By Free Clip Art - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68751399
Preserving Research Data
In April 2023 Helen Hofton and Elaine Saunders of HALH met Chris Bennett and Julie Gregson of Hertfordshire Archives about preserving the research data amassed by the county's local historians. Research notes are often disposed of when someone dies, and websites disappear when hosting fees are no longer paid, meaning years of invaluable work is lost. Sadly, there's no national policy on preserving this data, as each archive has different levels of funding and IT systems.
We therefore approached HALS to ask for some of their web space so Hertfordshire's historians can upload their research materials to it. We envisaged the data would be freely and permanently available to the public online, as well as searchable and open to contributions from later historians.
We've already approached The National Archives [TNA] at Kew with the same request. They'll allow historians to upload lists of their records to their Discovery catalogue, but they can't take the materials themselves into the archive at present. TNA is testing digital data preservation on a number of local history websites, including Pirton's, so it may be possible in the distant future.
Julie Gregson of HALS reminded us about the Herts Memories website, and said they'd be glad to receive more articles and photographs for this. However, it won't accept complex documents like spreadsheets and PDFs, which is how many of us store our digital data. Furthermore, Herts Memories covers the entire county, so HALS can't accept large uploads on one parish, or topic. Also, anything uploaded might be edited down to save space. This makes Herts Memories a partial solution for us.
Chris Bennett of HALS said paper documents remain legible for centuries, but that's not the case with data stored on computers and memory sticks, where software quickly goes out of date. They're investing in a Digital Preservation System later in 2023, which will keep memory sticks etc in readable formats for decades. HALS will issue guidance once this is in place, and they've developed systems for large-scale digital deposits.
In the meantime, HALS already accepts small deposits of digital data from local historians - subject to conditions. This data would be catalogued and stored on their website, but will not be made freely available online. Instead, researchers can request to view it in the search room, and will see an image of it, but they won't be able to handle the original memory stick it's held on. It's therefore like viewing a photograph of a paper record. Again, this does not go as far as we'd like and restricts public access.
So where does that leave Hertfordshire's historians and HALH?
Finally, the Herts Memories site contains a noticeboard, which is underused. If you have history talks or events in your area, you can publicise them on the noticeboard. There's no calendar, so events won't appear in chronological order. Instead, they'll show up as news items.
Link here to the Herts Memories Noticeboard
See also the 'Community & Digital Archiving' presentation given by Mike Neighbour at the 2019 HALH Spring Meeting
We therefore approached HALS to ask for some of their web space so Hertfordshire's historians can upload their research materials to it. We envisaged the data would be freely and permanently available to the public online, as well as searchable and open to contributions from later historians.
We've already approached The National Archives [TNA] at Kew with the same request. They'll allow historians to upload lists of their records to their Discovery catalogue, but they can't take the materials themselves into the archive at present. TNA is testing digital data preservation on a number of local history websites, including Pirton's, so it may be possible in the distant future.
Julie Gregson of HALS reminded us about the Herts Memories website, and said they'd be glad to receive more articles and photographs for this. However, it won't accept complex documents like spreadsheets and PDFs, which is how many of us store our digital data. Furthermore, Herts Memories covers the entire county, so HALS can't accept large uploads on one parish, or topic. Also, anything uploaded might be edited down to save space. This makes Herts Memories a partial solution for us.
Chris Bennett of HALS said paper documents remain legible for centuries, but that's not the case with data stored on computers and memory sticks, where software quickly goes out of date. They're investing in a Digital Preservation System later in 2023, which will keep memory sticks etc in readable formats for decades. HALS will issue guidance once this is in place, and they've developed systems for large-scale digital deposits.
In the meantime, HALS already accepts small deposits of digital data from local historians - subject to conditions. This data would be catalogued and stored on their website, but will not be made freely available online. Instead, researchers can request to view it in the search room, and will see an image of it, but they won't be able to handle the original memory stick it's held on. It's therefore like viewing a photograph of a paper record. Again, this does not go as far as we'd like and restricts public access.
So where does that leave Hertfordshire's historians and HALH?
- There is currently little scope for us to preserve our research on HALS' servers and have it made publicly available online.
- The British Library's UK WebArchive takes snapshots of existing websites to preserve them, but the data in those snapshots is static. This is called web crawling. Pirton's website has already been archived in this way and we'd like to encourage all other local history websites in the county to do the same, as a temporary measure.
- HALS has recently appointed a new learning and access officer, responsible for Herts Memories, and they'd like our members to contribute more to the website. We're meeting HALS again once the officer is in post.
- If anyone wants to donate their research archive to HALS, you should start cataloguing and organising your paper and digital records now. That way, you'll be ready as soon as the Digital Preservation System is in place.
- You should also ensure that someone else knows your passwords, so they can access your computers, social media, websites and digital devices.
Finally, the Herts Memories site contains a noticeboard, which is underused. If you have history talks or events in your area, you can publicise them on the noticeboard. There's no calendar, so events won't appear in chronological order. Instead, they'll show up as news items.
Link here to the Herts Memories Noticeboard
See also the 'Community & Digital Archiving' presentation given by Mike Neighbour at the 2019 HALH Spring Meeting