LAUSR

Module sixteen, ‘Accessioning Digital Records’ by Erin Faulder, outlines a range of models, standards and tools that can support the workflow for transferring and processing digital material that is provided in the second half of the module. I thought this module was a little more confused than the other two. It starts by stating that ‘accessioning is the archivist’s first step in processing and preserving archival materials’ (p. 121), when the other two modules have been clear in their approach that working with the creation process is the first step. Later, when introducing the accessioning workflow, it states that ‘accessioning procedures formalise the steps an archivist takes to document the transfer’ (p. 148). This mixed view of what accessioning is and where it fits in the overall appraisal and acquisition process makes it sit a little awkwardly alongside the previous two. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of value here, especially for collecting archives. The summary descriptions of the standards and models will be useful to those seeking to understand many of the acronyms for digital collecting. There’s also a good summary of some of the infrastructure required to support digital collecting and preservation. The second half of the module is a detailed step-through of a transfer workflow in the collecting archive context, including file format identification, validation and ingest, which will provide a good introduction to archivists. However, the workflow is presented as though everything will go swimmingly. I thought the several pages on validation should have been followed by some of the options available when validation fails – the more likely scenario in my experience. Overall, I thought Appraisal and Acquisitions Strategies would provide useful reading to archivists taking their initial steps into digital collecting. It also reminded me that, in the collecting archive context, our American colleagues are leaders with digital collecting and have a range of experiences and implementations for the rest of the world to learn from. Maybe we in Australasia should be looking State-side to build the relationship we need to improve our professional practice.