3d. Appraisal

Appraising Content/Generating Metadata Reports

Initial appraisal of materials should be done by the archivist who accessioned the materials and notes made in the New Accessions/Accruals Tracking spreadsheet. Additional appraisal may need to be done before arrangement can begin.

• 1. Create a working copy of the files and move it to an appropriate staging area (desktop or other place designated for electronic records processing, such as an external hard drive).

     1. You can create a working copy of the files to move the files using Teracopy.

     2. Note: DO NOT arrange files on the storage server.

  2. Scan the files in the respective Content folder for viruses. Most workstations in the University Archives have a virus scan program (though Tracy Popp also performs a virus scan on media sent to her for imaging). If you have not sent the media to Tracy for imaging, make sure to run the virus scan.

Additional appraisal may need to be done after establishing the Archival Information Package (AIP) structure. Please see the Arrangement instructions before completing the following appraisal tasks.

• 1. Before generating preservation metadata, make sure the files do not contain personal information.

     1. Private records found in donated materials include social security numbers, banking and credit card numbers, student records, and medical records.

     2. Skim files and/or use Identity Finder to help you identify social security, credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive information in individual files.

     3. Delete or redact any identified files that contain personal information from the files that are being processed for an nearline and/or online access copy (DO NOT delete or alter files in preservation copy of records) and make sure you save a copy of the Identity Finder report and place it in pdi → docs.

  2. In order to appraise and begin processing the records, it’s important to identify file formats.

• • 1. Use DROID to read the internal header information of a file using an algorithm to compare to the file signature library PRONOM technical registry

    2. Make sure you save a copy of the DROID report as a PDF in pdi → docs.

• 3. For large and more complex records, use TreeSize Pro to better understand the types and relative size of files (see Tracy if you need a copy of the program on your workstation). If you use TreeSize, save copies of the reports in pdi → docs.