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• For collections that also contain paper/analog materials: do all or part of the digital materials duplicate the paper materials?  
  

Transferring Digital Files to the Library

Sometimes donors will ask how they should transfer their digital materials to the library. The answer depends on where the files are currently located and what kinds of technology the donor is comfortable with. You can always contact Emmeline Evans Kaser to talk with a donor directly and coordinate the transfer. 

We always want to receive the original version of a file whenever possible. We do not want donors to reformat files or copy files off of original media (e.g. CDs, floppy disks, etc.), even if they think it would be helpful for us. Receiving original files, even if they are on older media or in older file formats, allows us to preserve important metadata about those materials. 

Preferred transfer methods

As a rule of thumb, we strongly discourage donors from emailing archival materials. This method is never preferred. Copying files to physical media (like a USB hard drive) is generally preferred, except for in some situations as listed below:

• If the files are on the donor's computer, they should copy them to a USB hard drive and mail or deliver the drive to RMC. We can ship them a hard drive for this if needed.
• If the files are already saved in a cloud storage account (Box, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.), the donor should share access to the relevant folders with Emmeline Evans Kaser and make sure she has permission to download the materials. They should not delete the files from cloud storage until they've received confirmation that they've been downloaded and saved in RMC.
  
• If the files are already on a piece of storage media, like a hard drive, CDs, or floppy disks, it is preferred that they mail or deliver the original media directly to RMC.

As mentioned above, please do not hesitate to reach out to Emmeline to advise on specific transfers. 

Using the Airtable Pre-Accession Form 

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