This post was written by Mackenzie Beasley, Digital Preservation Specialist.
Former Deputy Archivist Debra Steidel Wall had a vision to document all digital preservation procedures and share our practices so that no unit at NARA would ever have to start from scratch again. And while it began as a vision, it’s now a reality with NARA’s Digital Preservation Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Library on our Internal Collaboration Network (ICN)!
What is the Digital Preservation SOP Library?
The Digital Preservation SOP Library contains standard operating procedures in use across NARA for digital preservation tasks and for the management and preservation of born-digital and digitized records. The SOP Library is an internal NARA resource that is not available to the public; however, we hope that sharing information about this resource will shed some light on how we “do” digital preservation at NARA and inspire other organizations that are looking to streamline and centralize information about digital preservation workflows.
Origins
Back in 2017, Leslie Johnston, current Director of Digital Preservation, started a six-month detail (or temporary assignment) under then Deputy Archivist Debra Steidel Wall. The main focus of her detail was to identify digital preservation needs and gaps, which included gathering all digital preservation-related SOPs and creating an SOP Library. When the first group of SOPs were gathered in April 2017, a bigger picture began to emerge: all of them were different in format and practice, and hard to understand or compare since there was very little common ground. That’s when the real work began. Leslie and digital preservation functions were moved to the Office of the Deputy Archivist, and Jessica Hopkins (current Supervisory Archivist at National Archives Kansas City) came to the team on a part-time detail focused solely on SOPs.
The first task was to create an SOP template as well as a supplemental checklist for aiding in use of the template. Not all SOPs that exist within NARA are posted in the SOP Library since it focuses on digital preservation and digitization. Therefore, the following criteria were developed to determine which SOPs would be added to the Library:
- Does the SOP specifically address digital preservation?
- Does the SOP discuss how digital files (holdings or surrogates) are managed?
- Could the SOP be used to understand and to perform the digital preservation business functions of a unit, in sufficient detail to train a new staff member to perform those functions?
- Does the SOP discuss digitization that produces files that NARA will retain and preserve?
- Does the SOP address how to use specific digital file processing or digitization tools required for the preparation of files that will be retained and preserved by NARA?
In March 2018, Jessica Hopkins sent out the template and checklist to numerous units with the goal of receiving revised or brand new SOPs by the summer. Webinars were held to better engage with the units during the process. And by June, all the hard work paid off! Fourteen units provided 109 SOPs with 13 supporting documents.
The SOP Library Today
As the SOP Library has grown over the years, not only is it nice to have SOPs available for other units to view, there are other benefits. These benefits include:
- Serving as a resource for everyone across NARA
- Helping NARA staff better recognize how digital preservation relates to their work
- Developing a community of practice in digital preservation and digitization file management where everyone can share their experience and expertise
- Creating common ways of describing our work
- Continuity as business units change
- Understanding the rationale for decision pathways
- Identifying and rectifying gaps
- Listing tools and resources
Digital Preservation requests that SOPs be reviewed at least once every two years for current practices. Annual outreach is also conducted for new and updated SOPs. As another resource, the Digital Preservation team offers feedback upon request for any SOP that needs editing or to be looked over for information gaps. When looking on the ICN through the SOP Library, there are a few ways to navigate. In addition to searching the titles using a search box, SOPs can be browsed by type or division.
NARA now has 195 SOPs with 13 supporting documents that represent 41 units. And the Library is expected to continue growing over the years!