Meet me in Portland

Headed to Portland for the big meeting this weekend? Don’t forget: the LHRT will gather Friday afternoon from 3:30 – 4:30 in the New Hampshire/Vermont rooms. We hope many of you can make it!

We also understand that since all of the RT’s are meeting at the same time, you may wish to be able to attend more than one meeting…no problem! Please feel free to drop by at any time during the hour, and we all look forward to saying hello and talking shop.

-The LHRT Leadership Team

Got backups?

By Renee DesRoberts

This week I got an email from my content management system provider (PastPerfect) about the importance of backing up our data. It was a good reminder, and this morning I executed a complete backup of all of our content – 25 gigabytes worth of images, data, and other media files – and placed that material on a removable hard drive which is stored in a fireproof safe. I imagine 25 gigs, not huge-not small, is a pretty standard number for a small library such as ours that is regularly digitizing materials and creating web content. For my workspace, there is a whole range of content that is saved on the network servers and gets backed up with all of that material. However the CMS lives in a separate zone and those back ups need to be done manually, and it’s on my head to make sure they happen. I’m guessing for many of us, this is the case.

So my challenge to all of you this week is to back up all of your files! And then start working on a plan for doing this on a regular basis. Think about the following questions, and then you’ll have a starting point for creating your backup routine:

1. Is your data already regularly backed up by your organization?
2. Do you know if the files on your computer are ALL covered under your regular backup schedule or routine?
3. Where are all of the locations where you use/keep/store data?
4. Do you use different computers?
5. Do you use different storage media (flash drives, cloud storage, etc.)?
6. When was the last time you completely backed up your data?
7. When was the last time you created new files? (If you are regularly creating, you should be regularly backing up!)
8. Who has access to your backups? Have you documented where they can be found, in the case that someone else has to access those materials?

Getting in the habit of regular backups is good practice, and an important part of business if you are creating digital content.

If you’re looking for guidance, Digital Preservation at the Library of Congress has a great Outreach and Education page; also look at the documentation/web site for any CMS you use for tips particular to your system. The Department of Homeland Security IT Disaster Recovery Plan page is a great place to start learning about these topics too.

New leaders, new opportunities!

Please welcome the 2016-2018 leadership team for the Local History roundtable:

– CHAIR –
Erik Bauer

– STEERING COMMITTEE –
Barbara Austen
Michelle Chiles
Claire Lobdell

The new leadership will take effect at the spring meeting, and updated contact information for the LHRT and all other updates will be implemented after they have officially taken office.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the election, and to everyone who took time to vote!

Congratulations and best wishes to Erik, Barbara, Michelle and Claire!