Yale Collections Collaborative

May, 2008

Yale Collections Collaborative

• 3-year $409K grant project funded by Mellon Foundation; ends June 30, 2008– Sponsored by Provost’s Office / Barbara Shailor, Deputy

Provost for the Arts– Steering Committee composed of Yale faculty and deans,

and representatives from Art Gallery, Center for British Art, Library, and Peabody Museum.

– ½ of grant funds spent on 8 re-grant projects

• Goal: to enhance access to and use of the museums, galleries, and library special collections across the university.

Enhancing access and use…

– development of technical systems to provide integrated access for users to collection holdings across repositories = cross-collection searching

Enhancing access and use…

– development of research portals and training programs to improve ability of staff and researchers to discover primary source resources at Yale;

Enhancing access and use…

– development of tools and methods for sharing resources across repositories to expedite the processing and availability of Yale collections;

Enhancing access and use…

– development of a sustainable structure through which Yale repositories can discuss issues of common concern, share information, and develop collaborative programs and projects.

Events:• Symposium, May 17, 2007:

“Mainstreaming Collections Reference” - librarians and curators working together to improve access to primary source materials for teaching and research at Yale.”

– Ideas for improving access:• Method of reporting new accessions of primary source

materials• More forums and interaction with faculty• Redesign of portal and tutorial related to primary

sources

Events:• Workshop, November 9, 2007:

“The Use of Primary Sources in Teaching at Yale”

– Presentations by librarians/curators/archivists re. efforts underway to integrate primary sources into Yale courses

– Presentations by faculty members John Faragher, Janice Carlisle, Seth Fein about how they use primary sources in their courses.

Events:• Forum, January 24, 2008 : “Natural Collections

Description” project – Update on a project that creates a "business card" for a

collection, providing enough information to identify and locate it. The standard enables the aggregation of collections descriptions from many sources and facilitates resource discovery

• Forum, February 21, 2008: “The Use of Technology in Teaching with Primary Sources”– One outcome: more involvement of archivists/curators in

mandatory research education sessions for history majors.

Ongoing activities:

• New Collections Task Force: developing a mechanism for disseminating and aggregating updates about new accessions of primary source collections at Yale = RSS feed

• Participants:– Kelly Barrick– Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass– Daniel Hartwig– Jennifer Meehan– George Ouellette– Martha Smalley

Ongoing activities:

• Primary Sources Task Force: developing a new portal for introducing primary sources at Yale

• Participants:– Greg Eow– Pamela Franks– Mike Friscia– Diane Kaplan– Jennifer Pollock– Martha Smalley– Mike Widener

http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/primarysources

User Survey Project:Assessment of Faculty and Graduate Student Use of Primary Sources and the eXtensible Catalog Phase 2 (University of Rochester)

Ongoing activities:

Group Members

• Meg Bellinger

• Kathleen Bauer

• Robert Carlucci

• Gregory Eow

• Diane Kaplan

• Alice Peterson-Hart

• Martha Smalley

4 teams Interviews Analysis Brainstorming U of Rochester Nancy

Foster, Principal Investigator

Yale UniversityMeg Bellinger, Katie Bauer, Diane Kaplan, Martha Smalley, Gregory Eow, Alice Peterson-Hart

Cornell University

Ohio State University

January February March April May June

25-30 faculty and graduate students in Humanities

All tapes to U of Rochester for transcription

Videos are viewed and discussed by team

Nancy Foster returns to Yale June 9-10

Workplan:

Re-grant projects:

• Finding Aid Creation Tool• O.C. Marsh / G.R. Wieland Papers digitization• The World War I Experience• Archival Management and the Archivists’ Toolkit• Collections Guides • Coordinating Descriptive Metadata for Print

Collections• Cross-collection Search

Finding Aid Creation Tool

• Development of a shared and centrally supported tool for the creation of finding aids that follow the Encoded Archival description standard, for Yale archival and manuscript collections.

• Primary participants: Michael Rush, Tom Hyry, Bill Landis, Richard Boursy, Jae Rossman, Martha Smalley

Finding Aid Creation Tool

• Developed first-ever Yale EAD Encoding Best Practice Guidelines.

• Expressed as RelaxNG schema, with embedded documentation.

• Allows for validation of EAD files against local best practices.

• Available at http://www.library.yale.edu/facc/bpgs.html

FACT: EAD Best Practices

Finding Aid Creation Tool

• FACT is based on XMetaL Author.• Allows users to edit native XML in word

processor-like interface.• Minimizes need for markup expertise.• Allows for creating local templates.• Provides macros that enable users to edit the

hierarchical finding aid structure.• Automates functions such as folder numbering.• Allows users to preview how EAD will display

when delivered via the Web.

