Implementing Multilingual Access to Archival and Digital ResourcesJohn R. Nemmers

Descriptive & Technical Services Archivist, University of Florida

Society of American Archivists, August 2014

UF, Latin America & the Caribbean• Strong focus on Latin America & the

Caribbean (LAC)

• Collect materials about the LAC region & about Florida's Spanish colonial history

• Materials in multiple languages : Spanish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Dutch, etc.

• A lead partner in the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC)

dLOC Model

• Cooperative multi-institutional, multilingual, international digital library: dloc.com

• Administered by Florida International University (FIU)

• UF – founding partner, technical lead

• Access to digital materials in a “common web space with a multilingual interface”

• Browse/search with multilingual interfaces -English, Spanish, French (soon Haitian Creole)

http://dloc.com/

dLOC Approaches to Translation

• UF/FIU Staff created translations (as grant cost share)

• Paid professionals using grant funding (limited success)

• Partner contributions and/or student volunteers (limited success)

• Cobbled-together approaches = inconsistency

Learning from dLOC

• Good anecdotal feedback from users, partners, scholarly advisors, etc.

• Good page stats for non-English pages

• Conducted usability testing in 2008 examining multilingual interface

• Identified interface successes/problems – e.g., use of terminology and navigation

Manuscripts at UF

• 565 finding aids for manuscript collections

• 68 finding aids (~12%) with Spanish language materials/LAC subjects

• 31 w/ mostly Spanish language materials

• All descriptions in English with minor exceptions (e.g., occasional folder titles in non-English languages)

Pilot Project: 8 Bilingual Finding Aids

• Macaulay, Neill. Papers, 1954-2005. Guía de la colección de Neill Macaulay

• Martínez Pupo, Rafael. Papers Relating to Comandos Mambises, 1959-1984 (bulk: 1963-1964). Guía de los documentos de Rafael Martínez Pupo

• Ray, Manuel. Oral History Collection, 2008-2009. Guía de la colección de Historia Oral de Manuel Ray

• Casasola, Agustín Víctor. Photos of the Mexican Revolution, Circa 1914. Guía de las fotografías de la Revolución Mexicana por Agustín V. Casasola

http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/archome/MS133.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/archome/MS133_es.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/pupo.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/pupo_es.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/ray.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/ray_es.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/casasola.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/casasola_es.htm

Pilot Project: 8 Bilingual Finding Aids

• Peñate de Tito, Reina. Collection, 2001-2009. Guía de la colección de Reina Peñate de Tito

• González Blanco, Carlos. Papers, 1968-1977. Guía de la colección de Carlos González Blanco

• Lares, Porto Rico. Municipal Bond, 1914. Guía al Bono Municipal de Lares, Puerto Rico

• Romero Family. Papers Regarding José Martí, 1875-1974 (bulk: 1953-1960). Guía de los documentos de la familia Romero relacionados a José Martí

http://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/penatedetito.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/penatedetito_es.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/gonzalezblanco.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/gonzalezblanco_es.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/portorico.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/portorico_es.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/romero.htmhttp://www.library.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/romero_es.htm

Timeline

• Fall 2011 - Explore encoding options given limitation of EAD2002

• Fall 2011 - Develop list of terminology based on international repositories

• Fall 2011 - Caribbean Basin Librarian/Archivist hired

• 2011-2012 – 8 finding aids translated and published

• 2012-2013 – Test period

• Hoped to complete end of 2013 – extended

Encoding

• Create separate XML files with Spanish-language content casasola.xml

casasola_es.xml

• Links between versions -

• Separate Spanish version of stylesheet to transform ufspms.xsl

ufspms_es.xsl

• Publish separate HTML files casasola.htm

casasola_es.htm

XSLT Sample

Creador:

Abstracto:

Descripción Física:

Identificación:

Page Country/Territory Page Views

% oftotal

views

casasola.htm United States 195 44%

casasola.htm Mexico 42 9%

casasola.htm Colombia 12 3%

casasola_es.htm United States 98 22%

casasola_es.htm Mexico 56 13%

casasola_es.htm Argentina 16 4%

casasola_es.htm Brazil 14 3%

casasola_es.htm France 12 3%

Total 445 100%

Casasola – English & Spanish

Country/Territory Page Views %

United States 195 78%

Mexico 42 17%

Colombia 12 5%

Casasola.htm

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200

United States Mexico Colombia

Country/Territory Page Views %

United States 98 50%

Mexico 56 29%

Argentina 16 8%

Brazil 14 7%

France 12 6%

Casasola_es.htm

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United States Mexico Argentina Brazil France

User Browser Language

English Spanish French Total % Spanish

casasola.htm 195 54 0 249 22%

casasola_es.htm 112 72 12 196 37%

Total 307 126 12 445 28%

Total for 8 English & Spanish EADs

Page

Views

English

EADs %

Page

Views

Spanish

EADs %Total

Combined

U.S. Users 921 79% 252 21% 1173

Other Users 196 52% 182 48% 378

English Browser 963 79% 252 21% 1215

Spanish Browser 84 33% 168 67% 252

French Browser 14 50% 14 50% 28

Conclusions & Next Steps

• Stats reveal evidence of discovery/use

• Implement EAD3

• Translate 2-3 s to determine time and expense required for all finding aids

If too costly, continue to only translate collection-level description

If cost not prohibitive, can translate all

• Translate ~60 finding aids with Spanish language materials/LAC subjects

Possible Future Steps

• Translate ~20 finding aids with French language materials/French Caribbean subjects

• Create multilingual versions of all ~560 finding aids (less likely)

Thank you

John R. Nemmers

Descriptive & Technical Services Archivist

Associate Chair, Department of Special & Area Studies Collections

University of Florida

jnemmers@ufl.edu

mailto:jnemmers@ufl.edu