Archiving Web Content
Web content that is outdated, inaccurate, or redundant should be archived or deleted. Use the table below to compare options for archiving web content, and contact the Web Team if you're not sure which archival option is best.
| Unpublish in Drupal | Archive-It subscription | Wayback machine | htdocs-archive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What types of content can be archived this way? | Drupal content only | Any web content | Any web content | Any static HTML content, especially htdocs content |
| Can staff still access the content? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Can patrons still access the content? | No | Yes | Yes, but dynamic content may not be functional. | No |
| Can existing links to this content be redirected to the archived version? | No, but a redirect should still be set up so old links resolve. Contact web team to set up a redirect. | Yes, contact the web team to set up a redirect. | Yes, but the redirect will not be as stable as using our Archive-It subscription. Contact web team to set up a redirect. | No, but a redirect should still be set up so old links resolve. Contact web team to set up a redirect. |
| Where is the content hosted? | On our web servers, in Drupal | 2 copies are hosted by the Internet Archive. | the Internet Archive | On our web servers, in the htdocs-archive directory. |
| Notes | Best way to preserve content we'll likely need to reference in the future. | Best way to ensure content "lives forever". Contact Brian Dietz to set up crawling. | Last resort if you're afraid to delete content, but don't want it to live in Drupal or htdocs. | Best option for retired htdocs content. Contact Eric Pauley to set up content migration. |
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