This document discusses approaches for assessing born-digital archival holdings. It recommends both a quantitative assessment to document the types and extent of digital media, and a qualitative assessment to evaluate the condition, access, and value of the digital content. The quantitative assessment involves inventorying disk labels, media types, and other metadata for each digital item. This lays the groundwork for preserving and working with born-digital materials by determining hardware and storage needs. The qualitative assessment examines aspects like preservation issues, intellectual access through description, and research value. Several software tools are presented that can aid in these assessments.

1. While the Sun Shines:
Assessing Born-Digital Holdings
Before It’s Too Late

3. Assessment Overview
• Quantitative Assessment:
– Not technical, but potentially time-consuming
– Informs an electronic records program
• Qualitative Assessment:
– Slightly more technical, but potentially very
powerful
– Requires some kind of formal born digital plan

4. Quantitative Assessment
1. Will every box be opened?
2. How will extent be measured?
3. How will content be identified and
categorized?

5. Quantitative Assessment
1. Will every box be opened? Let’s hope not
2. How will extent be measured? BYTES
3. How will content be identified and
categorized?
1. Media type
2. Disk label
3. Other administrative info

6. Inventory
Coll. Name
Coll. # Media
Type
Label Info
Fiona Pitt-Kethley 2457
Papers
3.5 inch
disk
ANTHOLOGY & PAN BOOK
EXTRA
Fiona Pitt-Kethley 2457
Papers
3 inch
compact
floppy
Box/Fold
er
START OF DAY
Craig Thomas
Papers
11749 DVD
Senator Craig Thomas
Portraits Senate
Photographic Services 202224-6000
Box 26
Craig Thomas
Papers
11749 CD
Afghanistan & Iraq Video
march 2006 CT visit
Box 24

7. Inventory Challenges
• Digital media not noticed or welldocumented
• If documented, legacy media not welldescribed in archival management systems
• Distinguishing between ‘born-digital’ and
‘audio/video’

8. Inventory Challenges

9. Inventory Challenges
“Digital,” “Electronic,” “Digitized,”
“Disk,” “Disc,” “Diskette,” “Floppy,” “Floppies”
“Computer-mediated”
Format- or tech-specific: “doc,” “pdf,”
“email,” “website,” “Microsoft,” “Mac”
• “CD,” “DVD”, “CD-ROM”, “CD-R,” “DVD-R,”
“DVD+R,” “DVD-RW,” “Compact Disk”
•
•
•
•

10. Inventory Challenges
• A/V ≠ CD and DVD ≠ Born Digital (maybe)
– Most all of today’s A/V is born digital
– Playable DVD/CD vs. Data Disks
– Ripping vs. File Transfer

11. Why Do This?
• Documenting media types present helps
determine hardware requirements
• Documenting and totaling media types
helps determine storage requirements
(Extent)
• Lays the groundwork for working with
born-digital materials, which:
• Enables qualitative assessment

12. Qualitative Assessment
•
•
•
•
•
Condition (Preservation)
Physical Access (Arrangement)
Intellectual Access (Description)
Research Value
Other Value
** Assumes some kind of formal accessioning
plan for born digital material.

13. Assessing Condition
Software Used: DROID (Digital Record Object Identification)

14. Assessing Condition

15. Physical Access (Arrangement)
Software Used: Karen’s Directory Printer

16. Software Used: TreeSize

19. Intellectual Access (Description)
Software Used: Quick View Plus (not free)

20. Research Value
• Most collections are hybrid
• Let the analog inform the digital

21. “Other Value”

22. I am probably out of time
Ben Goldman
Digital Records Archivist
Penn State University
goldman@psu.edu