This section covers an organization's processes for acquiring and transferring content into the digital archive. This is a substantial topic and examples found within policy principles include statements relating to communication with donors and depositors, transfer and ingest and selection and appraisal.
Bodleian Libraries
Where Bodleian Libraries is able to influence the creation of digital content, it aims to acquire and create these in sustainable formats.
University of the Arts London
Not all digital materials will be preserved. Digital materials will be selected for long-term digital preservation based on the below selection criteria:
- Their uniqueness
- Their ability to support current and potential teaching and research interests
- To safeguard materials held on vulnerable media, such as portable hard drives
- To increase access and use of digital or digitised materials; to broaden their audience and widen research potential
- To promote UAL and its collections
British Geological Survey
BGS collections policy, digital strategy and science strategy guide the prioritisation of materials selected for long-term preservation at the NGDC. The Data Value Check List is used to appraise the long-term scientific value of data offered to the NGDC. Appraisal and reappraisal are also undertaken for the technological characteristics of digital data to minimise the risk of format obsolescence. Guidance to depositors is made available on the NGDC website.
British Geological Survey Digital Preservation Policy (2020)
The Postal Museum
The Postal Museum will adopt a pragmatic approach to the acquisition of digital records, working within the constraints and requirements of the transferring bodies.
The Postal Museum will work closely with the businesses to advocate for the importance of digital preservation and the prompt transfer of identified records to the archive.
Duplicate content will be identified and deleted at the point of transfer. Digital transfers will be secured, managed and backed up – with processes in place to ensure The Postal Museum’s existing digital collections are not placed at risk – until such times that full appraisal can take place.
National Archives of Australia
The Archives will ensure the complete and full capture of digital records at the time of transfer. Inadequate or incomplete capture results in inauthentic and unreliable records. The Archives will ensure complete capture through:
Transfer validation: Archives staff will quality check transfers to ensure the transfer is properly authorised and that the digital records have been sentenced Retain as National Archives (RNA) against a current Records Authority. Archives staff will check the quality, comprehensiveness and accessibility of digital records and enforce minimum standards at the time of transfer. The Archives will not accept for transfer digital records that are password protected, encrypted, or which have viruses or other malware;
Metadata validation: this ensures that the metadata we receive is technically correct and prevents changes to metadata we receive in the transfer process, for example the last modified date;
Fixity checking: this is used to prevent any alterations to the digital records during the transfer process. Checksums are generated prior to transfer and are checked when the transfer is received by the Archives.
National Archives of Australia Digital Preservation Policy (2020)