ISP 547 Managing Electronic Records

ISP 547 Managing Electronic Records
Spring 2004

Updated January 10, 2004

This course introduces students to the long-term management and preservation of digital materials, particularly electronic records. Students who complete the course will have a thorough understanding of the conceptual issues posed by digital materials as well as a practical understanding of approaches and methods for ensuring continuing access and preservation.

Students taking this course should have an understanding of basic archival and records management principles and concepts.

Topics include:

Understanding digital information (formats, processes, information structures, etc.);
Issues presented by electronic records and other digital information for librarians and archivists;
Identifying, classifying and describing digital information including preparing and capturing descriptive metadata;
Selecting electronic records and other digital information for long-term preservation;
Preparing digital information for preservation and access discussing migration and emulation as strategies for preservation and methods for providing access to information in digital formats.

Students will work with practical examples including collections of electronic mail messages, digital documents, data files and possibly some digital images.

Instructor:
Thomas Ruller
e-mail: tom@ruller.org
Phone:(518) 474-5561
Office Hours:Mondays 6:30 to 7:15pm and by appointment.

Textbook:
There are no required textbooks for this course. Reading assignments are found below. Some materials will be distributed in class.
In addition to readings distributed in class, students will visit various web sites to obtain literature, reports or other documents.
Most readings come from journals that are readily available through the University Library or through the Internet. Students are strongly encouraged to remain current with reading assignments in order to complete the course successfully.

Communication:
Electronic mail is a vital communication tool for this course. Questions, clarifications, news and other information will be distributed by electronic mail. Students are encouraged to contact the instructor via electronic mail at the address above.

Listserv:
Students are encouraged to join the Research Libraries Group Listserv, Shelflife.
To subscribe send a blank message to:
subscribe-shelflife-from-rlg@lists2.rlg.org

Grading and Assessment:

Class and electronic participation: (10%)
Grades on three in-class quizzes on assigned readings: (30%)
PROJECT CHOICES:

Five (5) page Business and technical description of a set of digital materials (15%) (Due March 29)
Two (2) page issue briefing on a particular body of digital materials(10%)(Due April 12))

Analysis, description and preservation plan for a collection of digital materials provided by the instructor (25%) (Due April 12)

Research paper on a significant issue relating to electronic records preservation, management or access. (35%)(Due May 3)

Class Schedule

Class Date	Topic
January 26	Introduction to course, topics and clarification of expectations. Introduction to issues presented by materials in digital formats.
Readings:	None.
February 2	Fundamentals: Data Archives and Data Libraries - We will review and understand the concepts and operations of Data Archives and Data Libraries. These institutions have been preserving and making available digital data since the late 1960's. We will also establish understanding of fundamental concepts such as metadata, records, data, authenticity, migration and the concept of "born digital."
Readings:	Gavrel, Katharine, Conceptual Problems Posed by Electronic Records: A RAMP Study. UNESCO: 1990. 46pp. Naugler, Harold, The Archival Appraisal of Machine Readable Records: A RAMP Study with Guidelines. UNESCO:1984. pp.6-17. Carolyn Geda, "Social Science Data Archives," American Archivist 42 (April 1979):158-166. Lynch, Clifford, "Authenticity and Integrity in the Digital Environment: An Explortory Analysis of the Central Role of Trust" in Authenticity in a Digital Environment Council on Library Resources, 2000. Loewen, Candace, "The Control of Electronic Records Having Archival Value," Archivaria 36(Autumn 1993):64-73. Authenticity in a Digital Environment, Council on Library Resources, 2000
February 9	Understanding Digital Materials - We will review and understand the various forms and formats of digital materials. This will not be an in-depth technical analysis of digital objects, but we will understand generally what digital materials are and the role of standards for the creation, storage and transmission of digital information.
Readings:	Roberts, David. "Defining Electronic Records, Documents and Data." Archives and Manuscripts 22:1 (14-26), May 1994 Walsh, Victoria Irons "The Role of Standards in the Archival Management of Electronic Records," American Archivist 53 (Winter 1990):30-43.
February 16	NO CLASS - President's Day

February 23	Modern Records, record making and Recordkeeping Concepts
Readings:	Bearman, David, "Recordkeeping Systems." in Electronic Evidence: Strategies for Managing Records in Contemporary Organizations, 1994:Archives and Museum Informatics, Pittsburgh, PA. Zachman, J.A., "A Framework for Information Systems Architecture", IBM Systems Journal25(3)1987:276-292. National Archives of Australia, Recordkeeping Responsibilities statement Center for Technology in Government "A survey of system development process models", completed as part of the Models for Action Project, 1996.
March 1	Functional Requirements for Electronic Recordkeeping
Readings:	State of Delaware, Model Guidelines for Electronic Records" Functional Requirements to Ensure the Creation, Maintenance, and Preservation of Electronic Records, Center for Technology in Government, Models for Action Project UK, Public Records Office,Functional Requirements for Electronic Records Management Systems You might also be interested in the other documents relating to the UK's efforts. These are located at: 2002 UK Requirements for electronic records management systems
March 8	Putting Theory into Practice: Managing Information Systems - The DIRKS program at the National Archives of Australia and the Center for Technology in Government
Readings:	DIRKS Manual
March 15	Digital Preservation Approaches and Issues
Readings:	Paul Wheatley,"Migration - a CAMiLEON discussion paper" October 2001. Bearman, David, "Reality and Chimeras in the Preservation of Electronic Records" D-Lib Magazine 5(4)(April 1999). Jeff Rothenberg,Avoiding Technological Quicksand: Finding a Viable Technical Foundation for Digital PreservationCouncil on Library Resources, 1998.
March 22	NO CLASS - Instructor away
March 29	Digital Preservation Continued.
Readings:	Risk Management of Digital Information: A File Format Investigation Gregory W. Lawrence, William R. Kehoe, Oya Y. Rieger, William H. Walters, and Anne R. Kenney, Council on Library Resources June 2000. Shelby Sanett, "The Cost to Preserve Authentic Electronic Records in Perpetuity: Comparing Costs across Cost Models and Cost Frameworks", RLG Diginews, August 15, 2003 PERPOS Project Report, "The Presidential Electronic Records PilOt System: Results of Laboratory Experiments and Use by Archivists." W. E. Underwood. PERPOS TR ITTL/CSITD 03-1, November 2003
April 5	No Class Spring Break
April 12	Preserving complex digital objects - OAIS and the Research at UCSD and Camelion
Readings:	Moore, Regan, et al.,"Collection-Based Persistent Digital Archives - Part 1", D-Lib Magazine, March 2000 Moore, Regan, et al.,"Collection-Based Persistent Digital Archives - Part 2", D-Lib Magazine, April 2000 CCSDS Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS), pp. 16-37 only CAMELION Project Web Site
April 19	Preserving authentic digital materials - InterPARES
Readings:	Cullen, Charles T.,"Authentication of Digital Objects: Lessons from a Historian's Research", in Authenticity in a Digital Environment, CLIR, 2000 InterPARES Project, Authenticity Task Force, Draft Report. October 2001.
April 26	Special Issues: Managing and preserving electronic mail and web resources
Readings:	Main, Eron,"Records Management for Electronic Mail", Katharine Sharp Review, No. 6, Winter 1998 US Department of Defense, Design Criteria Standard for Electronic Records Management Applications" US DOD 5015.2. The Internet Archive"Visit the site only. Cathro, Warwick,"Archiving the Web: The PANDORA Archive at the National Library of Australia" 2001.Reviews the project at the National Archives of Australia.
May 3	Last Class