Implementing Archivists’ Toolkit (AT) in UGA Special Collections

Esther Giezendanner (Cataloging), Abby Griner (Russell Library), Sheila McAlister (Digital Library of Georgia), and

Kat Shirley (Russell Library)

Sponsored by the Professional Development and Research Committee

What is Archivists’ Toolkit?

Archivists’ Toolkit (AT) is an open source database that supports description and management of archival materials

AT consists of 4 sections: Names, Subjects, Accessions, and Resources

What are UGA Special Collections doing with Archivists’ Toolkit?

Track incoming donations/transfers/purchases to the collection

Maintain name and subject heading authorities

Tracking the physical location of collection items within the department

Creating finding aids for online access

Managing the Russell’s Accessions

Accessioning: “process whereby the custody of archival material is transferred to the repository”

Accessions numbers comprised of two parts – year received and accession sequence (2009.01, 2009.02)

Prior to Archivists’ Toolkit the Russell managed incoming material with the accession registers and an Access database

Accessions Module

Cataloging Hargrett manuscripts for addition to Archivist’s Toolkit

Esther Giezendanner

At the beginning of the project:

Hargrett has ~3200 manuscript collections Some had MARC records from the GAMMA

project Many with a data sheet only- no finding aid or

MARC records Not in Archivist’s toolkit

Workflow

A tracking document is updated throughout

Check Hargrett files

Create MARC record in OCLC

Import to GIL and assign

location codes Enter OCLC# in spreadsheet

for SheilaConsult Chuck

on questions

Data collection

Based on accession folders Additional checklist

MARC record

Similar to books:– Descriptive– Subject

Differences– Variety of information– Sources

We’re only doing regular cataloging!

OCLC

Move to GIL

Challenges and progress

Volume Sources

– Hargrett– outside

Turn it over to Sheila!

Update spreadsheet, entering OCLC numbers for easy access!

Hargrett Library AT Project

Sheila McAlister

Associate Director, DLG

mcalists@uga.edu

Project Overview

MARC cataloging of collections Ingest of MARC records into AT Ingest of name authority records Outsourcing of box and folder lists Ingest of skeleton EAD

MARC cataloging

Cooperative project with Cataloging Department, DLG, Hargrett

Checklist Hargrett staff overview Tracking through wiki

Ingest of MARC records

Download MARCXML Toolkit from LC Set up file export preferences in OCLC Download binary MARC from OCLC Convert to MARC21slim XML Ingest into AT Add extent number and type Clean up

OCLC Preferences

MARC XML Conversion

MARC Ingest Issues

Must delete file.mrc after each conversion Can only load one record at a time Can only ingest collection-level records (not

series-level) Resource record can be merged, but

duplication of SHs

MARC Ingest Issues (2)

Name authority merging/updating required Reordering of subject strings Merging of name subdivisions

Ingest NAME records

No current import of authority records Backdoor method (import dummy accession

record) Convert DLG NAME records to AT format for

ingest

DLG’s NAME database

DLG’s name authority control database, http://purl.galileo.usg.edu/name/

Exports xml authority records through xml gateway

http://dlgmaint.galib.uga.edu/cgi-bin/name.cgi?userid=ultimate_xml&query=pj%3Acrdl%20and%20anpe:* (results)

Ingest

Create dummy record Strip out unneeded elements and translate to

AT accession schema (see appendix “Preparing XML Accession Files” for field names)

Load in Delete dummy accession record

Issues with authority ingest

No real ingest currently exists NAME not as granular as MARC Unable to pre-load alternative name forms Upcoming version will have greater name

authority functionality

Outsourcing

Specs– Use modified DLG EAD specs (based on OAC)– No <eadheader> info– Only high-level <did> element filled in <unitid>

sample Scan/mark-up box folder lists

– Reflect <c0x> levels– <unittitle>– <unitdate>

Finalizing Finding Aids

Upon vendor return, quality control Imported into AT Hooks onto already existing MARC record Export complete EAD file for XTF ingest

XTF: What Is It and Why is Russell Library Using it?

Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies

University of Georgia Libraries

adamsabi@uga.edu

Abby R. Griner

What is XTF?

eXtensible Text Framework“flexible indexing and query tool that

supports searching across collections of heterogeneous data and presents results in a highly configurable manner”

http://xtf.wiki.sourceforge.net/

System architecture (simplistic and linear)

How is Russell using it?

As a full-text searchable database to display finding aids for our open archival collections and selected accessions

In the future...to display online exhibits with digital objects

Why is Russell using XTF?

Finding aids encoded for XTF can easily be imported into AT

Open source (Free as in kittens NOT beer) Extremely customizable Displays a variety of file types (xml, html, jpg, txt,

pdf) Does not require developer to have an extensive

programming background Full text search within XTF AND in Google

Other Archives Using XTF

California Digital Library uses “XTF as a building block for new services and has used it to replace a number of systems previously used for text searching (i.e., DLXS, Greenstone, DynaWeb)”:http://oac.cdlib.org/search.findingaid.htmlhttp://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/

OhioLINK (consortium of Ohio libraries)http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/

Digital Library of Georgiahttp://redandblack.libs.uga.edu/xtf/browse/1915.html

What You Can Expect to See:

Over 100 of Russell Library's collections (box and folder lists included) available for public access

Soft launch (“beta”) – 1st week of June 2009 Hard launch – August 2009 Be on the lookout:

http://russelldoc.galib.uga.edu/russell/