Syllabus - HIST-GA-1011 - Digital Archives - Spring 2026

Instructor: Mary Kidd

Week 1: Introduction to Digital Archives

Due

In class we will start the Week 1 activity, Data Object. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

Nothing to read this week!

Week 2: Open Archival Information System (OAIS) Conceptual Model

Due

In class we will start the Week 2 activity, Breaking BagIt. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Owens, Trevor. The Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation. 2018.

Week 3: Processing Born-Digital Archives

Due

In class we will start the Week 3 activity, Corrupting a Bitstream. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• National Best Practices for Archival Accessioning Working Group. Archival Accessioning Best Practices: ABP v.1.0.1. November 2024. GitBook, https://accessioning.gitbook.io/archival-accessioning-best-practices/accession-record-elements. Note: For this reading, use the search bar to locate and read just the sections addressing born-digital materials.
• Faulder, Erin. “Module 16: Accessioning Digital Archives.” Appraisal and Acquisition Strategies, edited by Michael Shallcross and Christopher J. Prom, Trends in Archives Practice series, Society of American Archivists, 2016, https://www2.archivists.org/sites/all/files/Module_16_CaseStudy3_MaxEckard.pdf.
• Arroyo, Elvia. “Invisible Defaults and Perceived Limitations: Processing the Juan Gelman Files.” On Archivy, Oct 30 2016, https://medium.com/on-archivy/invisible-defaults-and-perceived-limitations-processing-the-juan-gelman-files-4187fdd36759
• Arroyo-Ramírez, Elvia; Bolding, Kelly; Charlton, Faith; and Hughes, Allison (2018) “Tell Us about Your Digital Archives Workstation”: A Survey and Case Study,”Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 5 , Article 16. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol5/iss1/16
• Jacquarie, C., Berdini, A., Peltzman, S., & Tasker, K. (2018). Describing Digital: The Design and Creation of a Born-Digital Archival Description Standard at the University of California Libraries. Journal of Western Archives, 9(1), 1-24. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/westernarchives/vol9/iss1/10/

Week 4: Digital Repository Systems

Due

In class we will start the Week 4 activity, Tech Stack. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Eckard, Max, Pillen, Dallas, Shallcross, Mike. “Bridging Technologies to Efficiently Arrange and Describe Digital Archives: the Bentley Historical Library’s ArchivesSpace-Archivematica-DSpace Workflow Integration Project.” Code4lib Journal: Issue 35, 2017-01-30. https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/12105
• Fritz, Angela. “So Many Options, So Little Time”: How to Evaluate a Digital Preservation System That Is Right for Your Institution. In Digital Preservation in Libraries: Preparing for a Sustainable Future, edited by Jeremy Myntti and Jessalyn Zoom, 77-92. 2019. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/reader.action?docID=5732733&ppg=5
• Jones, Sarah, Cory Lampert, Emily Lapworth, and Seth Shaw. “Islandora for Archival Access and Discovery.” code{4}lib journal 58 (2023-12-04). https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/17929
• Leigh, M., Gallinger, M., Zakuta, V., Barrera-Gomez, J., and Abrams, S. 2024. The Future of Preservation: Reinventing the Repository at Harvard. iPRES 2024 Papers - International Conference on Digital Preservation. https://ipres2024.pubpub.org/pub/qcch6erj/release/1.

Week 5: Digital Preservation Storage Systems

Due

In class we will start the Week 5 activity, Archivematica Sandbox. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Schaefer, S. K., McGovern, N. Y., Zierau, E. M. O., Goethals, A. L., & Wu, C. C. M. (2022). Deciding how to decide: Using the Digital Preservation Storage Criteria. IFLA Journal, 48(2), 318-331. https://doi.org/10.1177/03400352211011490
• Gallinger, Michelle. “Trends in Digital Preservation Capacity and Practice: Results from the 2nd Bi-Annual National Digital Stewardship Alliance Storage Survey.” D-Lib Magazine 23, no. 7 (2017): n. pag. https://search.library.nyu.edu/permalink/01NYU_INST/1eeerc1/cdi_openaire_primary_doi_dedup_7366470215ed8dda67032281c131119a
• Digital Preservation Coalition. (n.d.). Storage. Digital Preservation Handbook. https://www.dpconline.org/handbook/organisational-activities/storage

Week 6: Digital Preservation Metadata

Due

• In class we will start the Week 6 activity, Digital Preservation Metadata. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• “Chapter 9 Digital Preservation for Archives.” In Digital Preservation Metadata for Practitioners: Implementing PREMIS, edited by Angela Dappert, et al., 115-132. Springer International Publishing AG, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central. Accessed January 22, 2024., http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4772462.
• Guenther, Rebecca S. (2008) “Battle of the Buzzwords Flexibility vs. Interoperability When Implementing PREMIS in METS,” D‐Lib Magazine 14 (7/8). https://www.dlib.org/dlib/july08/guenther/07guenther.html
• Dappert, Angela and Markus Enders. (2010) “Digital Preservation Metadata Standards.” Information Standards Quarterly (22:2) https://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/FE_Dappert_Enders_MetadataStds_isqv22no2.pdf
• Priscilla Caplan, Understanding PREMIS, Library of Congress, 2009. https://www.loc.gov/standards/premis/understanding-premis.pdf
• Brian Lavoie and Richard Garnter, Preservation Metadata, Digital Preservation Coalition Technology Watch Report 13-03. Digital Preservation Coalition (UK): May 2013 https://dx.doi.org/10.7207/twr13-03

