Workbook on Digital Private Papers > Working with record creators > Accessioning common types of personal digital record
Accessioning common types of personal digital record
It is vital that the archivist is prepared for the first accession visit and arrives armed with sufficient knowledge to deal with the various record types identified in the survey, using the available technology (also identified by the survey).
Carrying out a digital accession is no easy task; even for the IT literate, orienting oneself on someone else's computer can be challenging. Paradigm believes that archivists need 'how-to' guides to assist them in acquiring some kinds of digital record that must be 'extracted' from their environments before their files can be transferred to a digital archive repository. Important examples include:
- Records, such as email and images, stored in various web-based services.
- Email accessed via a client.
Guides for extracting materials from web services must be regularly updated and guides for extracting materials via clients should reference particular versions of the software. Archivists will also need how-to guides for materials where the extraction process takes place at the digital archive repository:
- Extraction and migration of records stored on obsolete media.
- Extraction and migration of records stored in obsolete formats.
- Remote harvesting for personal websites.
