Challenges With the Digitization of Archives

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Three Challenges Explored1. Ethics with archives in countries with a history of

colonialisma. Theoretical Applicationb. Practical Application

2. Creating user-friendly finding aids

3. Born digital materials

Ethics of archives in countries with a history of colonialismLor and Britz (2003), A Moral Reflection on the Information Flow From South to North: an African Perspective

Information-based component to human rights: the right of freedom of access to information needed to exercise all other basic human rights, the right of freedom of expression, and the right of individuals and groups to use and control self-generated information.

Lor and Britz (2004), Digitization of Africa’s Documentary Heritage: Aid or Exploitation?Projects are in partnership with the country of origin;Original materials are returned to the country of origin; Access to digitized resources are available to scholars and students in the country of origin; Capacity building, or the training of digital archiving staff is undertaken;Compensation is provided, if appropriate, to institutions within the country of origin

CAPACITY BUILDINGSchultz (2013), “Supporting Capacity Building for Africa: Initiatives of the Cooperative Africana Materials Project (CAMP) Since 1995”, details projects in Senegal and Uganda. Microfilm projects laid groundwork for digitization.

CAPACITY BUILDINGIn 2010, hundreds of boxes of papers from the Kabarole District Archives in Uganda were digitized, preserved, and stored at Mountains of the Moon University. The district still owns the material, which was scanned by an MMU lecturer and his students.

Pei Jones Collection - University of Waikato, New Zealand

Digitized according to tikanga Māori (Māori cultural protocols)

Māori subject headings created

Artifacts arranged by genealogy and historical context

Users, especially Māori, are encouraged to participate in the development of the web library.

Farley (2014): Participatory Finding Aid and The Archivist

Users at the J. Y. Joyner Library at East Carolina University and University of Massachusetts at Amherst Special Collections are encouraged to contribute annotations to the digitized collections. This creates metadata or links to other web pages, provides corrections, or adds anecdotes and other information.

Hidden Collections: The Hornung Papers

Englishman “Pitt” Hornung owned sugar plantations in present-day Mozambique in the late 1800s. His archives, deposited in the West Sussex Record Office, are “hidden” because of repository specific barriers and collection specific barriers.

Hunter, Legg, and Oehlerts (2010)A metadata librarian, an archivist, and a digital projects librarian at Colorado State University in Fort Collins collaborate on the digitization of University photographs taken between the 1880s and 1930s.

Born digital materialsDaigle (2012), Digital Transformations of Special Collections

Goldman (2011), Bridging The Gap: Taking Practical Steps Toward Managing Born Digital Collections in Manuscript Repositories