Week 7: Digitization

Due

In class we will start the Week 7 activity, Imaging and Conservation Group Activity. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Koster, Lucas. “Persistent identifiers for heritage objects.” Code4lib Journal: Issue 47, 2020-02-17. https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/14978
• Prescott, Andrew and Hughs, Lorna. “Why Do We Digitize? The Case for Slow Digitization.” Archive Journal: September 2018. https://www.archivejournal.net/essays/why-do-we-digitize-the-case-for-slow-digitization/
• Thompson, Samantha, “Why don’t archivists digitize everything?” Archives @ PAMA blog: May 31, 2017. https://peelarchivesblog.com/2017/05/31/why-dont-archivists-digitize-everything/
• Yolkowski, John and Jamieson, Krista. “Access and Preservation in Archival Mass Digitization Projects.” Practical Technology for Archives: 2017, Vol. 1, No. 7. https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/76865/Access_and_Preservation_in_Archival_Mass_Digitization_Projects.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
• “Digitizing Entire Collections.” Archives of American Art. https://www.aaa.si.edu/documentation/digitizing-entire-collections
• Total Cost of Stewardship: Responsible Collection Building in Archives and Special Collections https://www.oclc.org/content/dam/research/publications/2021/oclcresearch-total-cost-of-stewardship-a4.pdf

Watch

• COPY BYTES: Digitization And Libraries, Part 1
• COPY BYTES: Digitization And Libraries, Part 2

Week 8: Access and Discovery

Due

• In class we will start the Week 8 activity, The User’s Experience. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Wiedeman, G. (2023). Designing Digital Discovery and Access Systems for Archival Description. code{4}lib Journal, 55. https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/16963
• Stephanie Becker, Anne Kumer, and Naomi Langer, “Access is People: How Investing in Digital Collections Labor Improves Archival Discovery & Delivery,” in The Lighting the Way Handbook: Case Studies, Guidelines, and Emergent Futures for Archival Discovery and Delivery, edited by Maria Matienzo and Dinah Handel, 29-38. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Libraries, October 2021. https://doi.org/10.25740/gg453cv6438
• Abumeeiz, Salma. “Collections over People: Critiquing Notions of Institutional Inclusion within Library Heritage Materials.” Presentation at the Item Not Found conference, moderated by Nina Schneider, University of California, Los Angeles, April 4, 2023. YouTube video, 38:07-59:14. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53M1UwyYPug
• Berry, Dorothy. “Take Me into The Library and Show Me Myself: Towards Authentic Accessibility in Digital Libraries.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (2022), pp. 111-126. https://www.jstor.org/stable/45420503
• Zhang, Jane. 2012. “Original Order in Digital Archives”. Archivaria 74 (November), 167-93. https://archivaria-ca.proxy.library.nyu.edu/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13410
• Alison Anderson; Kristin Bjork; Kyle DeCicco-Carey; Sylvia Welsh (2021). “Laying a Foundation for Digital Collections at the Property Information Resource Center,” The American Archivist (2021) 84 (2): 256–280. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e6pwdBBlqX8W2b00EviDxvEY819JSIU5/view?usp=drivesdk
• Schechter, Gayle. “Legal and Ethical Considerations for Providing Access to Born-Digital Collections: Copyright.” Digital Library Federation (DLF) Blog. January 13, 2023. Accessed January 22, 2024, https://www.diglib.org/legal-and-ethical-considerations-for-providing-access-to-born-digital-collections-copyright/.
• Gentry, Steven. “SAA 2019 recap - Session 204: Demystifying the Digital: Providing User Access to Born-Digital Records in Varying Contexts”. bloggERS https://saaers.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/saa-2019-recap-session-204-demystifying-the-digital-providing-user-access-to-born-digital-records-in-varying-contexts/
• Valentine, Rebekah. “Why Piracy Fears are Keeping Some Researchers from Accessing the Games They Need.” IGN Entertainment, May 17, 2024. https://www.ign.com/articles/why-piracy-fears-are-keeping-some-researchers-from-accessing-the-games-they-need.

