Michigan State University is using a federal grant to help preserve some of its most important digital records, including its catalog of academic programs. The three-year, $251,079 grant is from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and is funding the “Spartan Archive,” a prototype of an electronic records archive for what are known as “born-digital” records.
During the three-year project, the University Archives and Historical Collections will test the sustainability of an archival solution designed to preserve four large electronic records series from the MSU Office of the Registrar: the full catalog of academic programs, the descriptions of courses offered each semester, the annual student directory and the schedule of courses.
This collection of records probably contains little of interest to today's genealogists although may become valuable in the future. Even better, the techniques learned in this effort should help define preservation techniques for all sorts of digitized records held in many different archives.
You can read more in an article in the Michigan State University News at http://news.msu.edu/story/8507/
