Job Opening Title: Digital Collection Preservation Project
Institution/Organization Name: Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Job Location (City, State, Province, Country): Washington, D.C.
Application Deadline: October 17, 2018
Link to job posting:
Years of experience required: 0-2
Job Description (if URL to posting not available). Please include instructions for how to apply.: Hello,
The Archives of American Art is seeking professional contract services to perform work to preserve digital content stored on deteriorating media formats, and arrange and describe these digital holdings. The project is funded by the Smithsonian’s Collections Care Preservation Fund. The work will take place in the Archives of American Art’s offices in the Victor Building, 750 Ninth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. The anticipated expected start date for this ten-month project is November 5, 2018.
If you are interested in receiving the Request for Quote (RFQ) and Statement of Work (SOW), please send an email to George Apodaca (apodacaG@si.edu) with the subject line: Digital Collection Preservation Project. Proposals must be submitted by 5 p.m. (EST), Wednesday, October 17th.
SUMMARY
The Archives of American Art (AAA) has a need to procure 1600 hours of professional archival technical services from an independent contractor to 1) preserve critical, at-risk digital content stored on deteriorating media formats through the application of specialized workflows and software, and 2) to arrange and describe these digital holdings in keeping with the stewardship methodology for processed analog materials.
The project will focus on a priority subset of digital files found in approximately 90 archival collections. The files are critically at-risk due to aging formats, among them 3 ½ inch and 5 ¼ inch floppy disks, zip disks, CDs, DVDs, and hard drives. The paper materials found in each collection have already been processed and described in an EAD finding aid. The contractor will process digital files using Forensic Toolkit (FTK) software and update each finding aid with descriptions of digital content in the ArchivesSpace application.
The selected vendor should have demonstrated technical experience with born-digital archival materials and a basic understanding of digital media transfer workflows. The vendor should also have understanding and experience with the archival practices of arrangement and description, and have a working knowledge of DACS standards. Additional on-site instruction and written procedures will be provided to the vendor by the Project Leader.
The Archives’ Digital Asset Manager will serve as the Project Leader. The Project Leader will be available to address questions or unforeseen issues, manage the work plan and schedule, review the vendor’s work, and provide on-site training in existing digital media transfer workflows. AAA’s Head of Digital Operations will serve as the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR).
WORKPLAN
The vendor will meet the goals of the project by completing the following work for approximately 90 individual collections:
* Pull collection containers with digital media from shelf locations
* Create entries in the Archives’ born-digital media database that will:
* Inventory each individual physical electronic media item found in a collection
* Determine the age, accessibility, and integrity of born-digital files
* Perform an anti-virus scan to indicate whether viruses are present on media
* Track the transfer / disk imaging status of each physical electronic media
* and, document descriptive metadata that will aid in the completion of the collection’s finding aid
* Transfer data / create disk images for a variety of media utilizing write-blockers and imaging software to prevent unintended changes to the media
* Generate checksums for individual physical media items
* Create backup copies onto external hard drives
* Perform disk image analysis utilizing Forensic Toolkit software to:
* Appraise digital collection materials to remove duplicate material and files outside the collecting scope of the Archives
* Identify file formats and decide on the appropriate migration strategy
* Identify files containing Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
* Intellectually arrange digital holdings into corresponding series
* Create a backup copy of processed files onto a networked server maintained by OCIO’s Data Center
* Review collection documentation to discover any inherent relationships between analog and born-digital content
* Update the collection digital accession documentation to include the size of the processed digital holdings, the number of media items transferred, and the existence of restricted content or deaccessioned material
* Following AAA guidelines, add descriptive updates to SIRIS MARC record and EAD finding aid using Archives Space software.
PROJECT DELIVERABLES
1) The contractor will deliver 1600 hours of technical services for the preservation and description of born-digital collection holdings.
Services provided must result in a digital media assessment and, as necessary, the transfer of digital files for each collection.
Services provided must clearly demonstrate the ability to assess the intellectual arrangement and folder-level description of collection material based on current archival standards.
Services provided must result in an updated EAD finding aid for each collection.
2) A monthly progress report must be submitted to the Project Leader for review and approval. The report will detail hours worked and list collection tasks completed for each month.
WORK LOCATION AND SPACE
The work will take place where the collections are housed in the Archives of American Art office and storage area located at 750 9th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Work will take place primarily in a clean, well-lit, ventilated, processing work areas typical for archival materials with adequate computer access. Some records are housed in cubic foot archival boxes that may weigh up to 40 lbs.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
Payment will be made upon approval of a monthly invoice and progress report. The invoice will include the number of hours worked for the month corresponding with the report.
WORK AND PROJECT SCHEDULE
The vendor is expected to work approximately 35-40 hours per week during normal business hours.
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE
The vendor should plan to start work on or about November 5, 2018 and must complete the work before October 1, 2019, or when the 1,600 hours have been expended.
OTHER
The vendor will be provided with a temporary Smithsonian network account with access to an email account and all required systems to complete the tasks listed in the work plan. Security procedures are in place at the Smithsonian to allow contractors to receive ID cards, and network and building access.
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