Presentation

Email Archiving: A Survey of Practice

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Abstract

Over the past few years, email preservation has become increasingly feasible—though not yet routine or common—part of archives and digital preservation work. The email archiving community's collaborative efforts simultaneously sustain and build the capacity to preserve email across a wider range of institutions. This session will inform attendees of community-building efforts taking place under the umbrella of two grant-supported programs: Email Archives: Building Capacity and Community (EA:BCC) regrant program and Email Archiving in PDF (EA-PDF): From Initial Specification to Community of Practice. Together, these projects are actively working to establish a baseline of email acquisition, processing, discovery, and delivery services. Still, there is a need to learn and identify the necessary reforms to plan for future areas of assessment within the email archiving community.

In this session, Principal Investigator Chris Prom and Project Fellows Ruby Martinez and Eden Irwin, will present findings and engage audience participation on three topics. First, Ruby will describe a survey of practice in the state of Illinois archives, libraries, and other information institutions, assessing the current state of adoption, identifying community progress and gaps. Chris will then describe the regrant projects funded by the EA:BCC, providing some assessment of how communities are fostering the emergence of new professional skills. Eden will then report on the initial results of the EA-PDF grant, which seeks to build an academic/industry partnership, and tooling to implement a new PDF-based email format.

How to Cite:

Martinez, R. L. & Prom, C., (2022) “Email Archiving: A Survey of Practice”, MAC Annual Meeting Presentations 2022(1).