Washington, DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials, SPEC Kit 329, which explores the tools, workflow, and policies special collections and archives staff use to process, manage, and provide access to born-digital materials they collect. This SPEC Kit looks at which staff process and manage born-digital materials and how they acquire the skills they need for these activities. The publication also examines how libraries have responded to the challenges that managing born-digital materials present.
The management of born-digital materials is still relatively new for ARL libraries, and the survey results show that good practices and workflows are still evolving. New tools are emerging rapidly, and the once solid line between digitized content and born-digital content is beginning to blur. Survey responses indicated that the library and archives profession lacks a common definition of what born-digital content is and a common understanding of who within the organization should manage this content.
This SPEC Kit includes documentation from respondents that describes digital specialists’ job responsibilities, collection policies, gift/purchase agreements, format policies, and workflows.
Ordering Information
SPEC Kit 329, Managing Born-Digital Special Collections and Archival Materials
Naomi Nelson, Seth Shaw, Nancy Deromedi, Michael Shallcross, Cynthia Ghering, Lisa Schmidt, Michelle Belden, Jackie Esposito, Ben Goldman, and Tim Pyatt
August 2012 • 202 pp.
Online edition
SPEC Kit 329
ISBN 1-59407-884-X • $50 • Password or IP access
The SPEC Kit Collection provides online access to all titles published from 2006 to the present (SPEC Kit 292– ). Password access is $400. IP access is $300 ARL members/$400 all others.
Print edition
ISBN 1-59407-883-1 • $35 ARL members/$45 all others
Shipping and Handling
US: UPS Ground, $10/publication
Canada: UPS Ground, $15/per publication
International and Rush Orders: Call (301) 362-8196 or e-mail
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
for quote.
2012 subscription, six issues (328–333), shipping included (additional postage may apply outside North America) • ISSN 0160-3582 • $225 ARL members/$300 all others.
Order online IP access and print from:
ARL Publications Distribution Center
PO Box 531
Annapolis Junction, MD 20701-0531
Phone: (301) 362-8196
Fax: (240) 396-2479
E- mail:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: http://www.arl.org/publications-resources#order
Payment by check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa is accepted. Make check or money order payable in US funds to the Association of Research Libraries, Federal ID #52-0784198-N.
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 126 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at http://www.arl.org/.