FACT/XMetaL Interface

FACT Hierarchy Template

FACT Hierarchy Display

FACT Menus

FACT – Web Preview

Digital ImagingO.C. Marsh and G.R. Wieland

Archives

World War I: Documenting the First Total War of the 20th Century

• Goals:– to identify, select, and digitize a range of

pamphlets, broadsides, posters, prints, and sound recordings that provide primary source documentation of the Great War, as a prototype for improving description of and access to non-standard published materials

– to develop a research portal for facilitating access to World War I materials at Yale as a model for similar portals on other themes.

Participants:

• Sue Roberts• David Walls• Jennifer Weintraub• George Miles• Emmanuelle Delmas-

Glass• Martha Smalley

• Matthew Beacom• Mike Friscia• Kevin Repp• Katie Bauer• Toby Appel• Tatjana Lorkovic• Suzanne Boorsch

Identified WWI material in:

• Center for British Art• Art Gallery• Sterling Memorial Library• Manuscripts and Archives• Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library• Mudd Library• Divinity Library• Medical Historical Library• Peabody Museum

http://www.library.yale.edu/libraries/digcoll.html

http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/WW1

• Free, open source data mgmt system

• Main features– Accessioning & description– Establishing names and subjects– Managing locations– Import/export of EAD– Export of MARCXML, METS, MODS, Dublin

Core

• Significance – 1st integrated archival data mgmt system

• Purpose: Install and test an open source collections management system; examine the feasibility of establishing a Yale way of managing and tracking collections.

• Participants: Arts, Divinity, Music, MSSA

• Focus - accessioning

• Outcomes– Functional Integration– Systems Integration

→ Standardization & commonality among repositories

• Plan of Work (March – May)

1.Hire project coordinator [completed]2.Gather information on current practices/needs of

repositories [completed]3.Identify modules in AT appropriate for each

repository [completed]4.Install AT and train staff in use [in progress]5.Monitor and follow-up; gather feedback6.Write documentation for use by other Yale

repositories7.Report to AT developers on unmet needs of Yale

repositories

• Next steps– Introduce to other special collections– Explore additional functionality

•African American Studies:

•Chronological organization of primary source materials from various Yale collections, defined by key periods and moments. •Modernism:

•Categorical organization by type or medium within Modernism’s timeframe as a historical construct.

Collections Guides Pilot Project

Goal: To create illustrated booklets that represent Yale’s primary source material in specific subject areas.

African American Studies

•Amistad Trials:

•Drawings at the Beinecke; papers in Manuscripts & Archives; pamphlets and notebooks in the Law Library Special Collections.

•Harlem Renaissance:

•Manuscripts, photographs, papers, periodicals, and musical scores at the Beinecke; recordings, papers, and scores in special collections at the Music Library.

•Civil Rights Movement:

•Films, pamphlets, and ephemera in the Divinity Library Special Collections; papers, photographs, periodicals, and ephemera at the Beinecke; drawings, prints, photographs, and paintings at the Art Gallery.

Modernism

•Architecture:

•Drawings at the Yale Art Gallery; drawings, diagrams, papers, and photographs and archives at Manuscripts & Archives; prints, drawings, photographs, and posters at the Beinecke.

•Buildings, eg. British Art Center and Yale Art Gallery by Louis Kahn, Ezra Stiles College and D.S. Ingalls Hockey Rink by Eero Saarinen.

•Music:

•Papers, scores, and audio and video recordings in special collections at the Music Library; manuscripts, papers, and scores at the Beinecke.

Coordinating Coordinating Descriptive Descriptive

Metadata for Metadata for Print Collections Print Collections in Libraries and in Libraries and Museums at Yale Museums at Yale

UniversityUniversity

Etching by Thomas Rowlandson after Thomas

Gainsborough from a volume of ten.

ParticipantsParticipants• Matthew Beacom SML, Metadata Librarian, Catalog

Department • Ellen Cordes LWL, Head of Technical Services• Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass YCBA, Collections Catalogue

Specialist • Cynthia Roman LWL, Curator of Prints, Drawings, and

Paintings • Scott Wilcox YCBA, Curator of Prints and Drawings• Gillian Forrester YCBA, Associate Curator of Prints and

Drawings• Melissa Fournier YCBA, Associate Registrar• David Parsell YCBA, TMS Systems Programmer • Suzanne Boorsch YUAG, Curator of Prints and Drawings• John Marciari YUAG, Associate Curator Early Modern

European Painting• Ariana French YUAG, Database Administrator• Rebekah Irwin BRBL, Catalog Librarian for Digital

