Digital Design Records Committee

The Digital Design Records Committee is a community of practice within the Design Records Section for archival professionals working with design records to collaboratively explore the wide range of issues born-digital deign records present for collecting institutions. Research initiatives have addressed a wide range of topics that impact archival stewardship of any collection including: surveys of architectural archives holdings of born-digital design records, contributing file types to PRONOM, exploring the current Deeds of Gift, creating description examples and guidance with the Descriptive Elements for Born-Digital Records in Architectural Collections (DEBDRAC), updating the Appraisal Tool (American Archivist, Volume 84, Issue 2), contributing terms to SAA's Dictionary of Archives Terminology, and exploring methods of access and appraisal. The Committee advocates to address the misperception that design records are a niche record type only found in repositories or institutions specializing in design records, and aims to be inclusive of design disciplines and collecting institutions alike.

Starting in 2012 as the CAD/BIM Taskforce 2012-2018 with 2 members, the group has evolved over the past decade in membership size (2-22 members) and name (Digital Design Records Taskfroce 2018-2022, and now formally a Committee of the Design Records Section); while maintaining its core purpose: lower the barrier for archival professionals to collect and engage with born-digital design records. The group has taken a myriad of approaches to connect with digital preservationists, design professionals, historians of design diciplines, historic preservationists, techlologists, among others. 

No special requirements are needed to join the Committee, only an interest in learning more about the issues born-digital design records pose to organizations receiving and/or collecting these complex dynamic born-digital files that are often in proprietary formats. 

Current Co-Chairs:                                                                                                                  Aliza Leventhal                                                                                                                        Jody Thompson

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