Migrating cultural heritage digital collections: A migration workflow and bulk metadata remediation strategies
Abstract
Archives and cultural heritage organisations have been developing digital collections for decades, and many are now considering system migrations to take advantage of new functionality and potential cost savings. However, archives do not always control the decision to migrate or the choice of platform. This can create challenges, including the need to reconfigure metadata and commit significant time to the migration process. This paper describes the author’s experience of migrating cultural heritage digital collections as part of a consortium-supported move to a new system. It outlines the background to the consortium initiative and compares the legacy and replacement systems, drawing on existing literature to frame guidance on migration workflows and metadata remediation. The paper then details the workflow developed for the migration, including methods for bulk metadata remediation using spreadsheets, with particular emphasis on documentation and metadata assessment. The discussion highlights practical approaches to managing metadata at scale during system migration and identifies key considerations for improving consistency and discoverability across collections. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at http://hstalks.com/business.
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Author's Biography
Evan N. Miller is the Digital Preservation and Digital Collections Archivist in the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives at Indiana University Indianapolis. He oversees work on digital preservation systems and policies, manages description and access to born-digital and digitised materials in Special Collections, and collaborates on digitisation projects and digital collection development with the Center for Digital Scholarship and University Library’s community partners. His professional interests focus on system migrations, metadata remediation, crafting historical exhibits, Indiana and local history, and supporting the archival profession. He is the Past President of the Society of Indiana Archivists. He has worked at various Indiana-centric archives, libraries and cultural heritage organisations, including Butler University, Wabash College, Hanover College, the Indiana Historical Society Press and Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. He earned his MLIS and MA in public history from Indiana University Indianapolis (formerly Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) and is an alumnus of Hanover College.
