Oregon State Archives News

Free Digital Preservation Training Available

The third in a series of workshops on basic digital preservation is scheduled for Wednesday September 26th from 9 A.M. to noon at the State Archives, 800 Summer Street NE, in Salem. In today’s world, computers and the digital records they create are used by a wide variety of individuals and for multiple purposes. Family photos are created as digital images and email and word-processing documents have replaced traditional paper records in many instances.

This third workshop, Protect/Manage/Provide, covers the basics of protecting, managing and providing access to digital content selected for long term preservation. The Protect portion of the workshop will provide instruction on steps that attendees can take to protect their digital content from problems such as corruption, obsolescence, inappropriate access and disasters.

The Manage part of this workshop will address the provisions needed for the long-term management of digital content that participants or their organizations have selected to preserve. We will discuss some basic risk management techniques like creating a written preservation policy and assessing what resources are needed to manage the digital content selected for preservation.

The final section of this workshop, Provide, will give instruction to attendees on how digital content should be made available over time given individual and organizational policies, technology and the needs of the end users.

Once again, Austin Schulz of the State Archives staff will lead this workshop. Austin attended the Digital Preservation Outreach and Education training at the Library of Congress as part of a national effort to encourage individuals and organizations to actively preserve their digital content. The training he provides consists of six modules geared toward individuals seeking a basic introduction to digital content preservation and are open to the public. Although the workshops are free, pre-registration is required. To register simply
e-mail the Archives at: reference.archives@state.or.us and put “Digital Preservation Workshop” in the subject line. If you have any questions or would like to register by phone, please contact Austin Schulz at (503)
378-5161.