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Digital Collections and Archives

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Digital Collections and Archives

Preservation Rules

Rule Number Description Action Related P&P
1 Paper The DCA ensures that all paper-based records and materials are stored in appropriate acid-free containers. Original staples, paperclips, and other fasteners and folders will not be removed unless they are deteriorating and causing risk/damage to the records. ACC-005
2 Artifacts The DCA follows industry standards for the appropriate housing and storage of all forms of artifacts, regardless of their composition.  
3 Physical Images and Prints The DCA follows industry standards for the appropriate housing and storage of all forms of physical images, prints, and negatives. ACC-017
4 Analog Audio The DCA will properly house and store analog media. Analog media will be queued for preservation conversion to digital formats. ACC-006
5 Analog Video The DCA will properly house and store analog media. Analog media will be queued for preservation conversion to digital formats. ACC-006
6 Digital Images: .tif, .jpg, .j2c, .gif, and .png The DCA maintains digital image films in their native file formats. No transformations are enacted on these files for preservation purposes. ACC-007 and ACC-009
7 Digital Images: .cr2, .crw, .dcr, .kdc, .nef, .orf, .pef, .raf, .srf, .x3f, and .dng The DCA will work with the producer of these file types to move them from their proprietary format to a standard preservation format such as .tif. It may be necessary to take the intermediate step of converting to an Adobe .dng files and then converting it to a preservation format. ACC-007 and ACC-009
8 Desktop application files in the following formats: .sam, .doc, .docx, .docm, .ppt, .rtf , .wpd, .pptx, and .odt The DCA converts the following file formats into .pdf/a file format. It may be necessary to convert files into an intermediate format to complete the conversation to .pdf/a. ACC-007 and ACC-009
9 Word Processing files in the following formats: .txt, and .pdf The DCA performs no preservation activities on these file types because they meet the requirements for preservation. ACC-007 and ACC-009
10 Spreadsheet files in the following formats: .wk1, .wk2, wk3, .wk4, .xls, .xlsm, .odt, .qpw, wb3, wb2, wb1, wq2, and .wq1 The DCA converts the following file types into either .csv or .pdf/a files determinate on whether the appearance of the information or the content of the information is paramount. It may be necessary to convert files into an intermediate format to complete the conversation to .pdf/a. ACC-007 and ACC-009
11 Spreadsheet files in the following formats: .tab, .csv, .tsv The DCA performs no preservation activities on these file types because they meet the requirements for preservation. ACC-007 and ACC-009
12 Other formats The DCA is actively monitoring the development of preservation formats for other files types. If you have files that exist in file formats described here, please contact the DCA to discuss your options.