What?
- Store old documents, content, images, etc. from your branch/state website.
Why?
- Clear up extra storage space for future website content.
- Organize branch files and documents.
How?
- Apply the same records management principles for paper and electronic records. It will make this task more manageable.
- A branch historian/branch collection officer should take the lead on archiving.
- Options for storage: print, external hard drive, CD/DVD. Flash drives are not a strong long term option as they may easily be lost.
- Maintain 1-2 years of newsletters on your website. Even when compressed, these files can consume a lot of storage space. The details contained within newsletters have greater short-term usefulness.
- Include your branch name and/or logo on all documents to brand the materials for your branch.
- Make sure all files uploaded to the media library have a search engine friendly file name. The name of a file typically becomes a part of the URL. Give your file a simple name containing keywords like newsletter, meeting, etc. This extra step will make it easier to archive and locate your files later.
- Keep an original version of files uploaded to the media library. You don’t – and can’t upload – a 10MB image to your website. The file is too large to download in a web browser anyway. Compress files for upload online, but maintain an original version in your files for historical purposes. Original files may be manipulated for future purposes.
- Include ALT tags with images. Online, alt text describes what’s on the image and the function of the image on the page. The alt tag is used by screen readers, the browsers used by blind and visually impaired people, to tell them what is on the image. When archiving, the alt tag can serve as a description of your image.