PA R O M I TA B I S WA S, M E TA DATA L I B R A R I A NW E S T E R N C A R O L I N A U N I V E R S I T Y, P B I S WA S @ W C U. E D U

E L I Z A B E T H S K E N E , D I G I TA L I N I T I AT I V E S L I B R A R I A NW E S T E R N C A R O L I N A U N I V E R S I T Y, E M S K E N E @ W C U. E D U

LYRASIS Second Fridays

February 13, 2015

FROM SILOS TO (ARCHIVES)SPACE:MOVING LEGACY FINDING AIDS TO ARCHIVESSPACE AS A

MULTIDEPARTMENT LIBRARY COLLABORATION

WELCOME

Paromita

Metadata Librarian

Traditional cataloging, digital projects, institutional repository

MLIS, University of California, Los Angles

Liz

Digital Initiatives Librarian

Digital collections, institutional repository, digital humanities

MSI, University of Michigan (Archives & Records Management)

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

My organization currently uses ArchivesSpace or is in the

process of getting started with ArchivesSpace

If this is true for you, click “Agree”*

My organization is thinking about or exploring

implementing ArchivesSpace

If this is true for you, click “Disagree”*

*Please note, you’re not actually agreeing/disagreeing with the statement, this is just a way to vote.

OUR PROJECT

Move 700 legacy finding aids (MS Word documents) online via ArchivesSpace

Process

Workflow

Challenges

PART ONEFinding aid overview

Past efforts

Choosing ArchivesSpace

Workflow decisions

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AT HUNTER LIBRARY

Showcase Appalachian life and natural history, especially of Western North Carolina

Notable collections

Horace Kephart

George Masa

Nantahala Power & Light Company Records

ACCESS TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Monday – Friday: open 9am-noon; by appointment only in the afternoon

Some collections are available online through CONTENTdm

11 collections

5,000+ items

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS FINDING AIDS

Most Special Collections’ materials accessible through finding aids

700 finding aids in MS Word in the library’s internal server

The problem

No online presence of finding aids

Findings aids available only to patrons who visit or contact the library

Finding aids/Special Collections remain hidden and inaccessible to the larger audience

CURRENT FINDING AID LOCATION

HISTORY: EFFORTS TOWARD AN ONLINE PRESENCE

2010: NC ECHO* provides Hunter Library with templates for creating EAD encoded finding aids

Two librarians work in Notepad Pro: time consuming process

Lack of technical knowledge to modify generic templates or publish the finding aids online

35 finding aids published as HTML documents via a widget available online

*NORTH CAROLINA EXPLORING CULTURAL HERITAGE ONLINE

FINDING AIDS CURRENTLY ONLINE

CHOOSING ARCHIVESSPACE

Lack of resources:

No server space

No IT support

Limited staff time

ArchivesSpace offered to Hunter Library:

Option for a hosted server space by LYRASIS

Technical assistance provided by LYRASIS

Training and relative ease of use

PROJECT WORKFLOW

Interdepartmental collaboration

Special Collections: review and map finding aids to ArchivesSpace

Digital, Access, and Technology: training and aligning ArchivesSpace finding aids with digital collections

Content Organization & Management: provide catalogers to do the major work of migration to ArchivesSpace

MIGRATION TO ARCHIVESSPACE

Why choose catalogers??

Copy + pasting from Word document finding aids

Adding controlled vocabularies (names and subjects) to the finding aids – catalogers already trained to do this

BENEFITS OF USING CATALOGERS

No training required in adding controlled vocabularies

Familiar with content management systems (CONTENTdm) other than traditional ILS

Familiarity with the area and local history

Summer can provide the opportunity to do majority of the migration work

PART TWOThe process

Challenges

The future

Take aways

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

My organization’s finding aids reside in an archival

management system [Archon, AT, etc.]

If this is true for you, click “Agree”*

My organization’s finding aids reside in a homegrown

system [Access database, etc.], as word processing

documents or hardcopy.

If this is true for you, click “Disagree”*

*Please note, you’re not actually agreeing/disagreeing with the statement, this is just a way to vote.

THE PROCESS

1. Project team

2. Set priorities

3. Training manual

4. Testing

5. Training

Flickr user kenfagerdotcom, BY-NC-SA

1. PROJECT TEAM

Metadata Librarian

Content Organization & Management department

Digital Initiatives Librarian

Digital, Access, and Technology Services department

Library Technical Assistant

Special Collections department

2. SET PRIORITIES

+ Frequently requested

+ Items in CONTENTdm

– Access restrictions

– Errors in description

3. THE MANUAL

Map

Finding aid template showing the corresponding field in

ArchivesSpace

View the manual at bit.ly/WCU2014ASmanual

3. THE MANUAL

Step by step guide

A how-to for adding data to ArchivesSpace

View the manual at bit.ly/WCU2014ASmanual

3. THE MANUAL

Glossary

Entries with definitions and examples

View the manual at bit.ly/WCU2014ASmanual

4. TESTING

Testing by

By the project team

By one cataloger

Arents Cigarette Cards, NYPL

5. TRAINING

Training

What is it?

How does it work?

Work in pairs

Regroup, revise

Flickr user thelotuscarroll, BY-NC-SA

CHALLENGES

New software

Inconsistency of finding aids

Catalogers vs archival vocabulary

Where does ArchivesSpace live?

Word finding aids

Hunter Library, Western Carolina University

INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATION

Publishing finding aids

Not made available to public during migration/input

Special Collections reviews

Lets catalogers know if a finding aid needs editing

Addressing the inconsistency of the finding aids:

Answering the questions raised by catalogers, for example, some of the finding aids lack important information such as dates, extent etc.

PROJECT PROGRESSPriority 2 Folder

Completed:

J. D. McRorie—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

John Parris—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

Lloyd Cowan—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

Jack and Anna Kilpatrick (some question as to dates—dates in detailed inventory do not seem to

match dates on the accession form)

H. T. Hunter—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

Kilpatrick Cherokee Language

Ron Rash—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

A Mountain Heritage—Tyler Blethen

Sol Schulman (extent needs to be given in linear feet—not given on accession form) This collection is 4 linear feet—jb Corrected 1/29/15--SH

Ron Rash, Add #1 (extent needs to be given in linear feet—not given on accession form) I have updated the entire finding guide. The entire collection description should be replaced. Sorry about that.--jb.

Venoy and Elizabeth Reed—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

Maurice B. Morrill—REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED--JB

THE FUTURE

Go live! Market! Shout it from the rooftops!

Migrate 500 finding aids by 2016

Link to CONTENTdm materials

Explore regional consortium

Update manual

NASA, First Lady Astronaut Trainee Jerrie Cobb

TAKE AWAYS

What is the end goal?

Who has the knowledge?

Progress or perfection?

Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection, BY-NC-ND

QUESTIONS? Thank you!