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Category: Communication

Description: Archivists at the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library recently concluded a project to review and initiate improvements to our five-year-old workflow for transferring born-digital archival materials from removable media to a more suitable preservation environment. This “revamp” proceeded in three phases: 1) a review of our current capture and transfer to backlog procedures, which included the process of gathering feedback on the workflow and associated documentation from Bentley archivists; 2) researching contemporary archives and digital preservation theory and best practices and conducting information-gathering interviews with colleagues at peer institutions; and 3) making a number of recommendations for improvement now being implemented by the project team. After briefly outlining our institutional context and providing an overview of our work with removable media, this short paper will give an overview of the “Removable Media Workflow Revamp” project as well as the ways our “agile” approach to the process permitted us to evolve in response to early feedback and ultimately adapt our recommendations to better align with archivists’ needs.