Learning from Las Vegas: Adapting Workflows for Managing Born-Digital Design Records
Architecture collections have been a mainstay for Special Collections and Archives at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV SCA), since the late 1970s. Until 2017, most architecture collections in Special Collections and Archives have consisted of physical records. In recent years, curators began acquiring architecture collections with significant born-digital content, which present unique challenges different from other types of born-digital materials. This case study discusses how staff adapted existing workflows for born-digital materials to process and describe two collections comprised of born-digital architecture and design records. The authors also describe how UNLV SCA provides access to proprietary design files through the creation of access surrogates. Lessons learned from adapting workflows and processing these collections are detailed, as well as future steps for continuing the development of workflows and policies for managing born-digital architecture and design records.ABSTRACT
PDF/E access surrogate of a partial exterior elevation of Caesars Palace. PDF/E allows users to view and hide individual layers that are common in CAD files (from MS-00832 John Levy Lighting Productions, Inc. Records, A3-02.pdf).
Concept 1 set, one of three available floor plans to build Sinatra Living (from UA-00075 University of Nevada, Las Vegas Solar Decathlon Records)
Example of a complex folder and file path from UA-00075 University of Nevada, Las Vegas Solar Decathlon Records
Solar Decathlon collection reader distribution map of records accessed from UNLV's institutional repository
Contributor Notes
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Tammi Kim is a Special Collections and Archives technical services librarian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She earned her MLIS from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2011. She previously worked at the University of Delaware and for the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the University of Georgia.
Since March 2021, Karla Irwin has worked as an archivist for Pew Charitable Trusts. She received her MLIS with an archives specialization from Drexel University in 2012. Previously, she worked at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives, Hagley Museum and Library, and the Science History Institute.