| Popis: |
Oregon Health & Science University’s Historical Collections & Archives holds extensive 19th and 20th century collections, consisting of unique archival materials, that document public health in Oregon. These collections provide early research data, which frequently documents under-served populations, that remain largely inaccessible to the data-driven health sciences researchers whose predecessors created them. This is a regional example of the global problem of legacy data – valuable research information that is difficult to use due to format or access system. Inaccessible legacy data hinders scientific discovery, and generates redundancies and inefficiencies in the research enterprise. Additionally, fears over violating the regulations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) often keep archivists and other information professionals from creating access to these sorts of records. “Public Health in Oregon: Accessing Historical Data for Scientific Discovery,” a Library Services and Technology Act grant-funded project, completed in the Spring of 2017, sought to rectify some of these problems through digitizing records, redacting protected health information (PHI), and transcribing data into a more usable and accessible format. This paper will focus on issues encountered and solutions devised around selecting data for digitization and transcription, redacting data according to HIPAA Safe Harbor methodology, creating accessible versions of the resulting digital files, and documenting the choices made during the project. |
