission Standard (METS) document for each digital deposit.
Progress on each digital deposit will be tracked with the Bentley Historical Library
Digital Processing Checklist, a document that will reside in the \Metadata\ folder.
