c. Review Content

Once you have successfully migrated content from the original media, you may proceed to appraise the material to determine if it will be included in the Bentley's permanent collections.

Note

"Successful" migrations transfer content (i.e., the files and folders) from removable media and retain important bits of system information, such as last modified date.

While you may need to preview some content (especially unknown content on video-formatted DVDs or audio-formatted CDs) on the original media, you should generally migrate/transfer content onto the RMW to avoid placing unnecessary stress on items (especially older floppies and zip disks).

This high-level appraisal and review serves two purposes:

1. To determine if the content falls within the Bentley Historical Library's collecting scope and should be considered for its permanent collections.

2. To record basic information about the media and contents that will facilitate the arrangement and description of this material during digital processing.  This later step will involve an additional review that will result in separations and/or the packaging of digital objects for deposit into the Bentley's digital repository.

Information will be recorded in a notes.txt file and (if the media was removed from a folder or was previously integrated with paper/analog materials), a media-removal.html document that will be printed and placed in the original location.

Reviewing Content

In reviewing content, Quick View Plus will be your primary tool.  This application can render more than 300 unique file formats and, more importantly, will not alter the last modified times of files.  If it is necessary to view vector image files (such as CorelDraw, Adobe Illustrator, or .SVG files), use Inkscape and unique raster image file formats may also be rendered with IrfanView). For viewing video-formatted DVDs, audio-formatted CDs or audio or video files, use VLC Media Player.

Do not worry about opening every file or reading through documents; this step is akin to an initial survey of paper records—you want to determine if the content has any value whatsoever and get a sense for its nature and scope.

Appraisal Note

If, after review, you decide not to transfer digital content off of a particular piece of removable media, estimate the volume of content on the media and include this information on the Separations form.

Appraisal Notes

Information about the physical media and its content will be recorded in the [barcode].notes.txt form (located inside the \Metadata\ folder in the barcode directory) to facilitate your arrangement and description of the materials. 

• Accession ID: This is automatically filled in at the time of creation of the barcode folder.

• Media Barcode: This is automatically filled in at the time of creation of the barcode folder.

• Media Description: Note the type of media (3.5" floppy, DVD-R, USB drive, etc.) and other salient information such as brand and storage capacity.  This section documents information about the original media and may include details not obvious or apparent from the photograph of the item.

• Brief Summary of Contents: An overview of the types of material on the media and the nature of the information therein (for example, ".PDF and .DOCX files with meeting agendas and minutes for Department of English Faculty meetings.")

  • Archival Hierarchy: Only required if media was removed from a folder or was interfiled with papers in a box.  This element should be used to record the components of the intellectual hierarchy as represented in the finding aid, from subgroup or series to the most granular level of description, each group separated by " - ". (Example: "Writings - Poems - Manuscript - Various Lyrics and Poems, ca. 1951-2000").  To protect the provenance and original order of content, this intellectual arrangement should be preserved unless these is an exceptional reason to impose a new intellectual arrangment.

  • Suggested Intellectual Arrangement: Based upon your review (and possible knowledge of related paper/analog materials), you may be able to suggest a new intellectual arrangement (even if only at the series or subseries level: i.e., 'Newsletters, ca. 1999-2005').

• Processing Notes: This section allows the removable media submitter to provide additional description of the files or recommendation for the disposition of the content on the media. 

Once the Notes document has been filled in, save the file. This will be transferred with the content and made available to the digital processor. 

Creating the media-removal.html Document:

The media-removal.html document is a form that will be printed and placed in the physical collection where media was removed. This step does not have to be completed if the removable media was not associated with a physical folder of materials or arrived as part of a standalone digital collection. 

Open the HTML file in a text editor and 

1. Copy the archival hierarchy from the Notes document and paste it into the Content section of the html document. 

2. Copy the appraisal notes from the Notes document and add it to the same section. 

3. Save the file under the same name. 

After you have safely ejected the removable media from the computer, reconnect the network cable and print the media-removal.html document for each barcode folder. 

Insert the media-removal.html form in the folder where the correct barcoded item is located. Remove the barcoded item from the collection.

Removable Media Separations

During appraisal, you may determine that some removable media should be separated for reasons that may include:

• • Commercially produced content that is not unique or appropriate for the Bentley's collecting scope.

  • Duplicate content.

  • Blank, corrupted, or damaged storage media.

  • Content lacks sufficient informational and/or evidential value of the creators' most important functions and activities.

If a removable media item is found to have no content of value to the collection, delete the barcode folder that was created for the item and include the storage device with the collection's separations. Be sure to include the estimated extent (in KB, MB or GB) of the content on the removable media you separate without transferring on the Separation Record.