Collecting born-digital archives: progress update on the Deposit Service

This blogpost has been written by Natalie Adams (Digital Collections Lead) and Jacky Cox (Keeper of University Archives).

Cambridge University Libraries’ Deposit Service was launched just over six months ago. This blog is an update on how things are going. The Deposit Service is an online service that allows depositors to upload digital collection materials, including born-digital archive materials, and send them to the University Library. Documentation for users of the service is now available online, including a demonstration video.

Engagement activity:

The Digital Preservation Team is working closely with users of both the Deposit Service (and the even newer Transfer Service) to embed the new services as business as usual for the Library and make sure they meet user needs. In-person training sessions have been run for members of the Department of Archives and Modern Manuscripts, in groups and individually.

Meetings of the Born-Digital Archives Working Group have also provided opportunities for further discussion of issues arising, especially now the tools are being actively encountered by depositors themselves. Indeed, staff report that some external depositors have also found a guided walk through the upload process helpful before moving any files. A demonstration video is now available online. More confident users have simply followed the online instructions.

Born-digital records surveys:

We have also been engaging with depositors, and potential depositors, of born-digital archival materials to find out information about records before they are transferred to the Library. Surveying records before taking them into the custody of a library or archival repository has always been an important part of the archival process, as the survey provides an opportunity to discuss key considerations with the depositor (or donor) (e.g., relating to deposit conditions, rights and access requirements) and to establish whether, on closer scrutiny, the records meet the Library’s collection policies.

For born-digital records, we have trialed interacting with depositors via online meetings (e.g., using tools like Microsoft Teams or Zoom) to talk through the survey questions. Depositors have shared their screens and shown us the digital records (where they are stored and how files are named). We have recorded the online meetings for our future reference. It is early days, but the records we have surveyed so far have been in scope for collection, well organised (e.g., into directories and folders) with filenames that provide the context needed for onward digital preservation activities.

Templates are available online for depositors of records to capture additional metadata and content when needed.

Review of usage:

Over the past six months, the Deposit Service has mainly been used internally — by members of CUL’s Research Collections and Digital Preservation teams — to receive born-digital archives that have been taken in over the past 25 years and stored on temporary storage locations (such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and library servers). The content is wide-ranging and includes records of university central committees, clubs and societies records, and the Covid-19 collection. Usage has risen significantly since the start of the year as this rounding up exercise gathered pace, as shown in the graph below.

Challenges:

Some of the deposits have included contextual metadata captured in Google Sheets or Google Docs. Files created with these tools exist as data that is rendered within the browser, rather than as distinct files. This means that the original format cannot be exported directly and rendered in the same way that for example a Word document or PDF file can be. We based our approach to these files on Paul Young’s findings: “What’s Up, (with Google) Docs?- The challenge of Native Cloud Formats”. Paul found that ODT and ODS formats provide adequate renditions of Google Ddocs and Google Ssheets content, so we opted for exporting to these formats prior to upload.

As in the world of analogue record deposits, what is promised occasionally does not match what is delivered. Files of unanticipated content and date have been uploaded alongside the expected; underlying the importance of i) ongoing personal communication and ii) additional metadata spreadsheets completed by the depositor. It’s also not over until it’s over. Some depositors take months to identify, prepare and upload content, meaning accessions remain ‘in progress’.

Review of benefits of getting content onto Deposit Service:

Digital collections are now flowing into the Deposit and Transfer Services and are being safely and securely stored in multiple cloud storage locations in different geographical areas for maximum resilience.

The first steps have been taken to preserve them for the longer term (for further information see ‘Under the hood: a look inside our Deposit Service’) and the Digital Preservation Team has increasing data about file sizes, types and their quantity. All of which provides a foundation for designing the next steps in our workflow.

Stay tuned for future blog posts about these!