Appendix A: Create a Preservation Prioritization Plan
Appendix A: Create a Preservation Prioritization Plan
Overview
The purpose of a Preservation Prioritization Plan is to help an organization know what items should be prioritized for preservation based on content and physical fragility. It is intended to be an at-a-glance overview of the collection that simplifies the decision of what to preserve first. It is especially helpful when applying for preservation funding. In the case of digital readiness, the term “preservation” in this document refers to digitization at the preservation level deemed suitable by the organization or individual. It is recommended to develop target preservation file formats before creating a preservation plan, as these will inform your decision about what items you consider to be already preserved.
This preservation prioritization method was developed by members of the Community Archiving Workshop for the Smithsonian Institution in 2019 as part of the Audiovisual Preservation Readiness Assessment Project (AVPRA). It was used to assist units within the Smithsonian in making preservation decisions for audiovisual collections. It specifically addresses audiovisual formats, but can be adapted for use in paper, photographic, and other collection types.
The plan combines numeric data describing the inherent physical fragility of the collection item with narrative data from collection caretakers to determine what collections are a priority for preservation. It groups collections into “series” based on the content, format, donor, or any other grouping method the organization chooses, and places them in the following categories:
- Highest Priority
- Medium Priority
- Lower Priority
- Preserved
- Not Included in the Preservation Plan
The plan is intended to be a guide, and to change over time or according to funding sources. Ultimately, it is the collection caretakers who are best equipped to identify the priorities for their collections.
Before You Create a Preservation Prioritization Plan
The Preservation Prioritization Plan is the result of a data gathering process that must take place before the plan is assembled. The data gathering process is the foundation which supports and backs up the plan. Before the plan is written, the organization must complete the following three steps:
- Item level inventory of the A/V collection
It is ideal to inventory the entire A/V collection, but if you have a good representative inventory of part of the collection, it is possible to work from that. - Physical Fragility Scoring added to the Item level inventory
The Physical Fragility Scoring method (see Part 3 of this Appendix) assigns a number to each type of A/V media, based on its expected inherent fragility. For example, a U-matic tape will be assigned a “1”, because it is very fragile and playback equipment is scarce, and a compact audio cassette will be assigned a “2” because it is more stable, likely to have better longevity, and playback equipment is still being produced. This scoring wi