We are happy to help the archive maintainers to transfer the contents of their archives or zines into the Archive of Our Own (AO3)! We would create a collection on AO3 for your archive and a special archivist account that can upload works on behalf of others. As the mod(s) of the original archive, you would be invited to moderate the collection within AO3.
We can help you with procedures to do the bulk of the importing yourself, or we have a team of import assistants that can help with the manual work. We can provide support in:
- Outreach: publicizing the import using OTW’s media channels and fielding questions
- Procedures: provide tools that automate sending invitations (as many as you need) and e-mails that allow creators to claim their works, assistance tracking works to be imported, instructions, and help with AO3 questions (e.g., collections, tagging, etc.)
- Technical Support: if desired, we can assist with creating backups and/or setting up redirects to the Open Doors collection. We may also be able to generate spreadsheets for database driven archives and mass import archives to AO3
- Manual Assistance: We have a team of import assistants that can help create spreadsheets and manually import works to AO3
During the import, we will depend on you and/or volunteers designated by you for:
- Providing feedback on drafts and AO3 tag suggestions
- Publicizing the import to archive members (e.g. by e-mail, posts to related communities, etc.)
- Optionally, creating spreadsheets and importing works
If, after the import, you no longer wish to be involved with the archive, you can designate a new maintainer for the collection or close the collection to new submissions. (If a volunteer later requests to maintain a closed collection, we’ll try to contact you to ask if you’d like to transfer the collection to their care; we would only make this transfer if we received approval from you.)
While we often help mods import archives which are closing (or already offline), Open Doors should be involved anytime one is planning to import works on behalf of another creator. For example, if you would like to back up an active archive to AO3, use AO3 as an extension of your archive, create a memorial account for a friend, or any other situation, please contact Open Doors.