Archivists' Toolkit - SAA Annual Meeting, August 20, 2005 Archivists’ Toolkit Towards Streamlined...

Archivists' Toolkit - SAA Annual Meeting, August 20, 2005

Archivists’ Toolkit Towards Streamlined Archival Workflow

Lee MandellKelcy ShepherdBrian Stevens

Brad Westbrook


Overview• Project Update

– Project Objective and Staff– First year efforts– Goals for second year– Prospects beyond the grant period

• AT Software Specification– Specification Framework– Specification Modules– Application architecture and technology– Demonstration example


Project Objectives• Digital tools to support archival processing in a manner

that promotes efficiency and standardization

• Focus on core archives functions of accessioning, resource description, subject and name management and application, and resource location

• Support outputs such as EAD, EAC, METS, and various administrative reports


Project Team• Brian Schottlaender, UCSD, Co-Principal Investigator

• Carol Mandel, NYU, Co-Principal Investigator

• Brad Westbrook, Proj. Mgr & Spec Team Leader

• Lee Mandell, NYU, Design Team Mgr

• Kelcy Shepherd, Analyst

• Brian Stevens, Analyst

• Luc Declerck, UCSD, and David Ackerman, NYU, Administrative Oversight


Project Advisory Board

• Robin Chandler, CDL

• Michael Fox, MHS

• Merrilee Proffitt, RLG

• Richard Szary, Yale

• Guenter Waibel, RLG

• Beth Yakel, U Mich


Project Partners• Bates College

• Five Colleges: Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Hampshire College Archives, Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections, Smith College Archives & Sophia Smith Collection, & UMass-Amherst, Special Collections and Archives

• NYC: The American Museum of Natural History, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, The Center for Jewish History, & Manhattan College

• NYU: Fales Library, Tamiment Library, University Archives

• UCSD: Mandeville Special Collections & SIO Archives


First Year Accomplishments

• Functional Requirements Identified

• Application Specification Composed

• Design Team Manager Hired


Goals for Second Year• Build Prototype from AT Specification

– Interface Design• Compose User Documentation

– User Manual– Application Help Module– Installation Scripts

• Test Application and Documentation– Functional Testing– Usability Testing

• Formulate Business Plan• Release Tested Application


Prospects Beyond the Grant Period

• Modular Design Architecture in Open Source Software

• Possible Extensions include

– More Robust Collection Management Module– Additional Tools to Support Ingest of Local Data– Extended Digital Object (Surrogate) Module– User Registration / Resource Use Module

• Shared Development


Application OverviewBrian Stevens

New York University


– General Description– Product context– Software system– Context diagram– Application diagram– Software system attributes– Installation requirements– Performance requirements– Design constraints– Other requirements– User characteristics– Task list– Data flow diagram– Data dictionary

Pieces Included in the Specification Overview


General Description

• Problem Statement

• Purpose of the Software Specification

• Scope of the Archivists’ Toolkit

• Glossary

• Data Dictionary

• References

• Acknowledgements


The Toolkit Functions

• integrate key functions in the archival descriptive cycle

• ingest extant metadata about collections in the form of EAD finding aids and MARC records

• use a relational database management system with Java Swing client user interface

• be deployable in a range of archival repositories


Design Overview•Administration/Project Management

•Ingest

•Accession

•Location

•Names

•Subjects

•Audit

•Search

•Description


Task List

• Prerequisites• Installation• Application / Project Management• Manage Records• Audit Trail• Record Navigation• Generate Report• Search Database


Application Software System

• Software system attributes

• Installation requirements

• Performance requirements

• Design constraints

• Other requirements


Ingest

DescriptionAccessionName table

(creators, donors, personal name subjects, executors)

Subject table(topical, genre, and

geographic subject terms)

Location

Audit Tracking

Help Search

Toolkit Context Diagram

Entry InterfaceSystem

Administration Interface

Search interface

=

See next page for outputs

Application=hexagonModules=rectangles (shadow indicates primary modules)Screen Output=circlePaper Output=rounded squareInterface=triangle


accessions description

Administrative/project

management

search

On-screen search output

name

subject

location

Data entry

audit

Set defaults

Audit output

Adminstative settings

Permissions

entry entry

Search audit

entry

entry

entry

project parameters

Reference

Log in

Administrative in orange

Data entry in purple

Reference in yellow


Functional ModulesKelcy Shepherd

Five Colleges


• Establish repository record

• Manage users

• Customize default fields, required fields, input forms

• Create project definitions

Application/Project Management


Ingest Module• EAD version 1.0 and

2002 (XML)

• MARC XML


Accession Module• Preliminary descriptive information

• Some collection management fields

• Descriptive and administrative outputs:– Accession record– Accession receipt– Acquisitions report– Processing reports– More…


Description Module

• Archival resources and surrogates

• Inputs based on DACS, ISAD(G)

• Outputs:•EAD•METS•Dublin Core•Collections guide

•MARC XML•MODS•Printed finding aids•More…


Location Module

• For tracking “permanent” locations

• Accommodate a range of practice

• Outputs:– Location record– Shelf list– List of all locations for a resource


Names Module• Authority control for names (personal, family,

and corporate/conference)• Includes fields for contact information,

biographical/historical note• Supports see also and see references• Outputs:

– Source record– Sources list– EAC record


Subject Module

• Basic authority control for subjects

• Can create records in advance or on an as-needed basis

• Outputs:– Repository subject guide


• Uniquely identifies each record

• Allows repository to track creation and editing of records

Audit Tracking


Search Module• For moderated use in reference setting

• Features:– Search for resource by resource ID, title,

creator, or subject– Search for resources, resource components,

surrogates, and surrogate components by keywords in title

– Search for locations by resource ID


Archivists’ Toolkit:

Application Architecture and Technology

Lee Mandell, Design Team Manager


Back End (database)

• Developed with mySQL• Will work with many SQL databases both open

source and commercial– Partial list: DB2, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft

SQL Server, Informix, Ingres ...

• Why SQL and not other technologies like xml and object databases?– Maturity of SQL databases– Likelihood of local IT departments having SQL expertise– Many existing open source projects to integrate into the

projects.


Front End (Client)

• Needs: Cross platform (Mac OSX, Windows 98+, Linux), open source, sophisticated user interface capabilities

• Solution: Java desktop client– Many more user interface options than a web based client– Will run on any computer with Java 5 (1.5) installed

• Client and database can be installed on the same computer or on different computers.– Single machine configuration– Local network configuration– Wide area network configuration


Open Source

• SourceForge– Project will be listed by the end of the year.– Source code will be available in an early alpha

version early next year for viewing only– When we enter beta testing we will be open to other

developers joining the effort

• Anyone will be able to download the source code and use it as they wish.

• We hope a developer community will grow out of the project


The Great Divideor in technical terms

The Paradigm Mismatch

JavaObject Oriented

Programming Language

SQLRelational Database


HibernateA persistence layer

• An open source project to bridge the differences between Java and relational databases

• Saves us from rolling our own• Allows easy swapping of back end

databases


A Live Demonstration


http://archiviststoolkit.org/

Archivists' Toolkit - SAA Annual Meeting, August 20, 2005 Archivists’ Toolkit Towards Streamlined...

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