An archivist job has changed significantly over the last few decades. The biggest change has been the issue of archiving data that was originally created as digital medium; this includes websites,
satellite images, digital recordings. The problem with this information is that it has shorter lifespans and is limited by technology constraints (Hodge, 2000). How many times have you found a great website and went back a month, a week, or even a day later to find it gone? Have you ever purchased software or computer games that no longer work with your new hardware? These are some of the issues archivist face everyday.
The International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (
ICSTI) formed a committee to develop a model for digital archiving (Hodge,2000). The study focused on when, where, why, and how to best archive digital material. The group consisted of members from various countries and disciplines.
The job of an archivist really begins at the very beginning. If not, the item may not be available when an archivist wants it. The group suggested that the creator of the information should recommend the lifespan of the information (Hodge,2000). Who better to understand if information is necessary in the
long run than the creator. For example, I write a weekly shopping list and toss it after I finish shopping. I don't feel it is necessary to archive this list. On the contrary, I keep a monthly budget. I archive each budget so I can analyze it at
year end and make future projections. Having created the information, I know its
usefulness.
Even if everyone thought everything should be archived, it would be virtually (no pun intended) impossible to do so. The archivist must still decide what is appropriate and necessary to archive.
In the case of websites, how much of the site do you archive? Do you archive the links to the site? The
possibilities are endless, which makes the archivist job more difficult.
Once an archivist decides what to archive, the job is only half-done. At this point, several issues come into play: copyrights,
cataloguing, and
meta data (Hodge,2000).
Finally, the archivist has to think about access. Who and how will this be accomplished? It sounds
exhausting to me. What do you think?
Hodge, G. (2000, January). Best practices for digital archiving.
D-Lib Magazine, 6(1). Retrieved March 5, 2008, from
http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january00/01hodge.html