You've Got to Walk Before You Can Run: First Steps for Managing Born-Digital Content Received on Physical Media.

You've Got to Walk Before You Can Run: First Steps for Managing Born-Digital Content Received on Physical Media.  Ricky Erway.  LC Research. August 2012. [PDF]

This is a set of initial steps those who already have or are currently acquiring such born-digital materials, but have not yet begun to manage them.

Four essential principles:

• Do no harm (to the physical media or the content).

• Don’t do anything that unnecessarily precludes future action and use.

• Don’t let the first two principles be obstacles to action.

• Document what you do.

Survey and Inventory Materials in Your Current Holdings

1.       Locate existing holdings.

2.       Count and describe all identified media

3.       Prioritize collections for further treatment

Technical steps for handling readable media. Includes several basic steps to preserve the digital media and to avoid accidentally writing to the media. 

 

Digital Preservation Matters.