Week 9: Automation and Scripting

Due

In class we will start the Week 9 activity, Scripting Reflection. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Cocciolo, Anthony. “Unix Commands and Batch Processing for the Reluctant Librarian or Archivist.” Code4Lib Journal: Issue 23, 2014-01-17. https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/9158
• Martin, Nicole. “Why Use The Command Line For Digital Archiving And Preservation?” twobit Digital Preservation. June 21, 2020. https://twobitpreservation.com/blog/2020/6/11/why-use-the-command-line-for-digital-archiving-and-preservation
• Berish, Amy. “Learning Python as a Processing Archivist: A Reflection” Bits & Bytes: The Rockefeller Archive Center Blog. April 6, 2016. https://blog.rockarch.org/learning-python-as-a-processing-archivist-a-reflection
• Colloton, Eddy. “THAT DAM PROJECT”. June 14, 2019. http://eddycolloton.com/blog/2019/1/10/that-dam-project
• Potter, Abbey. “Automating Digital Archival Processing at Johns Hopkins University” May 9, 2017. https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2017/05/automating-digital-archival-processing-at-johns-hopkins-university/
• Libraries, University of California Systemwide. UC Guidelines for Born-Digital Archival Description. Oct. 2017. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cg222jc
• Tammi Kim; Karla Irwin. “Learning from Las Vegas: Adapting Workflows for Managing Born-Digital Design Records.” The American Archivist (2021) 84 (2): 355–373. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081-84.2.355

Week 10: No Class - Spring Break!

Week 11: Moving Image and Audio Preservation

Due

In class we will start the Week 11 activity, QCTools. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Kim, Julia, Fraimow, Rebecca, Titkemeyer, Erika. “Never Best Practices: Born-Digital Audiovisual Preservation.” Code4lib Journal: Issue 43, 2019-02-14, https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/14244
• Pearman, Alice. “Teachers’ Tales Go Online: Digitizing Oral Histories on Cassettes.” The American Archivist: Spring/Summer 2019, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 124-136. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081-82.1.124
• Galey, Alan. 2018. “Looking for a Place to Happen: Collective Memory, Digital Music Archiving, and the Tragically Hip”. Archivaria 86 (November), 6-43. https://archivaria-ca.proxy.library.nyu.edu/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13642
• Cook, Sarah. 2017. “Shrouded History: The Canadian Film and Photo Unit, Records Creation, Reuse, and the Recontextualizing of “Lost Audiovisual Heritage”. Archivaria 83 (June), 125-48. https://archivaria-ca.proxy.library.nyu.edu/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13603
• Ng, Y. (2024, May 6). Supporting Community-Based Video Archiving for Human Rights with WITNESS [Video]. YouTube. Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York Programming Webinars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCDbhnHugT0
• AVPreserve Guide to Codec: https://www.weareavp.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/AVPS_Codec_Primer.pdf
• XFR Collective Dr. Tape-Love: https://xfrcollective.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/xfr-dr-tape-love_zine-2019.pdf

Week 12: Web and Email Archiving

Due

In class we will start the Week 12 activity, Podcast Archaeology. Submit your completed activity summary in Brightspace by Sunday night.

Read

• Drake, Tracy S., Aisha Conner-Gaten, and Steven D. Booth. “Archiving Black Movements: Shifting Power and Exploring a Community-Centered Approach,” in “Library and Information Studies and the Mattering of Black Lives,” eds. Safiya Umoja Noble, Michelle Caswell, Tonia Sutherland, and Sarah Roberts. Special issue, Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies 4. https://journals.litwinbooks.com/index.php/jclis/article/view/170
• Summers, Ed. 2020. “Appraisal Talk in Web Archives”. Archivaria 89 (May), 70-103. https://archivaria-ca.proxy.library.nyu.edu/index.php/archivaria/article/view/13733
• Lynch, Clifford. “Stewardship in the ‘Age of Algorithms.’” first monday: 2017-12-04, Volume 22, Number 12. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/8097/6583
• Wickner, Amy (2019) “Recognizing Co-Creators in Four Configurations: Critical Questions for Web Archiving,” Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies: Vol. 6 , Article 23. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol6/iss1/23
• Velte, Ashlyn. “Ethical Challenges and Current Practices in Activist Social Media Archives.” The American Archivist: Spring/Summer 2018, Vol. 81, No. 1, pp. 112-134. https://doi.org/10.17723/0360-9081-81.1.112
• Maemura, Erin, et. al. “If These Crawls Could Talk: Studying and Documenting Web Archives Provenance,” Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2018-05-20, https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/82840/1/JASIST_IfTheseCrawls-Preprint-20180122.pdf
• Acker, Amelia. (2020, June 26). Emulation Encounters: Software Preservation in Libraries, Archives, And Museums. Software Preservation Network. https://www.softwarepreservationnetwork.org/preprint-emulation-encounters-software-preservation-in-libraries-archives-and-museums/

Week 13: Guest Speaker Day

Week 14: No Class - Work/Consultation Day

Use this time to work on your final papers and presentations. I will make myself available to book for consults, in case you have any questions or guidance. Booking form TK!

Week 15: Last Day of Class

Due

Final presentations will take place today. [More details here TK, including the due date for your papers]