Author – Rasmus Spanner, ECE Connection™ Website Manager –

This article is also featured on ECE Connection™ [https://theconnection.ece.org], a resource hub hosted and maintained by Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE®).

As any credential evaluator can attest, our field is in the midst of a digital awakening. New technologies continue to emerge, reshaping how we approach our work. However, as important (and exciting) as these shiny new objects are, it is easy to lose sight of the internal systems that serve (and have served) as the backbone of our evaluation processes. Our digital archives, repositories, and knowledge bases are all essential tools of our trade that require constant maintenance and attention. Safeguarding data, in its various forms, plays a vital role in today’s evaluation environment. These tools help us work efficiently, consistently, and cooperatively to ensure the fair and accurate evaluations our clients expect and deserve. I’d like to take this opportunity to share some thoughts on an important facet of this topic—the preservation of digital documents.

Seeing is believing

Digital archives offer a fast and convenient way to visually inspect documents. Whether you are new to evaluation, evaluating a credential you have never seen before, or reviewing multiple credentials, easy access to documents means less time searching and more time evaluating. And even the sharpest memory has its limits, especially when it comes to the seemingly endless variations in documents that cross our desks. Unless you see Iranian credentials on a regular basis, it might be easy to forget that some Iranian institutions issue degrees that are color-coded according to level—or perhaps that wasn’t evident until you flipped through an archive. The ability to efficiently identify credential details on a document is extremely helpful as you parse the information needed for an evaluation.

Knowing what to expect on a credential can be a boon in other ways. Fonts, formats, signatures, stamps, and other security features form a road map for document authentication. This is typically where the evaluation process begins, and for good reason. Why dive into hours of credentials research if there are concerns regarding authenticity? Archives give us the ability to quickly determine the next course of action, whether it’s proceeding with the evaluation or reaching out to the issuing institution for verification.

Hoarding metadata

While digital document repositories are immensely useful to us, they don’t capture everything. We can’t feel the document. We aren’t able to hold it up to a UV light. We still can’t smell the glue! Until all senses can be transmitted via broadband internet, we must rely on metadata to fill in the gaps. But what is metadata?

Simply stated, metadata is data about data. It is structured information about a digital object. In document archives, we use metadata to search, sort, and identify documents. No two archives are built the same, but they all contain metadata fields that provide key details about documents. Examples of metadata fields one might see in a credential evaluation document archive include:

Applying these datapoints makes it easier to make connections (or discover disconnects) when searching for documents. The credential year and institution name can provide a comprehensive history of name changes. Issue date can negate the need to filter out credentials that were reissued and thus inconsistent with the year or era. Document features can reveal inconsistencies (and potential red flags) by year, credential level, and institution. Without metadata, identifying documents and spotting patterns would be challenging and time consuming.

Hold on to the good ones

Beyond its practical role in evaluating credentials, archives support training and research. By flagging documents as important, unique, or particularly useful for comparison, they can conveniently be tracked down and utilized in work that extends beyond evaluations. Archived documents can be utilized for conference presentations, research projects, reference materials, books, and publications. A robust credentials repository can also serve as a centerpiece for collaboration across institutions and support the collective interests of our professional community.

There can also be benefits to preserving documents that are peripheral to credential evaluation. Documents hold inherent value as cultural artifacts and expose us to new languages, scripts, historical and political references, print methods, and art forms. It is interesting to discover and share unique or memorable credentials with colleagues.

Thank yourself tomorrow

By maintaining a document archive with care and consistency, you contribute to the long-term stability of your organization’s evaluation processes. While the benefits may not be immediate, the archive serves as a reliable reference over time. With appropriate policies and practices in place, it can support evaluators in their day-to-day work, offer context for training and research, and help preserve institutional knowledge. Rather than simply being a standalone function, the archive is a steady part of the broader evaluation environment.