- Sections for After the Workshop
Table of Contents
The primary goal of every CAW is to deliver a clean inventory of the collections processed during the workshop to the partner organization. Also, CAW provides guidance for moving forward.
Prepare Inventory
During the workshop, several inventory files are created at each workstation. One person should manage collecting all inventory files, placing them in a central location, like a single removable drive. If the inventory files vary from workstation to workstation, the workstation leads should collect all files for their workstation.
Combine all inventory files into one final inventory file.
Carefully copy and paste data into a new file, adding next inventory rows below the previous. It’s important to maintain the correct data in the inventory fields
Clean the data, making it consistent with established naming conventions and formatting.
Gather Other Files
Digital files from digitization or digital materials processing workstations need to be delivered to the partner organization. Deliver as much as possible immediately following the workshop. Some collections require additional time and processing beyond the workshop.
Complete processing as soon as possible after the workshop
Deliver files. If remote, use a cloud file sharing service, like Google Drive or Dropbox.
Follow-up
It is important to follow-up with the partner organization and have a conversation about the experience and results from the workshop. Whether through a scheduled meeting or a series of emails, the follow-up objectives described below should be met.
Debrief
This is an important time for all organizers/participants to reflect on the day: on their personal experience, what they felt worked or was gained through the CAW, and any ways they might have organized the CAW differently. This can include both the day itself, and any feedback on how the work together proceeded as a planning group.
The CAW organizers or the partner may be the ones who collected and analyzed the data, and can deliver a short oral and/or written summary of the evaluations. If the organizers have done the summary, they can turn the evaluations over to the partner.
Handover
In some cases, you may find that you have accumulated documentation – documents, photos, video, etc. – that would be helpful to the partner. This is a good time to do the handover and/or to point them to where the documentation lives. You may even have time to view a little, to remember the excitement of the CAW.
What does the inventory tell us
This is an opportunity for the CAW organizers to not just hand over the data, but to share what they see from the point of view of risks to the content, given the formats, condition, etc. They will need to choose the most significant content, while taking into consideration the risks that each category of materials represents. You want to avoid at all cost the sad outcome that the partners find they can’t use the data in the form of a spreadsheet, or the information is lost because it is not backed up.
Next steps
This is an opportunity for the organizers to educate about typical steps in preservation planning. This can be very basic, if the partner is very inexperienced and under-resourced. Or it can be more strategic; if for example, the partner has archival practices in place that just need to be adapted or expanded. You may even wish to make presentations about preservation planning, digitization, or digital preservation. You can also point the partner to other resources for learning about these issues.
Recommendations
Prepare a simple document that provides recommendations based on standard preservations practices. Focus on the types of collection materials processed during the workshop as well as any other materials the partner organization identified as a priority. A CAW Recommendations Template is available. The recommendations should include:
General recommendations
Format specific recommendations (based-on partner organizations collection materials and priorities).
Magnetic media (cassettes)
Magnetic media (open reel)
Film
Optical Media
Digital Media
Grooved discs (LPs)
Physical Storage Recommendations
Links to resources with more details