Kevin -

A cautionary note: My experience with IT departments tells me that you need
to have at the least a supervisory role of an archivist or someone like
that who truly understands the 'big picture' - not only the significance
and value of the 'information' but also the necessity to adhere to high
standards for data integrity, backup routines, uninterrupted power supplies
and the like. My belief is that organizations have turned over much too
much power to network engineers and technicians (IT departments) - just
because no one else understands the technology. IT too often tells
organizational management what they have to do rather than the other way
around. Just one man's opinion.

Russ

At 06:27 AM 2/15/2006, you wrote:
>Can anyone share there own, or direct me to documentation on, network /
>server best practices for archival data storage? I find plenty of high
>level admin and planning information on the web but nothing specific in
>the technical realm. In our organization we are realizing that with more
>and more of our collections items and information residing on our
>corporate servers we need to decide whether to continue to have the IT
>Department manage it, in partnership with the archive, or whether we need
>to make a case that the archive should implement its own IT function
>because of our specialized needs. It is those "specialized needs" I am
>trying to get a handle on.
>
>I realize this might not be an easy question to respond to on list. Any
>help will be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thank you.
>Kevin Irelan

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Russ Hamm
Ed Tech Specialist
National School District (http://nsd.us)
San Diego County, California
tel. (619) 336-7752
FAX (619) 336-7551