Diving In: Testing the Archivists’

Toolkit

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Bradley D. Westbrook, UC San Diego

Katherine Stefko, Bates College

Lee Mandell, Archivists’ ToolkitTM

Presenters

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• Project Update

– Accomplishments– Since SAA ‘06

• Functional testing of beta prototype

• Demonstration of beta prototype

• Questions

Overview

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• Specification

• Build

• Documentation

• No cost extension

• Functional testing / performance metrics

• SPOT meeting

• Release of Version 1.0

Accomplishments

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Product Description-Features

•Recording accessions and deaccessions•Tracking sources / donors•Basic authority control for names and topical subjects•Describing archival resources and digital objects•Permanent location management•Ingesting legacy data in standardized formats (EAD, MARC XML) and non-standard formats (accessions data in delimited form)•User and project management functions for configuring the application•Tracking of record creation and editing•Searching for use in reference settings•Context-sensitive help

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Product Description-Features

EAD finding aid Accession, resource, name, resource, digital object, location records

METS digital object Acquisition report

MARC XML record (resource & digital object)

Restrictions list

MODS record IP status list

Dublin Core record Resource source list

Repository collection profile Collections subject guide

Repository production report

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• AT2 Proposal

– Staff & Partners– Primary objectives– Timeline– Releases

• Functional testing of beta prototype

Since SAA ‘06

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AT Beta Testers

• American Museum of Natural History*

• Arizona State University• Bates College* • Brooklyn Museum of Art*• Center for Jewish

History* • Das Bundesarchiv • Georgia Tech • Getty Research Institute • Harvard University• Mount Holyoke College*

• Nationaal Archief • New York University* • Northern Arizona

University• Princeton University• Scripps Institution of

Oceanography* • University of California

San Diego* • University of

Massachusetts Amherst* • University of Michigan• University of Texas

* = partnering repository

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• Weekly/biweekly individual repository reports

• Compiled reports distributed by AT team

• Bug reports

• Online bug log

• Discussion List

• AT Team distributed email account

AT Info Exchange

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Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College

• Founded in the 1960s, existing as combined unit since 2000

• 14,000 volumes of rare books• 1,000 linear feet of College records• 4,000 linear feet of manuscripts, 3,000 of which is

Muskie-related• 3 FTE + 2 grant-funded FTE

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• Contribute to a long-needed application built by and for archivists

• Become part of a community of users to share knowledge and experience

• Test drive the application, consider its implementation

• Voice institution’s needs and concerns

Why Test?

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• Installation – Not configured to work behind a firewall or

with a proxy server– Identified as P2P file traffic on my network

Starting out

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• Time commitment

• Unfiltered information in a variety of places

Life of a beta tester

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• Time commitment• Unfiltered information in a variety of places—

where to look for what?• Need to reinstall application often• No onsite technical support• Typos, omissions and bugs are the norm• Neither the application nor the manual are

complete• The manual and application don’t always match• Not everything is predictable

Life of a beta tester

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• Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions

The good

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• Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions

• Filtering and searching

• Supports authority work

The good

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• Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions

• Filtering and searching

• Supports authority work

• Track description, accessions, deaccessions, donor info

• Very detailed and helpful user manual

The good

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• Intuitive interface with hierarchical display and helpful pop-ups with field definitions

• Filtering and searching• Supports authority work• Track description, accessions, deaccessions,

donor info • Very detailed and helpful user manual• Encourages consistency within and between

repositories• Automation of encoding

The good

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• Data entry is labor intensive, and some aspects are not intuitive

The bad

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• Data entry is labor intensive, and some aspects are not intuitive

• Lose flexibility to gain functionality

• Raises the bar in terms of time, training and expertise by mandating data elements and standards

• Ingest of legacy data is limited

The bad

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• Who will adopt the Toolkit?

• What will be needed for their success?

Conclusion

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AT Demonstration

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Questions?

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www.archiviststoolkit.org