Bridging the ALM Divide

An Integrated Archive-Library-Museum Approach for Hybrid Institutions

Francesco Spagnolo, Head of ResearchPerian Sully, Collections Information and Web Programs Manager

Lara Michels, Head Archivist and LibrarianThe Magnes, Berkeley, CA

Presented at the Museum Computer Network CAL-SIGSan Jose Museum of Art, August 22, 2008

Magnes: A Collecting History

Founded in 1962

Wide range of collecting areas, including – •Global Jewish Diaspora•Jews in the American West•Jewish communities in “exotic” places (China, North Africa, India)•Ceremonial objects and Jewish material culture•Modern and contemporary arts•Music•Rare books and manuscripts•Works of Jewish illustrators and ephemera•Historical documents

Three major collecting departments -•Western Jewish History Center archives: ~5,000 items in 500 collections•Blumenthal Rare Book and Manuscript Library - ~10,000 items•Permanent Museum Collection - ~15,000 items

Challenges of Hybrid Institutions

AccessCatering to Many

Research Across Standards

CultureMulticultural Aspects

Bridging Textual, Documental and Material Cultures

LanguageMultilingualism and the Levels of Access

Script, Transliteration, Translation

Whose Vision? One Vision!Cultural Models & Database Structure

Learning from One Another, Learning Together (The Philosophy of ALM Integration)

Extending Museum ModelsExtending Archive ModelsExtending Library Models

Extending Museum Models

•Authorship, Creatorship and “Parties”•Authors and co-authors•Creators and co-creators•Donors

•Accession Numbering•Tracking Movement•Locations•Containers

Extending Archive ModelsVarying Notions of “Collection”

•Facilities•Donations•Collecting Areas•Intellectual Organization of Materials

Extending Library Models

•Why MARC Still Matters•Circulation and Research

Integrating ALM

•Time – Dates and Periods•Subjects – Local and Global•Synonyms and Preferred Terms•ALM, or Meta-Collections

Managing Institutional Change

•Professional Standards•Global Perspectives

Technological Structure:Key Features of IDEA@ALM

•Databanks •Templates •Managing Standards: EAD, MARC, ISAD •Mastering Multilingual capabilities•Global Searches and Queries•Flexibility

MS-SQL databaseXML-based web service and APIMultilingual with full Unicode supportCompliant with Dublin-Core, Z39.50, ISAD, EAD, MARC, ISAARYad Vashem, IDEA’s largest client, presents 4 million records online and manages 65 million documents.

Technological Structure:Databanks

A databank is a virtual database into which records may be sorted and stored.

Magnes IDEA@ALM Database

ArchiveDatabank

LibraryDatabank

MuseumDatabank

ExhibitionsDatabank

AdministrativeDatabank

Technological Structure:Templates

The templates are organizational structures in which specified fields are displayed.

ArchiveDatabank

LibraryDatabank

MuseumDatabank

AdministrativeDatabank

Collection

Series

Sub-Series

Document

Photo

Book

Manuscript

Object Parties

Image

Location

Valuation

Condition

Technological Structure:Templates

Technological Structure:Templates

Technological Structure:Managing Standards

Metadata Standards Applied to Magnes Installation:•EAD•MARC•ISAD

Scope and Content(Archive)( EAD: <scopecontent>

MARC: 520

ISAD: 3.3.1

Description(Museum)(

Abstract(Library)(

Technological Structure:Mastering Multilingual Capabilities

•Unicode support•Synonyms•Phonetic searches•Translations•Transliterations

Technological Structure:Searches

•Search across all databanks, templates, and fields•Narrow searches to specific fields, databanks, and

templates•Boolean, fuzzy, exact, phonetic searches•Synonym and preferred-term searches•Multilingual searches

Technological Structure:Flexibility

Users may modify: • Fields• Databanks• Templates• Layouts and structures