Resources • Youn Noh SML, Digital Resources Catalog Librarian • Millette Gaifman Asst. Professor, History of Art & Classics

Objective: to enhance access to Objective: to enhance access to the rich and extensive printed the rich and extensive printed

visual materialsvisual materialsDone Specific initiatives:

Build familiarity with the diverse ways prints are described in the participating collections

Identify common or compatible language and practices for cataloging prints

Create MediaWiki to provide easy access to shared documentation on cataloguing practices

Shareable metadata workshop with Jenn Riley, Indiana University Metadata Librarian

Collections Collaborative: Print Metadata Collections Collaborative: Print Metadata

SeminarSeminar Sponsored by the Lewis Walpole Sponsored by the Lewis Walpole Library in FarmingtonLibrary in Farmington

Forging Agreement about Description Günter Waibel, Program Officer, RLG Programs,

OCLC

Mixing and Matching Data Standards at The Morgan Library & Museum

Elizabeth O’Keefe, Director of Collection Information Systems, Morgan Library

Cataloguing prints on the British Museum Collection Database

Tanya Szrajber, Head of Documentation, Department of Conservation, Documentation and Science, The British Museum

Other participants in Farmington Seminar:

• Erin Blake Curator of Art and Special Collections, Folger Shakespeare Library and Chair of DCRM(G)

• Katherine Haskins Director of the Visual Resources Collection

• Marilyn Kuschner Curator of Prints, New York Historical Society

• William Landis Head of Arrangement, Description and Metadata Coordination, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University

• Allen Townsend Director, Arts Library

Accomplishments

• Buy-in among museum and library participants in support of shared practices

• Identification of core data elements• Agreement on strategies for navigating

the challenges of identifying and describing medium

• Consensus on use of common print terminology – e.g., copy vs. impression

Next Steps:

• Complete documentation on compatible language and practices for cataloguing prints

• Test the shared cataloguing practices• Set up a MediaWiki and organize the

committee that will maintain it• Organize a public forum about

shareable metadata workshop with Jenn Riley

Conclusion

• Producing shared documentation about cataloguing practices

• Use of the lowest common available technology: the Web

• Goal: cultural change rather than a technology change

• Model expandable to other work types

Cross Collection Search Initiative

The Project Team

– Howard Gilbert—Senior Research Programmer – Mike Friscia—Programmer – Matthew Beacom—Metadata Librarian– Katie Bauer—Usability and Assessment– David Gewirtz—Technical Manager-Design– Karen Kupiec – Sponsor/Project Manager

Repository Partners andContacts

Contact Repository PartnerEmmanuelle

Delmas-GlassYale Center for British Art

Thomas Raich Yale University Art Gallery

Larry Gall Peabody Museum of Natural History

Brian Kupiec Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Art Belanger Cushing/Whitney Medical Library

Robert Carlucci Visual Resources Collection

Principal Problem

Discovery and access to Yale’s special collections across academic domains are complex and difficult.

Three Important Deliverables

– Investigate technology that would provide a framework for cross collection search, discovery and federation.

– Investigate technology that would make content discoverable and searchable through a simple point of access.

– Determine level of effort needed to extend services.

The Technology

– OAI-PMH – A tool that harvests, from disparate sources, aggregates, and makes collections/sets of descriptive metadata searchable.

– A Name Resolution Service – A service that makes access to network resources more reliable – reduces broken links.

Proof of Concept

– We have built an inter-disciplinary metadata repository (OAI-PMH) for cross domain discovery of digital and analog content.

– We have built a simple search interface into this metadata repository.

– We have built a name resolution service that provides enduring names for teaching and learning objects.

What We Have Learned

– Metadata exchange between native systems is difficult.

– Interoperability of metadata standards and practices is a challenge.

– Metadata normalization is needed.– Cross domain search is a non-trivial problem.

Complementary Projects and Research

– Mellon/OCLC Museum Data Exchange Study• Create low-barrier/no-cost batch export out of TMS

via OAI-PMH.

– OCLC Terminology Services Pilot• Leverage terminologies to optimize search.

– Open Archives Initiative (OAI-ORE)• Object Reuse and Exchange of metadata and

digital objects to create teaching and learning objects

Possible Next Steps for Consideration

– Technology and Protocol Extension • Extend the metadata repository to include digital objects to create

teaching and learning objects.

– Tools and Process Improvement • Automate workflows for scheduling and updates of metadata

repository.• Metadata ands digital object extraction• Description and normalization at the item and collection level.

– Usability and Assessment• Tailor search and interface to meet domain specific requirements.• Continue assessment of application to meet changing end-user

requirements.