Documentation Site Content Approval Policy

Purpose

Rockefeller Archive Center (RAC) documentation consists of the policies, workflows, processes, manuals, plans, and standard forms that are integral to the operations of the RAC and are intended for long-term use. In order for RAC staff to use, share and manage this documentation, the RAC maintains a central platform at docs.rockarch.org. All documentation on the platform is available to RAC staff and select documentation is available to external users. This facilitates transparency and version control of our institutional processes, as well as an opportunity to share archival documentation with the larger archival community and other interested users.

This policy defines the approval process by which documentation is selected, designated as internal or public, added to docs.rockarch.org, and revised.

Policy Statement

All documentation, whether internal-facing or public-facing, must be approved for addition to docs.rockarch.org by the RAC Assistant Director for the relevant function area. Documentation that is made publicly available must also be approved by the Program Director and the President. All public content is shared under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) public domain dedication, and all project-associated code is made available on the RAC organizational GitHub under an MIT License.

Procedure for Proposing Documentation

  • Identify documentation or policies that are appropriate to add to the platform. Good candidates define RAC policies and procedures, serve as a reference resource for essential RAC operations, and are intended for long-term use. To be considered for the platform, all policies must have been finalized and approved by the relevant Assistant Director, the Program Director, and the President as RAC policies.
  • Propose addition of the documentation or policy. Content must be approved by the RAC Assistant Director for the relevant function area.
  • Decide if the documentation will be internal to the RAC or public. The Program Director and President must approve all public content.

Internal v. Public

The RAC seeks to contribute widely to our professional community and welcomes feedback and engagement with the documentation that we make available.

Documentation containing information that the RAC determines should be accessed only by RAC staff members will be kept internal and will not made available for public access. Internal-facing content contains information that should not be shared based on privacy or security concerns or is simply so specific to the context of the RAC that it will not be relevant or useful to external users.

Adding New Documentation

For a step-by-step guide to adding and revising documentation in docs.rockarch.org, including conversion of content to the Markdown format, editing in Markdown, and adding to an RAC GitHub repository, refer to the Rockefeller Archive Center Documentation Site Guide to Managing Content.

Appropriate documentation will be intended for the long-term use and reference by RAC staff and, when publicly available, allied professionals and other interested users. The content is:

  • The most up-to-date version of the documentation that is available.
  • Created by RAC staff. Content that is authored by others can be referenced and linked to within the documentation but should not be hosted and versioned on this platform.
  • A version that is ready for publication online. Assess the structure of the documentation and edit to optimize online access and use. Use best practices for technical writing, including:
    • Hierarchy of document headings
    • Clarity and simplicity
    • Consistent formatting
    • Hyperlinks to external resources and internal references within the documentation

Revising or Removing Documentation

It is expected and encouraged that documentation be reviewed and revised periodically to ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date.

  • Proposed revisions to and/or removal of content must be approved by the RAC Assistant Director for the relevant function area.
  • Substantive changes, as determined by the Assistant Director, must also be approved by the Program Director. Minor technical revisions do not need to be approved by the Director.
  • The decision to convert either from internal-only documentation to public-facing documentation, or from public-facing to internal-only, must also be approved by the Program Director and the President.

Once content has been approved for revision or removal, changes should be submitted through a pull request in the corresponding GitHub repository. The changes will be reviewed by the relevant Assistant Director and the Program Director, as necessary. If a determination is made to either convert documentation from public to private, or to remove it completely, the Assistant Director for Digital Programs or any other RAC employee with administrative access to the RAC GitHub account should be notified to enable this action. Refer to the Rockefeller Archive Center Documentation Site Guide to Managing Content for technical instructions on how to revise documentation that has already been added to docs.rockarch.org.