Appalachian State University Digital Preservation Assessment

FAIN: PG-51951-13

Appalachian State University (Boone, NC 28608-0001)
Pamela Mitchem (Project Director: May 2012 to September 2014)

Hiring a consultant to perform a digital preservation assessment of four Special Collections--the William Eury Appalachian Collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, the Stock Car Racing Collection, and the University Archives--that document the history, music, and culture of Appalachia. The collection as a whole totals over 350,000 digital items, representing 14,000 linear feet of analog material. The William Eury Collection is recognized as the largest repository of monographs on Appalachia and includes both the papers of prominent Appalachian historians, folklorists, and collectors, as well as 400 oral history and 3,000 music recordings. The recordings, which were originally collected between the 1930s and 1970s, have been digitized and are used by faculty, students, and outside researchers. The digital assessment would assist the library in developing a long-range digital preservation plan for the collection.

Appalachian State University's Special Collections seeks a Preservation Assistance Grant for $6,000 to help fund a digital preservation assessment. The Library proposes to contract with Lyrasis consultant, Thomas Clareson, to perform a survey of our digital collections and make recommendations regarding long term preservation. Mr. Clareson will assess our information technology capabilities, digital collection development and maintenance, and documented preservation policies for collections. Mr. Clareson's recommendations will help us create a long- range digital preservation plan and advocate for administrative and financial support for preservation resources and activities. We have approximately 353,000 images, 255 videos, and 4,000 audio files that are in digital format that reside on various types of digital media. Our digital collections address the needs and activities of the Appalachian State University community, North Carolina, Appalachia, and external scholars.