This page provides documentation about sending digital material to Distinctive Collections (DDC) from the creators or donors of the material. For more information, see the donate digital material page on Distinctive Collection's webpage. As mentioned on that webpage, these steps are only to be undertaken once you have been approved by Distinctive Collections staff.

Archives Transfer Tool (ATT)

The Archives Transfer Tool currently exists as a Dropbox shared folder. Once you have been in contact with Distinctive Collections (DDC) and have created a submission agreement, you will be added to a shared folder to transfer files for yourself, DLC, etc.

Upload content

To upload content to the Dropbox shared folder, you

  • DO need to have an active MIT kerberos account and have logged in at least once to the Dropbox web interface

  • Do NOT need to install or use the Dropbox application – this is 100% browser based. Although you can use the Dropbox app if you prefer.

Once you are logged in, follow these steps:

  1. Access the /ArchivesTransfer/ folder in Dropbox using this URL.
  2. Double-click the subfolder which DDC has created for your transfer.
  3. You will see two files already there:
    1. default_metadata.json: a file set up by DDC that you don't need to change. It has some general metadata for any file that might be uploaded to this folder. Leave this file in place.
    2. sample_csv.csv: a file that can be used as a template for providing additional metadata, as described in the section below.

  4. To upload files, you can either:

    1. Drag and drop the file(s) from your computer into the browser window

    2. Or Click the “Upload or drop” button in the upper left corner and then choose File from the list of options. This will open a file browser where  you can go find the file to upload from your computer. If using the file browser, select the file (or files) and click the OK button.

      Important: Do not create or upload any subfolders inside of this folder! You can only upload files to the root of this folder.

  5. Proceed to the next section to provide some basic metadata about the content you are transferring.

Providing additional metadata

To provide additional metadata for each of the files that you have uploaded, you need to do a little work with a CSV file. The sample_csv.csv file is the template for the additional metadata. You should create one CSV file for each collection of files that you are uploading. So, if you are only uploading one file, you should create a CSV file with one data row. If you are uploading a collection of 10 files, you should create one CSV with 10 data rows. The sample CSV contains the following columns:

  • filename is the exact name of the file in the Dropbox folder, for instance: MyRecords.docx

  • beginning_year is the beginning date of the files you are transferring (a four-digit year)

  • ending_year is the latest date of the files you are transferring (a four-digit year)

  • description is the full text description of the file you are transferring (with no commas in the description)

To provide this metadata,

  1. Download the sample_csv.csv file to your workstation

  2. Rename it with an appropriate name for the set of files it is describing

  3. Using an editor (Excel, Notepad++, BBEdit, etc…) add one row for each file

  4. Fill out the information for the columns listed above: filename, beginning_year, ending_year, description

  5. Save the updated CSV as a .csv formatted file

  6. Upload the updated CSV to the Dropbox folder (so that it lives alongside the files that you uploaded)

Notify Distinctive Collections

When you are finished with your upload (of one file or of a collection of files) and the upload of the metadata CSV file, send an email to DDC to let them know that content is ready and give them the name of the CSV file that contains the list of files and associated metadata!

DART

DART is a desktop app that allows for verifiable data transfers. Once you have been in contact with Distinctive Collections (DDC) and have created a submission agreement, you will be added to a network folder to transfer files for yourself, DLC, etc. The steps below describe how to connect to that drive, download DART, and use it to transfer files to DDC.

Connect to the network drive

  1. Log on to VPN using the PrismaAccess VPN through the GlobalProtect software (instructions here). Make sure you are on one of the regional gateways such as "US East" in the GlobalProtect settings.
  2. Connect to the Distinctive Collections records transfer drive (basic instructions for Mac and instructions for Windows (see section, "How do I map a network drive?"). When asked for a folder or server location, use the address listed in this document. The network drive will have a folder within it named with your DLC's name or acronym where you will send your files. You will use that folder path as the output path under the import setting section, step 5 below.
  3. Continue to the install DART section.

Install DART

  1. To install DART, go to the DART docs page and download the file under "Download" for for your system.

  2. Double-click the installer after download and follow the prompts on screen.

  3. There should now be a shortcut on your desktop. Click the shortcut and DART should open.

Import settings

  1. Go to Settings > Import Settings

  2. Select the Import from URL option

  3. Enter this URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jfcarrano/archives-docs/master/dart_settings/MIT_RecordsTransfer_settings.json

  4. Click Import

  5. The settings import will show if it is successful on screen. You will also now have a few questions to answer to create presets for your transfers.

  6. For the file path question, enter the file path to your group's folder on the Distinctive Collections records transfer drive (mentioned above in Connect to the network drive, step 2). It will look like what is entered in the screenshot above. The example points to the DAPER folder, it would be on Windows: R:\DAPER (or whatever drive letter was chosen by you at set up) or on Macs: /Volumes/cdps-recordstransfer/DAPER.
    If you're unsure on how to find the file path, try these options:
    1. On Windows:
      1. go to your file explorer window and navigate into your group's folder in the Distinctive Collections records transfer drive (cdps-recordstransfer).
      2. Click on the address bar at the top of the window and copy the file path.
      3. Now that you have the path copied, paste it into the file path question in DART.
    2. On Mac:
      1. go to your Finder window and navigate to the Distinctive Collections records transfer drive (cdps-recordstransfer).
      2. Control click on your group's subfolder.
      3. When the menu that pops up, hold down the Option button on your keyboard.
      4. Instead of regular “Copy” you will now see “Copy "[your group's subfolder]" as Pathname”, click that.
      5. Now that you have the path copied, paste it into the file path question in DART.
  7. Fill out the other questions with your name, email address, and group's name.

  8. Click Finish

  9. You should now be ready to start using DART for records transfers. Proceed to the Using DART section.

Using DART

  1. To transfer records, open DART and go to Jobs > New.

  2. Drag and drop any folders or files you want to transfer onto the blue-dotted line box in the DART window. When ready click Next >>.

  3. Leave Package Format as is.

  4. Under BagIt Profile, select the "MIT records transfer" profile (this option was imported during the set up above).

  5. For Serialization, select ".tar".

  6. Package Name should be as follows: the present date in YYYYMMDD format followed by _TheNameofYourOffice_01, for instance 20201109_OfficeOfThePresident_01 or 20250711_DAPER_01. This will be the name of the package produced in the new location.

    1. If you have multiple transfers to complete in the same day, increase the ending number by one for each additional transfer after the first one for that date. For instance the second transfer from the first example would be, 20201109_OfficeOfThePresident_02, etc.

  7. Output path is the location where the files will be going to. This is already preset by default from setting up DART. The tool will automatically insert the package name you entered above.

  8. Click Next >>

  9. Enter or adjust any description related to the transfer (Bag Metadata) following the help text (hover over the "?" symbol to see the help text for each field).

  10. Click Next >>

  11. The Upload Targets page should be blank, this is only used when sending content to a cloud service, Click Next >>

  12. On the next page, review the job.

    1. If you need to adjust something click Back>>

    2. If everything looks good, click the "Run Job" button

  13. The progress screen will show when the package is created and validated.

    1. If it fails, you can try again or contact Distinctive Collections.

    2. If successful, please contact Distinctive Collections to confirm you've completed your transfer.
  14. If you have additional transfers to make, return to step 1. If not, you are all done.

  15. Please do NOT delete your original files until after you have received a notification from Distinctive Collections confirming receipt of proper transfer of the files. This may take several weeks.
     

    Note: you cannot alter or add any files to the package after it has been transferred. If you need to do so, you will have to redo the transfer, please contact Distinctive Collections staff if that is necessary.



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