Reflection

Prior to this course, I had career experience working with historical objects and preservation in museum settings. However, I had no previous knowledge of digital preservation in any capacity. Through practicing digitally archiving institutional social media outputs I was able to build a new skill, one that is more prevalent and useful now more than ever (ALA 2C, PLG 1.1). I was made aware of the tools available to use in various stages of digital preservation, especially open source tools. I plan on utilizing the tools introduced to me in my future career to digitally preserve social media posts, programming, and other institutional outputs (ALA 9A). Early in the course, I had received feedback steering me to work harder on connecting preservation improvements I had suggested for collections to the preservation standards and best practices rather than relying on my previous knowledge to draw conclusions. This correction helped me let go of what might be outdated best practices and rely on new trends and developments in preservation standards (ALA 7D). This feedback will certainly prove beneficial in my future career as I learn to lean on field standards and best practices.