Born-Digital Records: Arrangement, Description, Identifiers

This Born Digital Records guide outlines the steps for arranging, describing, and assigning unique identifiers to born-digital records to ensure consistent management, discoverability, and long-term access.

This guide is part of the RBSC Archives Toolkit.

Created by Jacky Lai, Digital Archivist.

1. Review the existing directory structure

Examine the folder and file structure as received to understand original order, context, and use.

Digital format agnostic: This workflow is applicable to floppy and optical disks (i.e. treated as archival files), hard drives, USB flash drives, and cloud transfers. Depending on the context of USB flash drives, each USB flash drive could be an archival file, or the contents of a USB flash drive could become archival files and items.

2. Preserve meaningful original order

Born-digital records may consist of folders, individual files, or a combination of both.

Do not place files into folders unless this reflects original order or is necessary for manageability (e.g. there are numerous files that are not in a folder but are clearly related to each other).

If arrangement is imposed by the archivist, document this clearly in the description (e.g. arrangement note).

3. Assess the informational value of subfolders

Identify subfolders that do not add meaningful intellectual, contextual, or functional value (e.g., personal or software-generated folders such as “Jim’s Folder”, or folders that provide redundant information such as a folder titled “Asian Heritage Month” that will be nested in the “Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society” Series folder).

Where appropriate, flatten the hierarchy by bringing the contents up one level.

Do not retain subfolders solely to mirror the original file system.

4. Determine the lowest meaningful level of description

Decide the appropriate level of description based on intellectual coherence:

Describe materials consisting of multiple related digital files at the archival file level.

Describe single, self-contained digital files at the archival item level.

Omit intermediate levels that do not represent a meaningful intellectual unit.

5. Assign identifiers

Once arrangement and level of descriptions are finalized:

Assign identifiers at the series level and at the lowest level of description (typically the archival file level for born-digital records).

Where no archival file-level grouping exists, assign an identifier at the archival item level.

Do not assign identifiers to subfolders or individual digital files within an archival file.

Example:

RBSC-ARC-1710 (Fonds)

└─ [SF01] (Soufonds)

└─ [S01] (Series)

└─ [F001] (Archival file)

└─ Internal subfolder

└─ Files and items in the subfolder

└─ [I001] (Item)

└─ [S02] (Series)

└─ [F002] (File)

└─ [I002] (Item)

└─ [S03] (Series)

└─ [SS01] (Subseries)

└─ [F003] (Archival file)

└─ [I003] (Item)

6. Ensure identifiers are independent of directory structure

Confirm that identifiers:

Represent intellectual units (fonds, soufonds, series, subseries, file, item)

Are unique (i.e. there is only one S01 and one F001 in a fonds)

Are not derived from original directory structure or folder depth unless no changes have been made to the arrangement

Remain stable regardless of future rearrangement or migration

7. Manage individual digital files as components

Manage individual digital files through metadata rather than through separate archival identifiers.

Record filenames, relative paths, checksums, formats, and sizes as appropriate (using Treesize, DROID, and/or Brunnhilde).

Record original carrier information in “General note: Source of digital transfer”.

Preserve internal folder structures within the digital object where applicable.

8. Create archival descriptions

Using the information gathered from Treesize, DROID, and/or Brunnhilde exports, create descriptions in AtoM at the appropriate levels:

Fonds

Soufonds

Series (and subseries, where intellectually justified)

File or item (as determined in Step 4)
- Mandatory fields:
  - Identifier
  - Parent slug
  - Level of description
  - Title
  - Date of creation – Be mindful of differentiating between dates of folders that were created/modified as part of the arrangement process. For this field, we record the last modified date of files in an archival file
  - Start and end date
  - Physical description
  - Generate note: File path?????

Optional fields:
- Title note
- Scope and content – For archival files with deep nesting and/or content that is not described in the title alone
- Physical description note
- General note: Digital transfer note
- Arrangement note – Where the archivist has imposed or modified arrangement (e.g., grouping independent files into a file-level unit), record this information in the Arrangement note.

Do not create descriptions for internal subfolders or individual digital files within an archival file.