DPLA Archival Description Working Group Update

Gretchen GueguenData Services Coordinator

Digital Public Library of America

L-R Minnesota DL, Kentucky DL and Artstor13+ Million Resources and Growing

= 1 record

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DEAL WITH IT

DPLA Archival Description Working Group

• “explore solutions to support both item-level and aggregate-level approaches to digital object description and access.”

• Whitepaper outlining research and recommendations, to be released in 2016

Working Group Members• Gretchen Gueguen (Chair/DPLA) • Jodi-Allison Bunnel (Orbis Cascade Alliance)• Mark Custer (Yale University)• Bradley Daigle (University of Virginia)• Jacqueline Dean (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)• Max Eckard (University of Michigan)• Ben Goldman (Penn State University)• Leigh Grinstead (LYRASIS)• Kris Keisling (University of Minnesota)• Adrian Turner (California Digital Library)

• Shawn Averkamp (New York Public Library)• Erin Hawkins (World Digital Library, Library of Congress)• Sheila McAlister (Digital Library of Georgia)• Sandra McIntyre (Mountain West Digital Library)• Anne Van Camp (Smithsonian Institution)

Goals• Recommendations for aggregated

archival objects

• Context for digital objects

Working Group Work Plan• Research Phase (10/1/15 – 2/29/16)

• Design Phase (3/1/16 – 6/30/16)

• Writing Phase (7/1/16 – 9/15/16)

Findings• “Collection” can mean many things.

• Collection data in DPLA is not consistent.

• Aggregate-level and item-level metadata are both heavily used.

• Better contextual information (such as collection descriptions) is a reasonable way to improve access.

Description Level Recommendations

• Recommend the use of aggregate-level records when appropriate

• Recognize that minimal records, or records that are highly redundant, are a fact of life in archives.

• Collection and other context information in those records will reduce confusion

Context Recommendations• Collection information that DPLA

should collect includes – title– description– URL to a longer description

• There are several recommended methods for gathering this information

J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs

The Sayre Collection consists of more than 24,000 photographs of theatrical and vaudeville performers, musicians, and entertainers who played in Seattle between about 1900 and 1955 (some of the materials date back to the 1870s). The collector was J. Willis Sayre: drama critic, journalist, promoter. The collection covers the little-studied period when Seattle had a prominent place in the development of vaudeville…

Learn more about the collection

See more items from the collection

Part of the WBAP-TV Archives Collection.

Collection

Search our Collections

Crossroads to Freedom Digital Collection

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Armed Forces History: National Numismatic Collection

Rhodes College. Crossroads to Freedom

See all 116,001 items…Learn more about the collection....

David Rumsey

See all 67,462 items…Learn more about the collection...

National Museum of American History,Kenneth E. Behring Center

See all 67,462 items…Learn more about the collection...

Draft for Comment• Deadline for a release of a draft for

initial comment is mid-September.

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THANKS!!

Gretchen GueguenData Services Coordinator

gretchen@dp.laMatthew Roberts in His Army UniformTarrant County College NE, Heritage Room via the Portal to Texas History

QUESTIONS?